St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 57 - Providence 41
1/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
St. John's Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico
Opening Statement:
"We thought it was a tough game for us. At times, we didn't play our best, but that's a credit to Providence. They really were physical and took us out of what we wanted to do. We came together and made big plays down the stretch. Shenneika [Smith] really stepped up and had a terrific night. She could have gone both ways. She had a tough couple of days here and she really stepped up and played great for us. It was a great sign for our team to not play exceptionally well and be taken out of our game and still come away with the victory. I was happy with that, but we've got to continue to improve."
On calling late timeouts:
"I kept calling the timeouts - we weren't playing that well - just to tell them to keep defending. We did a tremendous job on defense. We held them to 41 points. I just said 'Defend and rebound. Keep defending and rebounding and take care of the ball on the offensive end.' I was urging them to continue to play hard. Things weren't going exactly the way we wanted them to go, but we just continued to play hard."
On the team's toughness:
"Our defense really did a good job. In the beginning, we started great and then Providence really went physical on us and that caught us off guard a little bit. Da'Shena [Stevens] was getting knocked around. I guess that was their game plan… to really take her out of what she wanted to do. At that time, we said 'The refs are going to let you play. You have to continue to play and be physical as well. You can't let that stuff get to you mentally. It's important that you stay strong mentally, because they're just trying to push you around and be physical. Keep being aggressive and keep being strong with the ball and everything will work out.'"
On where the team needs improvement:
"I watched our starting five in practice the last couple of days and the four that have played together for three years are pretty good. They have a lot of experience and a great feel for each other. Amber [Thompson] right now is the inexperienced one, as a rookie, and I called them out on it yesterday saying it is part of their responsibility to help her. That means they have to communicate more. They have to drag her along, but right now she's not on the same page. She's very gifted, very athletic, very talented, but defensively it's rotations, offensively it's finishing plays, making extra passes. The four veterans have a great feel for each other and that's where Amber and Mary [Nwachukwu] need to continue to grow. The better they get, the better we will be."
Junior Guard Shenneika Smith
On free throw performance:
"I'm working on getting to the free throw line and making free throws, because I'm probably our worst shooter. Being six-of-six boosts my confidence."
On getting to the foul line more:
"We have this finishing drill where we go up against one of our practice players, because he's really tall. We try to work in practice on getting to the basket and being strong. The most important thing is being strong. I have to get to the basket and stay strong."
On scoring in last five minutes:
"I was just out there playing. My teammates were able to get me the ball, and I was getting to the rim on a slower defender. I put the ball in the basket and got to the free throw line, so that's where the points came."
On impact of Da'Shena Stevens' return to the lineup:
"It changes everything tremendously, just knowing that she'll run the floor and I can put the ball in the air and she'll be open to catch it. Having [freshman forward] Amber there really helps her out, because people like to focus on Amber, so if [Stevens] is open, I try and get her the ball. Playing together with her for three years also makes it a little easier."
On the physical nature of the game:
"It's the BIG EAST, and that's what this conference is about, being physical and being strong, so we've got to go out there and fight every night. It's a physical game, and it got pretty physical out there tonight. The refs did a good job of just letting us play."
Head Coach Phil Seymore
On the game:
"We couldn't score when we needed to. We cut it down to four points and then we came down and needed to score and we couldn't. I think we only scored one point in the last eight minutes of the game. You can't win games like that, especially with the good offensive players that St. John's has who can come down and put points in the basket. We've gotten better the last few games in terms of scoring but obviously we only scored 41 points. That isn't good enough for this league."
On preparing for the upcoming BIG EAST games:
"We talked about not isolating yourself and being independent from everybody. You got to come together and stay together as a team and challenge each other. Because if you don't challenge each other you will stay independent and isolate yourself and will stunt your maturity growth. So we are going to focus on challenging each other, making sure that we grow so we don't start isolating ourselves. That's our main focus. Tonight, we weren't on our A game but we will come back and do better."
