St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 66, NJIT 42
12/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2014
Head Coach Joe Tartamella
Opening Statement:
"Obviously I'm happy that we were able to come away with the win today against an improved program in NJIT. I was happy with our effort in the second half. I thought the first half we played OK. We needed to be a little bit sharper in certain areas, which we talked about at halftime. It was nice to be able to use our bench this afternoon. Being able to get them in the game and seeing them score 20 points for us is a big lift and something that we needed to have as they continue to grow and mature as players. Now we move forward and get ready for our weekend tournament coming up on Saturday and Sunday, which is going to be a great test for everybody involved."
On the Red Storm's performance on offense:
"I thought we shot the ball better than we have in the first half. We had a number of individuals make tough shots. The last possession of the game which we scored from was probably the best possession that we had. Five people touched the ball, it went from one side of the court to the other, inside out to a bucket. We'll try to build off of that. NJIT played a number of different defenses and threw different looks at us, which is good and made us have to do different things. I was happy with our adjustments and I thought our spacing got better throughout the game."
On the Red Storm's standout bench performers:
"For a kid who hasn't played a lot, I thought Selina [Archer] played as good as she can right now. I also thought seeing Imani [Littleton] be aggressive offensively was important for us. [Tamesha] Sox [Alexander] was able to play most of the second half and gave us some stability at the point as well. Overall, I thought Selina and Imani gave us a good lift and I thought our posts gave us a good lift, between Kyra [Dunn], Selina and Imani."
On preparing for the St. John's Charwells Holiday Classic on Dec. 20-21:
"We have finals so it's important for our players to get in the classroom. We also want to get healthy. If we can steal a day here or there, because of the early start for us going to Europe, we'll try to do that. However, we have to prepare for a very good tournament coming up. Auburn, SMU and Indiana State are all playing very well right now, which is great for us. I'm glad that we've been able to get ahead of the game here as we start the season, but we know how long it is and how much we have to improve. There are a lot of things we need to work on this week along with getting rested."
Junior guard Danaejah Grant
On the Red Storm's team effort:
"As far as everyone contributing I believe this is one of our most complete games so far this season. Defensively we had some miscommunications but overall we were pretty decent. We weren't as good as we want to be but pretty close."
On the rebounding of senior forward Amber Thompson:
"Teams are starting to see that Amber is an offensive rebounder. She's going to get on the boards, grab rebounds and go back up. Opponents are putting more emphasis on locating her and making sure she's covered, so that's opening our game up on the outside and allowing us to attack the gaps."
Sophomore forward Jade Walker
On settling into her role as a starter:
"I feel pretty comfortable. My teammates really help me feel that way. I've been working really hard and they've been pushing me and making me feel really comfortable in my new role and position."
