Coach Moore's Comments
In regards to Ashley Houts:
"Ashley [Houts] is an unbelievable person obviously a great player. She has worked extremely hard to be the player that she is. I recruited her very hard knowing it would be a tough sell. She impressed me after committing to Georgia; she sat down and wrote me a three page, hand written letter. Not many kids would take the time to do that. She will always be special to me and that is why we wanted to make this game happen."
Was this an easy game to get?
"Yeah it was. With the Tennessee game we did have some conflict initially when we were trying to schedule them again. So I called Georgia about Ashley [Houts] and getting her back here and then also calling Kentucky about Carly Morrow from GPS and both of them were willing to work it out. Obviously with Carly [Morrow] being a junior we were able to stagger them. It is still great to have them here and to get the opertunity to host a BCS school."
Where is your team in terms in getting ready to compete with a team ranked in the top twenty?
"It's going to be a great challenge we are still trying to find ourselves. We have got some kids that have been out that are finally back that are trying to get in the rhythm. Everybody is trying to define roles again, it's a big challenge. I looked out there Sunday at Austin Peay and we had four freshmen out on the court. They are good freshmen, I am excited about them but it still just a little different than a high school game so it's going to take some adjusting for them as well. "
How are the injured on your team right now?
"We were hoping to have Bailey [Dewart] back by now, that's a big lose. We did get Tagan Hatchett and Kylie Lambert back right before our opener last week. Hopefully they are getting more comfortable. I thought they looked much better in the second game. Kiara Smith is someone we were real excited about, out of high school. She has never really been one hundred percent so we would like to get her healthy again at some point."
What makes Ashley [Houts] one of the top players in the country?
"Toughness obviously, and work ethic. This kid goes above and beyond. Obviously, she was the starting point guard for the USA team this summer. One of the best in the country but it wasn't all just given to her she has earned everything she has received."
Does your team look forward to a game like this?
"I hope so. This team is a little hard to figure in that regard. We miss Erin Ogan in particular because she was such a vocal leader for us last year and LaCandra Mason led by example. That was thing that disappointed me Friday night, we didn't seem to have as much energy and enthusiasm as I am use to seeing. So I hope we can overcome that and change our demeanor."
What did you learn after Friday night?
"First and foremost get the ball to Shanara [Hollinquest]. We rode her hard the last ten minutes. The team played much better. Kayla Christopher who is starting for us as a freshman for us looked a lot more comfortable and looked to score more. Kylie Lambert, Michelle Davis, and Erin Helton looked much better. Hopefully they are finding a comfort level but this is going to be on a whole other level. They are a great team; it is going to be a big challenge."
What is your biggest challenge defensively?
"I didn't think we played team defense in our opener, we left each other out on islands out there. If you do that against Georgia, it's going to be ugly. You are probably not going to be able to flat out guard someone one on one, we are going to have to do a lot of helping, rotating, and talking. Obviously you've got to keep a team like this off the boards. A lot of times it is not the first shot that kills you, it's the second and third."
