Chattanooga Basketball Postgame Quotes
Liberty at Chattanooga
McKenzie Arena – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Wednesday – Nov. 21, 2018

Head Coach Katie Burrows
Opening Statement…
"Boy, what a good game our girls played tonight. I was very proud of them. We struggled Monday night. It was like the light just wouldn't come on in that first half. I challenged them in the second half of the game Monday against Virginia Tech and they came out and responded. We did really well. That carried over to this game.

"We had a couple of conversations and that one day that we had to prepare for Liberty, about coming in and staying focused always. You have to stay tight on the court at all times. If you need to relax come sit down and we'll get you a sub. Those kinds of things. We just couldn't get it to click the other day. Tonight we started right out of the gate clicking.

"I knew when Lakelyn hit her first three; she hit her first one and I was like okay. She hit her second one and I was like 'oh boy'. Then Brooke hits one and I'm like okay finally here we go. We're finally getting that rhythm and start hitting the threes. We have not been shooting it well at all. To shoot 50% from the three-point line, I was a little happy. Let's put it that way.

"Very proud of our effort. We still have to clean up our turnovers. This is the team that was not pressuring us that much. Same thing on Monday they were not pressuring us that much. It's all stuff that we can avoid. We get to playing to fast sometimes and if we would look before we do we would commit fewer."

On playing many girls tonight…
"We got to rotate everybody in and I think all but two scored. Everyone produced. I always like to get the young ones in there. Our freshmen got a lot of playing time then we were able to get Pare in there and get a few buckets. Her little take to the basket. That's kind of her MO. She likes to shoot those little off balance things. That's how they play over there in New Zealand. I was glad she had the confidence in herself to take that."

How hard is it to motivate them to play hard when they have a big lead at the half?
"We went in there and I reminded them, I said look guys it's very easy to lose a 20 point lead. We had the 20-point deficit on Monday and that was our goal to chip away. That was our goal. We actually had won the second half on Monday. Had we come out strong we might have actually won that game. So I just kept reminding them it just takes a few shot and they're back in it so we have to stay tight. I challenged them again.

"I said guys we have to put four quarters together. We had some hiccups. We have to do better with our three-point defense. I think we still gave up way too many tonight. We'll keep working on that. Just to let them know that it takes a couple of buckets in order for them to turn it around so we have to stay tight and stay focused. And they did tonight. I'm Proud of them."
 
Eboni Williams – Fr.-F
How important was it to get this win today?
"I think it was very important for us because we just came off a loss and it was kind of tough for us. This was good motivation for us right now. We really needed this as a team."

On more freshman coming in the game tonight…
"I think it's good that some of the other freshman got in because this gives them the time to experience a real life game instead of us playing in practice. We'll get better from doing this. Hopefully we have other opportunities to play in games so we can get better."

Mya Long – So.-G
Did you feel the pressure…
"I didn't feel any pressure at all. I feel like if we just pass the ball we'll get open looks. Normally we are good at breaking down the defense, getting the ball to the open man.  As long as I knock down the shot."

How hard is it to stay motivated to play hard when you have a big lead?
"It's not hard at all. Our Coach is the type of coach that she's going to put whoever out there who is going to play hard, who's going to stay focused and do what we need to get done as a team. If you're out there lolly-gagging around, not playing hard, then you're not going to be in the game. It's not that hard because we already know what our coach expects from us."