St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: ST. JOHN'S 62 RUTGERS 57
1/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2012
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Queens, N.Y. -
Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico
Opening statement:
"Anytime you play Rutgers it's a battle and I thought our kids really bounced back from our last game and stepped up to the challenge. I asked them at halftime to play with heart and we were able to do that in the second half and we got the win."
On causing turnovers and applying defensive pressure:
"If you look at the makeup of both teams we're very similar. Sometimes we go through spurts where we have a difficult time scoring and if that's the case then we better be pretty good defensively. We forced them into a lot of turnovers and we were able to get in the lane. So even when we weren't able to score we were able to draw fouls and I think that really helped us to win the game."
On Nadirah McKenith's clutch play down the stretch:
"If you hadn't had a chance to watch her yet this year, we feel as if she's one of the best guards in the country. She does so many things for our team and when she was out we weren't as effective. She can score, she can defend and she can handle pressure. If you have a kid like her on your team then they're really hard to trap."
On Eugeneia McPherson's breakout year:
"She's one of the most improved players in the country. We have players that are established in this program but Eugeneia has become our go to kid. She's always been a coach's favorite kid because of the way that she works and the way she plays."
Junior Guard Eugeneia McPherson
On confidence throughout the game:
"We knew we had to come back strong and that they were going to come back harder. I the second half we knew what we had to do and we did it."
On success getting to the basket and drawing fouls:
"Getting to the basket was really important for us. They were overplaying us and being physical but we knew that we had to keep going strong to the basket even if we weren't getting the calls."
Junior Guard Nadirah McKenith
On acrobatic second half layup:
"The shoot clock was running down and I knew I had to get to the basket. So when I heard the whistle I knew that I had to get a shot up and it went in."
On the importance of beating Rutgers, being from New Jersey:
"Playing Rutgers is huge for me. I just go out there and play hard every time against them."
Junior Guard Shenneika Smith
On whether or not this was a statement game:
"Every game is a statement game, we need wins. It doesn't matter if it's Rutgers or Harvard, we just go out there and play."
Rutgers Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer
On Rutgers play overall:
"We had too many turnovers, I think we had 11 in the first half. It was bad all the way around, we were sluggish, slow getting to wherever we had to go and they went to the foul line 32 times so we were like elephants trying to catch some butterflies."
On Rutgers' lack of urgency late in the game:
"It was too little, too late. We needed the urgency in the beginning and we didn't have it, so we were late getting to where we had to go and you cannot do that here (Carnesecca Arena). We've lost here before."
On St. John's energy:
"My coaches could tell before the game that St. John's was fired up and ready to go. I was hoping we would remember we lost to them last year and that we would have some surge of energy, but we didn't and we were a day late and a dollar short."
