Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus #16 Baylor on November 3, 2025 at 12 p.m.
Women's Basketball
vs #16 Baylor
Quotes: Duke 71, N.C. State 57
1/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Duke Coach Joanne P. McCallie
Opening Statement:
“It was a very physical game, an interesting game for us. I thought defensively we did some really good things. Offensively we had spurts. I loved our rebounding, didn't like our turnovers and love the consistency that again ?Te [Chante Black] has shown in terms of the efficiency in which she plays. I thought Joy [Cheek] gave us an enormous lift, being very aggressive at a critical point in the game. I thought ?Nish [Wanisha Smith] showed great leadership, changing the tempo a bit and attacking all the time. So there were some good team things definitely but we can play better, certainly a whole lot better. I definitely think we got better in terms of understanding tempo and understanding attack and forcing some things to happen on the floor.”
On what sparked the run in the second half by Duke:
“The players did. I mean Joy [Cheek] did?Joy and her teammates. I mean I have to look back at the film to get the time exactly but I just think aggressiveness. Obviously that big three by Joy?everyone likes a three especially by a post player. Joy's a great shooter and that's something that she can do regularly in my opinion. I just think team defense overall, team hustle and our transition attack in terms of our offense and our defense was definitely important to us. Our half court sets were okay, they weren't great, but definitely the transition element of our game?whether it was defending in transition and pressing or whether it was pushing the ball in offensive transition and really trying to attack the basket.”
On all of the players on the Duke roster having at least one rebound in the game:
“It's a good thing. Could we have the number be four or five? [laughter] You're right, everybody did have one rebound or more. I think that rebounding was very critical in this game. We didn't shoot the ball great, we really didn't and sometimes that happens. I mean you have to respect the game of basketball?it's not all pretty. It's a game of runs and it's a game of adjustments too. I think that if you're rebounding effectively?like I thought we did in many instances?it provides you with a chance to control the game despite the fact that you miss a few shots. Forty-two percent?obviously we'd like that a lot higher in percentage?that's part of it, that's part of the game. You have to give some credit to the defense too. It was a scrappy, physical, quick... and sometimes we were too quick. Twenty-four turnovers is far too much and that indicates that there was a quickness element and that we rushed on occasion and we need to not do that.”
Senior Wanisha Smith
On seeing former Duke player, Lindsey Harding, at the game today:
“It was a great experience. She's done some really great things here at Duke, and hopefully she continues that in her future career. It was great to be out there to support her because I had played with her for a few years, so congratulations to Lindsey.”
On the run in the second half:
“I really think it came in the second half when we started trapping everywhere. Every time we had an opportunity to go and trap we did, and we did a good job of reading and being in good position, and it led to a lot of easy lay-ups for us.”
Junior Chante Black
On practicing with former players Alison Bales and Lindsey Harding yesterday:
“It brought back old memories. I definitely hadn't played with them last year too much, so just being able to bring back players that we've played with in the past who have moved on to bigger and better things is just always a joy. And Alison's shot blocking ? I was like, ?Get her Ali,' every time someone went in the lane. So, it was just fun; real fun.”
Sophomore Joy Cheek
On her three pointer in the second half:
“I think anytime someone scores it gives you energy, and gives you momentum, so it just got us going.”
On her increased scoring in the second half:
“I think you have to be more intense. We knew we weren't getting all the loose balls and rebounds that we wanted, but it was really just letting the game come to me. What was open, I took it. It was really just taking what the defense gave me.”
N.C. State Coach Kay Yow
Opening Statement:
“It's a disappointing loss for us. I think we made a lot of mistakes in the game. We definitely got beat from the inside. If you look at the production in our starting post and then you look at theirs, that is right away a big difference in the game. Our decision making wasn't great a lot of the game when we turned it over. We know that we have the quickness and the athletic ability to create turnovers from the other team as well. It's that we haven't been consistent offensively and so we don't always convert when we get those turnovers. To this date, we haven't really established a nucleus of scorers that we can count on game in and game out. To me, as a coach, that probably concerns me more than anything else.”
On turnovers:
“Decision making is not good sometimes in those situations and I think it comes from both youth and inexperience. Our best player, Shayla [Fields] is a junior and she is consistent. She's not going to have a lot of that going on, but everybody else is out there mainly for the first time but having to be starters. I think sometimes we just were a little careless. They underestimate the person they're going against.”
On Duke's physical play:
“With somebody like Shayla, I don't think it affected her at all. With Khadijah [Washington], it was her decision making for the shots she took, not the physical play; she's as physical as a player that you can find.”
On if the team has regressed since the start of the ACC season:
“I don't feel that they've regressed at all. In non-conference [games], we had established a starting lineup and a rotation. The week before we were to start ACC play, we lost Luci Ellison. Luci is a great complimentary player to Khadijah. She is physical and she can leap. She knows her role; she sets great screens and she goes to the boards and rebounds. We lost her. That forced us to put somebody in the lineup that was playing very little minutes. We didn't have another game to play before we went into ACC competition. We're just caught short on depth and it hit us at a bad spot. We're still working with it.”
Khadijah Whittington
On what Duke did to stop them:
“Duke came out playing great defense and I think we were able to match their intensity and play good defense in the first half. We still had turnovers. We have to control our turnovers and we do that, I think we can beat any team in the ACC. We also have to play better post defense.”
On her performance today:
“They played pretty good defense on me but I wasn't able to hit the shots I was able to take. I should have driven more and I settled for the jump shot.”
Nikitta Gartrell
On what Duke did in the second half to slow them down:
“I think they capitalized on our turnovers and also they packed their zone in a little bit more so we weren't able to penetrate as much. It slowed us down and we weren't able to get as open as we did in the first half.”
Shayla Fields
On what the team can take away from the loss:
“For us, we have to minimize our turnovers. Forcing turnovers on Duke was a big deal but we have to capitalize more on 24 turnovers. We have to do more than they did against us on our turnovers.”
On bouncing back from an 0-4 start in the ACC:
“All the games that we've lost in the ACC have been on turnovers. I think we're a bounce-back team. We all have high expectations for this year and the rest of the season. We just have to work harder in practice and do the little things that are going to help us to keep going.”
Players Mentioned
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