Chattanooga Head Coach Jim Foster
On what was talked about at half time
“We just talked about playing too fast. It was more of our younger kids. It's a big adjustment coming out of high school, playing against the kind of team we played Friday night and coming back and playing an entirely different tam on Sunday. You saw Ka'Vonne, a veteran player, make the adjustments necessary. So the experiences will help the younger players by having them, and now they know what you're talking about.”
Thoughts on the first half
“I thought we played well in the first half except for three minutes. That last three minutes, when we tied it at 21, that three minutes determined the game. I thought for 37 minutes we played extremely well. For three we played very poorly. Bad decisions and quick shots. We wanted to move the ball, reverse the ball and take our time. We came down and took a three with 1:21 to go in the half with something like 25 seconds to go on the shot clock. That's not the way we want to play. We're not going to be a very good team playing that way. I think we learned that lesson, moved on to the second half and played very well.”
On the impact made by Jasmine Joyner being in foul trouble
“I think it was a big one, but again she only played six minutes in the first half. I thought we played a good 11 or 12 of that, but that last three minutes hurt us.”
On the game plan leaning mostly on Ka'Vonne Towns in the second half
“Well, no. I talked to this team about leadership and I talked to you the other day. You guys were all looking around for Taylor Hall. Well, today Ka'Vonne was Taylor Hallish. She wanted the ball, wanted to take the shots and took the responsibility on her shoulder which is what seniors do. She played like a senior.”
On what the younger players took from the second half
“Well, they have to play harder. The one thing I didn't like in the second half was when we scored a big basket, USF came down right at us and scored. We let that happen. The really good teams score and take pride in getting a stop. Even though we're a pretty good defensive team, we don't understand that yet to the level that we need to understand it. Especially to a team that's going to take a quick shot. You have to come down, you have to get your shorts jacked up, and you have to get down with your hands up. Play them.”
Ka'Vonne Towns, guard/forward, senior
Thoughts on her performance and her team's confidence in her
“My team mates did a great job of knowing I was feeling it, trying to get open and make plays happen. The last shot did everything but just go in. I had a good look at it and should have made it, but it didn't go in.”
On the sting of the loss of the game and longest home winning streak
“I think it hurts a little more because it snaps the streak. But a loss is a loss.”
On Jasmine Joyner's limited play due to foul trouble
“It hurt us because of her size and her ability to grab it and put it back up. But Destiny came off the bench and did a great job.”
Keiana Gilbert, guard/forward, freshman
On how the Mocs can improve
“I think we have to slow down on offense and keep up the defensive pressure. I think once we came out in the second half we executed and started making shots.”
On what USF was able to do to limit her offense
“I think I was in a rush in the first half and trying to avoid getting a shot blocked. They were making me change my shot, so they weren't falling. I tried to come out in the second, calm down and make better shots.”
