St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: UConn 77, St. John's 64
2/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 11, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
St. John's Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico
Opening Statement:
"I'm glad we were able to give you a great game. That was the best we've played in a long time. I was really proud of our efforts. We just need to continue from here. UConn is a great team and they have a great program. We represented ourselves well."
On Da'Shena Stevens' performance tonight:
"She has shown signs, especially early in the season. The physical play kind of wears on her at times. But after seeing her tonight, I don't see how she can't be Freshman of the Year. She went against the best team and she just did a great job in the game. She dominated."
On cutting down the 20-poing deficit:
"We battled back and we didn't quit. It's just been a sign of our season. We've been unfortunate to lose these close games in the way that we have. But we didn't quit, we fought with a purpose and I thought we did a great job."
On this being the turning point in the season:
"We started the season 10-1. We played Baylor at Baylor, we beat Boston College, we beat Boston University who is undefeated in their league. We had some quality wins and then we went down to South Florida and lost a tough game in overtime and that kind of knocked the winds out of our sails. After that we came back and we've been battling. We lost a game by three at the buzzer, we lost a game by two and then we lost a game by one. The game we lost by one, we got intentionally fouled with the ball then we lost. We've had some really tough battles. I think our record isn't an exact indication of our team. But I also think our league is so incredibly good, and people don't appreciate that on a night in, night out basis. We could play UConn to 13 tonight and lose to Syracuse by 20 on Saturday. That's the reality of it. That's how good our league is. People talk about the SEC and the Big 12. The BIG EAST did a clean sweep of the Big 12 last year. Our league is incredible."
Freshman guard Da'Shena Stevens
On playing against her hometown team:
"I just wanted to come out and play hard and contribute in any way. My shots were falling in the beginning and I just wanted to come out and play a full and complete game."
On playing against a very good program like UConn:
"I came here to play against the best of the best, especially in the BIG EAST. This is what I came here for and this is what I prepared for."
On her aggressive play:
"You always have to go out and play hard. I always try to be aggressive on possessions and stick with it whether it goes in or I have to get the rebound. That's what I did tonight."
On the team's performance tonight:
"Like last game we came back and we played hard. This is a turning point for us, to pick it up again. This game, being that UConn is No. 1, we were going to come out extra aggressive and extra hard."
Senior guard Kelly McManmon
On tonight's game:
"Coach is always telling us to play four minutes at a time and we really did that tonight. We just wanted to play hard every four minutes and see where we were at. Last game we came back and used each of the four minutes to get there. We wanted to keep going in this game."
On Da'Shena's performance tonight:
"Da'Shena has been an impact for us the entire year, especially tonight. She really just plays hard. She came out aggressive and if she keeps being confident and playing hard all the time she could have a great career."
Sophomore guard Sky Lindsay
On UConn's junior center Tina Charles:
"Tina had a great game. I played four years with her in high school and AAU so basically I told Da'Sheena and the team what she could do. We did a good job guarding her. She had a great game, but we held our own. We outrebounded UConn, so I think we also did a great job."
On her increase in scoring in the second half:
"Once your shot starts to drop you definitely get a burst of confidence. Once you feel it you continue to shoot. When you're hot, you're hot, and I felt pretty hot for a little bit there."
On taking a positive out of tonight's loss:
"Even though we lost, we only lost by 13. We hung in there. We showed that we can win out the rest of the season and hopefully we can make it to the NCAA Tournament down the stretch."
On the team's performance tonight:
"We know that our season is winding down, and if you want to leave it all on the court, now is the time."
Junior Center Tina Charles
On the game leading scorers:
"I don't go into the game anticipating that Maya, Renee and myself will be the main scorers. I know that we're going to score; at least that's the goal. I go into the game hoping that we get good production out of everyone but some nights it doesn't work out that way, so we did what we could."
UConn Head Coach Gino Auriemma
On three 20-point scorers:
"Every team has who they feel are their go-to-guys who will do the bulk of the work. We've got three players that are capable of having big nights any night that we play. You hope that other players complement their scoring and throughout the season it's been that way. It's been those three steady for the whole year and today was no exception."
On losing a 20-point lead:
"There's a point and time during the game where you can sense that the game doesn't flow as smooth as you seen it in the past. Even when we were up by 20 points, we knew that it wasn't a real 20-point lead. It's one of those leads where we don't have enough people making plays and making shots. You have to give St. John's credit. If you keep attacking the basket, you're going to stay in the game no matter what the lead is because you're going to get a chance to shoot free throws. If you stay at it, like St. John's did, you'll stay in the game."
On Red Storm freshman guard Da'Shena Stevens:
"Da'Shena Stevens played great. I was really impressed with her. Some freshmen are very tentative. They're reluctant to be as aggressive as she was. I think she knew how hard we were working to keep them from getting off a lot of 3-pointers. Their perimeter game gets a lot of attention and she took advantage of it by putting the ball on the floor, which a lot of freshmen don't know how to do."
Sophomore Forward Maya Moore
On a road game:
"We knew coming into the game that we had an advantage inside. We wanted to see how St. John's was going to play the post and once we saw it, we wanted to get the ball down there as much as possible."
Senior Guard Renee Montgomery
On a road game:
"We come on the road knowing that each team is going to give us their best shot. We know whomever we play against is going to play great and they are going to try to capitalize on every mistake that we make. Knowing that, it gives us a different perspective on road games and a different type of mentality when you come here."
