Dec. 5, 2009
Recap |
Final Stats |
Notes |
Photo Gallery 
Auburn Head Coach Nell Fortner
Opening Statement...
"I like how we came out and I thought that we attacked their zone defense very well. KeKe [Carrier] was really unstoppable in there for a long time. I was also very pleased with how Alli Smalley ran the team today, she was outstanding."
On Alli Smalley's performance...
"Alli was outstanding; she was just a warrior today. She played 39 minutes and she contributed on both ends of the floor. She had to score and her defense was also very good. She was tough today, but I expect that because she's a heck of a player."
On Smalley's improvement as a point guard...
"She's much better at having to step and run the team, without a doubt. We have to find a couple more ways to get her a shot though. We have a couple things that we do but we need to be a little more diverse in that so she can get better looks at the basket."
On this game being one of the team's better defensive efforts...
"In the first half it definitely was. In the first half we were really on it defensively but I thought we lost a little bit of our focus in the second half. That happens so it is not surprising but we have to try to not let that happen. The thing I was most concerned with was that we had 26 turnovers. That's something that has haunted us all year, so we have to get better at taking care of the ball."
On KeKe Carrier's performance...
"I'm glad she didn't get a charge on that fast-break because that is usually a charge opportunity for the other team. I thought in the first half, she was unstoppable. George Washington was playing that matchup zone and she was 5-for-5 from the floor so they had to get out of that and play us in man where it's hard to guard her. I thought she did a nice job although she lost her focus a little bit in the second half. Hopefully KeKe just keeps moving on up the ladder."
On the defense being a strength of this team...
"It has to be a strength of ours because I am not sure we are going to out-score a lot of people. Therefore, we have to be able to hold people down in the 50s or low 60s. Doing that will give us a better opportunity to win."
On the ten day break...
"We are going to have a lot of practice. Individually, these young players need a lot of reps. We played so many games in such a short period of time that it really cut into our practice time. We need this next week to really get a lot of good offensive and defensive reps."
Auburn Player Quotes
Center KeKe Carrier
On her inside game...
"They had a bigger post player which I like. I can actually feel the body and post up better. We were really excited for this game and I am glad we got a win because we prepared really hard"
On her fast-break lay up...
"Everybody was pretty amazed. Nicolle (Thomas) made a good pass. It was unexpected but I was trying not to get a charge. I was glad I finished."
On the defensive effort...
"We started off real well. I think we could have picked it up in the second half. We did a good job on what Coach Fortner wanted us to do. We did real well pressuring them at the beginning."
On defensive team focus...
"We were trying to be a defensive team. We work on that every day in practice."
Guard Alli Smalley
On her transition to point guard...
"It's definitely hard to fill that void. We have lost our starting point guard Morgan Toles for a little while, but we are looking forward to her coming back. I think as a team we have to step up. We are shorthanded, we only have eight players. Everyone just had to step up today."
On her changes as a point guard...
"It is a lot different. My primary job is to set up the offense, and then my shots come as we get into the flow of offense."
On defensive effort...
"In the first half we came out with a lot of energy and defensive aggression. I was pleased with that. We have to work on doing that for 40 minutes. We played both man and zone. The zone is what we started out in and that put the pressure on them and made them take bad shots."
On turnovers...
"Not just today, but in general we need to get better and focus on limiting turnovers. That is what is killing us and it's really going to hurt us down the road if we don't reduce those."
George Washington Head Coach Mike Bozeman
Opening Statement...
"Auburn is very well coached. I think that part of our growing pains are understanding the importance playing both halves like we have the ability to. We can appreciate the effort given in the second half. It was such a lopsided game with the effort given in the first half, we didn't show up until the second half."
On how this will help your young team...
"It is all about learning with this group, we are so young. We have to learn that we can't put 14 points on the board in a half. It is not just the points, it is how the points were gotten and not gotten with the lack of execution and lack of focus. I think this was the most thoroughly scouted game that we had. We upped the ante and tried to have the team prepared and now it is time for the learning curve to get erased."
George Washington Player Quotes
Guard Tiana Myers
Overall thoughts on the game...
"I think we played two totally different halves. In the first half we only scored 14 points and in the second half we scored 29. I think we have to stop waiting until it's too late to turn on the effort, energy and urgency."
On what they can take away from this game...
"We can't come out and be lackadaisical. We have to come out with effort and execution from the jump ball to the end of the game."
Forward Megan Nipe
Overall thoughts on the game...
"In the first half we really didn't have poor shot selection but we weren't taking the smartest shots and we ended up shooting 4-for-24 and we weren't as aggressive as we should have been. In the second half we started executing and making our shots but we were already down 20 so it was hard to come back.
On what they can take away from today's game...
"We talked about a couple of things in the locker room. We worked on executing our plays better and our overall urgency in the first half.
