St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: No. 20/25 St. John's - Villanova
2/25/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2012
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St. John's Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico
Opening Statement:
"Villanova is a difficult team to play. They play a different style of basketball than most teams that we face. We really had to spend a lot of time preparing for their offense and their ability to shoot the three. Our players did a wonderful job of defending the three today and we really attacked inside and got to the free throw line. It was great that we got to play our bench today and give some of these players a rest, not their usual 40 minutes going into Monday's game. We finished the year great at home and I'm happy for Da'Shena Stevens and Tesia Harris."
On where the program is now from where it was:
"Sometimes if you start thinking like that you start to feel a little bit of pressure. Today I had the chance to write a note to the seniors that are leaving and for the last few days I've been thinking about what I would say to Da'Shena. I've been reflecting on her career and I couldn't even begin to imagine her impact. I knew she would be a great player but the amount of success that we've had and where we've come since she has stepped foot on our campus is just incredible. The world is in the palm of her hand because she's a good student, a great basketball player and a beautiful young lady. The sky is the limit for her."
On the current status of the program:
"I think that our players believe that we can beat anyone on any given night. It is something that we continue to try to change and we are taking tremendous strides. It is a challenge everyday; our players came here with a dream of beating Connecticut and beating Rutgers. A lot of them hadn't been recruited, like Nadirah by Rutgers and Da'Shena by Connecticut, and they said, `I'm going to St. John's to make a difference and we're going to beat those teams.' Da'Shena referenced it, from the time that those freshmen that are now juniors stepped on campus, they believed they could beat anyone. We have made tremendous strides in our program."
Senior forward Da'Shena Stevens
On stepping out on the floor one last time as a collegiate:
"It was exciting. Playing four years here and being able to come out and play my last game with my team was great. My senior year didn't start the way I had planned so just coming out and finishing up was a great feeling."
On the emotions of the team this past week:
"I definitely feel that we have been up for the challenge. Once we beat UConn that gave us some momentum and we said, `look at our schedule we got the rest of these teams, we can play with anyone if we do what we have to do then we can definitely close it out.'"
On her proudest moment at St. John's:
"I've had a lot of great moments here but I would probably say my sophomore year when we beat Notre Dame at home that stands out in my mind so much and definitely beating UConn this year was great. When we beat teams that we weren't expected to beat probably had to have been some of my favorite moments here."
On whether she has accomplished enough:
"Coming from the WNIT and then having experienced the NCAA Tournament was great. Hopefully this year we can go a little bit further and then I'll be able to say `we got further with each year.' We played a tough NCAA Tournament last year and I think this if we do what we have to do to finish up the season and then go into the BIG EAST Tournament and do some things there, we can put ourselves in good position to do go further in the NCAA."
Senior guard Tesia Harris
On stepping out on the floor one last time as a collegiate:
"I've been here for two years and it has been a great experience. I felt like my team has been by my side each and every day to get better so it was exciting."
On transitioning to play in the BIG EAST and New York City:
"It's different because I see my family every day and also the competition level is higher and every day you're battling. This will be first appearance in the NCAA and that was one of my goals coming in so I'm up for the challenge to push my teammates every day so we can earn a spot in the Final Four."
Villanova Head Coach Harry Perretta
Opening Statement:
"I thought St. John's played extremely well and they made us play poorly. They are a very talented team who plays very well together. I think they're really good. They are a legitimate top-4 team in the conference."
On preparing for today's game:
"We were trying to work on our defense. Trying to keep them in front of us and not let them get a lot of fast break points because they're really good in transition. We tried to concentrate on executing our half-court offense. We were trying to concentrate on getting a lot of 3-point attempts. That was something we came into the game trying to do. We had 23 attempts but we needed to make at least 10 of them to even be in the game and we didn't do that."
Going forward into BIG EAST Tournament play:
"I think we have to learn to be a smarter team because we're not a really athletic team. We're not very quick and can't really press you. So we have to be smarter on offense and defense."
