St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 51, Rutgers 48
2/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
St. John's Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico
Opening Statement:
"That was a really exciting game obviously. We turned the ball over in the second half, but I was really proud of the way we hung together because we could've fallen apart once they took the lead and we didn't do that. We made the play that we had to make at the end and it's a great win for our program and hopefully it's a great win to help us get into the NCAA Tournament."
On the strange finish to the game with Rutgers'April Sykes called for a lane violation on Erica Wheeler's potential game-tying free throw:
"Being an underdog for so many years, you always feel like you're on the short end of getting a call in a crucial minute and that's the nature of the game. Usually the stronger teams make the bigger plays and that's why they end up getting the calls. It was the right call. We already talked about it, we already reviewed it. But for us to get that call, that was big time and we were deserving of it and it was a correct call. It's great for our program. But, no, I could not believe it. She did do it, but I could not believe it. It was a great break for us."
On who she would've wanted to have the ball in the closing second of the game:
"The kids executed a great play down at the end off of that ball screen. Nadirah got to the rim. She did a great job. She actually may have even gotten fouled on the play, but she finished the play. She did a tremendous job of getting to the rim. She had a silly foul down the other way. But she did a great job of finishing. We had a balanced attack tonight. We tried to go to Buzz, but we knew we didn't have to get a 3 to win. We wanted to get something going to the basket where if we didn't finish, we would at least get it to the free throw line. So it was either going to be Nadirah (McKenith) or Da'Shena (Stevens) or maybe even Shenneika (Smith)."
On Amanda Burakoski's performance and her progress over the past year:
"What's funny is we keep a stat for every game on rotations and combinations of who plays and plus-minus in the games of how many points we're up when certain kids are in the game and which lineups are best. What's funny is from a coaching standpoint, a lot of times I go on feel and after the game I'll reflect on that. It seems that every time that she's in the lineup, we're always positive. The reason is because she extends the defense so much and even if she's missing, they key on her, which just opens things up for our inside kids. One time she touch passed it inside and they got the and-one. So she's just been doing a really good job. We try to pump her up every day. She knocks down shots. I tell her shoot the ball. I took her out one time because she didn't shoot the ball. She's playing with a lot of confidence. She did a really great job scoring for us tonight."
Sophomore Guard Amanda Burakoski
On if there was any pressure for her to pursue the 3-point shot:
"It depends on the situation. Sometimes there's pressure, but as a shooter, you have to be able to handle that pressure."
On if she felt more confident in tonight's game:
"I knew I had to step it up today and once I let that first shot go, I felt a lot of confidence just rushing through my body. So I kind of felt it right away. But as far as the charge, it was a big play and I had to step in and take it."
On what it was like to be the top scorer and if she feels she has taken the next step in her career:
"It was nice to have people find me and want me to have the ball. Also it's good for my team because it makes the defenders come out on me and it gives the defenders open looks for those on the inside and easy baskets on the inside."
How important was it at the end for St. John's to pull out the win after Rutgers battled back:
"This was definitely our biggest game. We've had a bunch of tough losses, but we knew we had to pull it together for this one. At the end, everybody was nervous, but we're a team and we knew that we had to pull through get this win. If it was by 10 or if it was by one, you get the win."
On how the team contained April Sykes:
"Sykes, she's a really good shooter. But as far as taking away the inside, the game was close so we wanted them to shoot 3's. It's better for them to have to shoot far than an easy layup."
Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer
On the last minute of the game:
"I thought we were slow initially, so we just needed to pick up and press. But the rest was that we only had five players and didn't have anyone to substitute. That's the reason why I took people off the free throw line because I didn't want there to be a call. I was trusting that we would hit our foul shots, but things don't always work that way. I think we just miscommunicated. When we had the ball with a minute left and was up by one, we just wanted to hold the ball and guarantee one shot so that we would have an opportunity to play defense. I think initially, St. John's was shocked that we went into a zone. The zone was extended and I had questions about if we could handle man-to-man simply because we're not very good with on the ball defense. We kept losing Shenneika Smith as well as Amanda Burakoski and our post players were hesitant to come out. At the end, the free throw that we didn't make could have made the difference. We just keep biting ourselves and that seems to be the name of the game for us. "
