St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 91, Louisville 56
2/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2010
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St. John's Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico
Opening Statement:
"I was extremely proud of the way that we came out in the first half. I thought that we jumped on them early and did a tremendous job. It was a balanced attack. Da'Shena Stevens was a spark from the beginning as well as Shenneika Smith and Kelly McManmon off the bench. We played extremely hard and it was a total team effort. I was proud of the way we played."
On winning 20 games this season:
"I think 20 wins is a pretty big deal and I am between enjoying the journey and appreciating the accomplishments while staying focused. I don't want them to get too excited about being number 24 or 25 or getting 20 wins because I want them to stay focused on our ultimate goal. But I want them to enjoy the moment a little bit. Yesterday we had an ice cream party for being Top 25 for a second week. But I think our focus is on getting better and the next game on hand."
St. John's Forward Da'Shena Stevens
On forcing 39 turnovers:
"That was one of our main focuses in practice, to pressure them. Nadirah knew she could pressure their point guard and that was one of our main focuses."
On reaching 20 wins:
"I think it means something. But right now we just have to see it as another game and focus on one game at a time. Our ultimate goal is to get to the tournament, and yeah we've talked about twenty wins. But right now we are focusing on one game at a time and finish the season strong."
St. John's Guard Kelly McManmon
On this game as a building block for the upcoming schedule:
"I think this win was good overall for our confidence, but we have to take it one game at a time. We can't overlook anyone."
On if the team possibly overlooked Louisville:
"No. I think we were definitely ready. We came out and wanted to get this win on our home court."
On the team's balance:
"It's very important. On a given night, someone can step up and get big points and you never know where it's going to come from. You can't just guard any single one of us or else it will open things up for everyone else."
St. John's Guard Shenneika Smith
On the team's defense:
"I believe that practice pays off. And in practice we preach defense. Offense is going to come to you, but if you can stop the best player on the other team then that helps. Defense is one of our strengths."
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
On St. John's play today:
"They played better than us. That's why they won by 30-something. They play the way they've been playing all year. They play aggressive. They played hard. They are all over the court. Their point guard did a really nice job of causing havoc for our walk-on point guard. When it comes down to it, Shelby does a great job for us, she works her tail off. But you can't win in this league with a walk-on that I had told at the beginning of the year that she might not even travel with us to road games. Now she's starting. It's really tough. And St. John's is really good at exploiting the fact that you have someone at the point guard spot that this is really a big step for. She could easily come out and play 8-12 minutes a game and be effective but I'm asking her to try to play 40 minutes."
