Quotes: Duke 93, Virginia Tech 51

Head Coach Gail Goestenkors

Opening Quote:
“I'm really happy for the seniors. This is a nice way for them to go out, playing in Cameron. They set the tone early, had really good energy, and set the tone with our defense. For the first five minutes of the second half we were a little bit flat, but then I thought we did a good job to pick it back up again. Overall, I was really pleased and I thought it was a great team effort. Everybody coming off the bench played really well for us and that's important.”

On the unselfishness of the team:
“This team has always played well together and they've always been very unselfish. It starts with the senior leadership. We've got three seniors here who are very talented and they show the way things are going to be done by being unselfish. All three could probably take twenty shots a game, but they don't. They make sure that they get everybody involved and that made us a really good team.”

On facing the different defenses that Virginia Tech used:
“I think that we did a good job against most of their defenses. When you shoot sixty percent, you've got to be pretty pleased. We wanted to establish our inside game early and I think that we did that. They began to double down a little bit and played a little zone. So we kicked it back out, skipped the ball, and we were hitting our threes. We had a nice combination.”

On how physical the game was:
“The ACC is a very athletic and physical conference. That's the way the NCAA tournament is going to be as well. Things aren't called as tightly anymore, so you've got to be able to really adjust and tough mentally and physically.”

On using a lot of players from the bench:
“I wasn't thinking of the tournament at all. We've had some really good practices and the whole team's been playing well. So I wanted to give everybody an opportunity to play because in practice they've been giving us great minutes. Abby Waner has been much more aggressive and hitting her shot in practice. I felt like she deserved an opportunity to come out and play along with some of the others. Laura Kurz has been doing well in practice and she came out and had one of her better games.”

Senior Mistie Williams

On having an easier game in preparation for the next month of play:
“I don't necessarily think it was easy. We definitely had to stay focused and Virginia Tech was just killing us on the offensive boards. It may have looked easy, but there were definitely some points of the game that we could have improved on. With what's coming up in the next month, it's something we're getting ready for and I'm actually really looking forward to it.”

On her father singing the National Anthem for her final home game:
“It's nice. I haven't actually heard my dad sing for a while but it's actually nice for him to sing and then for us to win because last time he was here we lost. It's nice to have my dad be a part of my basketball career here at college.”

Senior Jessica Foley

On special moments of Senior Night:
“It doesn't even feel like Senior Night because we know that we have so much more of our season left. It's definitely sad to have our last game in Cameron, but I think that there's so much more of the season left to go that we haven't really thought about the end of it yet.”

Virginia Tech Head Coach Beth Dunkenberger

Opening Statement
“Obviously a frustrating evening for us, I do not think we played very well or very poised. And I think Duke had one of their better outings of the year. It's important that we regroup and head on from here and not look back.”

On the difference between this game at Duke versus the game played at Virginia Tech:
“I thought they got some easier looks at the basket, and they shot the ball extremely well in the first half, and I thought they got high percentage shots. I thought some of our shots did not fall early and I was a little disappointed at our attitude when things did not go our way.”

On Virginia Tech's play:
“I thought we played hard throughout the game and that is evidenced by 26 offensive rebounds and how we did on the boards. But I don't think we played particularly smart or particularly well together. They had 11 blocked shots, we got to understand that if that's not a foul or it is not being called a foul we have to make one more pass, and again that just goes back to being smart and adjusting, and we didn't do that well tonight.”

On Duke's transition offense:
“We were trying to put a little pressure on them. Our press worked extremely well against them last time. They were just very aggressive, and we were a step late coming out of traps, and they get up and get numbers and knock down some wide open threes and knock down some lay ups got some and ones. Once you get some momentum and shots, the basket seems to open for you.”