Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus South Dakota State on December 18, 2025 at 7 p.m.
/
7 p.m.
Women's Basketball
vs South Dakota State
Quotes: Duke 49, Michigan State 63
3/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie
Opening Statement...
My congratulations goes to Michigan State. It was a very interesting game and a very ugly game, really, in many
ways. It was a hustle play game, broken play game. Obviously we didn't do our part to make it a better game. This
is a tough lesson for us and a good opportunity for others. We can take what we learn and grow from.
On Abby Waner's knee injury playing a role...
I thought Abby [Waner] was very courageous. She came back from an injury that most people wouldn't. Most
people wouldn't have played. Twenty-two minutes are a lot of minutes for her considering she hasn't been through a
full practice. I was just really proud of Abby for the effort. She gave us a good start, hit some shots early and just
gave a great effort. But without question she was operating at 50 percent. She definitely tried though.
On the game plan during the last five minutes of the game...
We were just trying to, as Jasmine [Thomas] said, get a few stops, make some plays and quit taking all those
ridiculous three's when we just needed to score. We lost our composure, didn't have poise at that point in time, and
that's just not a good thing to lose especially if you are in a hostile environment. So really I was trying to think of
ways to think of ways to stop and score but we didn't do either. Obviously it wasn't a very good finish for us.
On Michigan State's ability to handle Duke's defense...
I thought they did a good job of having different people to throw to. I thought they did a really good job there. I was
concerned about that coming into this game from the standpoint of using the height, for example, of Allyssa
[DeHaan]. Mia [Johnson] is pretty smart. I know Mia pretty well, and she's pretty smart. She didn't try to dribble too
much. But the turnovers, we [Duke] had 16 and they [Michigan State] had 14. That's bad for us. We generate a lot
of offense off broken plays and turnovers, so that's a really critical stat and we needed to do a better job there.
Credit them for doing a good job; we needed to do a better job.
On home court advantage playing a role...
We play in front of a lot of hostile crowds. I think we've grown a lot as a team. I'm sure it helps, yes, of course it
helps. Is it the reason why they won? No. I'm sure it helped in some way but the reality is, we didn't play very well
tonight. We played very poorly and if a team plays poorly, you have to give credit to the other team for doing some
better things. Lauren Aitch and Mia Johnson were the difference in this game. There's nothing else to say about it.
They made plays and when they weren't making plays, Lykendra [Johnson] was getting a rebound. We didn't do
what we needed to do. You can't take everything away from what they've done and our season ends on a very
learning note.
Head Coach Suzy Merchant
Opening Statement...
I don't even know what to say. I should just let them talk because it was their moment and their time. All of them
played a big part, but none of them bigger than these three right here. That last little bit there, looking out at you
guys, it's a moment I'll never forget and I'm sure they won't either. It was all about what they wanted to accomplish
today and coaching kind of takes a backseat sometimes and kids just put things in their own hands and that's what
they did today.
On what it means to make it to the Sweet Sixteen...
It's sweet, especially the way this happened and the way things went down. Obviously there was a little bit of a
game plan clearly, but the bottom line is the players. Lauren [Aitch] made that comment about Cetera [Washington]
getting knocked a little bit and holding onto the ball. When she did that I said the same thing, ?we will not lose this
game.' Normally that is a turnover for us. For us to have 14 turnovers is borderline a miracle against anybody, and
for us to do it against Duke is pretty spectacular and it just goes to the mindset. It is exciting, and we weren't really
thinking about Sweet Sixteen, we were just thinking about Duke and that's all we were worried about.
On a lack of attention given to Michigan State headed into the game...
The players probably have a different perspective on it than I do because they are obviously a little more
emotionally charged about the situation, but I'm not here to make things worse and create more drama, it was
already there. All I wanted to do was put a game plan together. We did a couple things to the zone, we changed
Lykendra [Johnson] from the top to the bottom so she could be a better rebounder, how we handled the high post,
who we guarded and who we didn't. There was a just a couple things we through out there, some press attack, and
then it was really just about them going out there and giving everything they had. I really just tried to diffuse the
situation. What I will say, and I believe is, is that this place and women's basketball are better because Joanne
McCallie was here. Bottom line is that she did a great job. There is a reason why we are hosting and there are a lot
of great things. A lot of those kids came here because of her and you just look at it and embrace it and appreciate
the opportunity we had to play against Duke and come out on top.
On a sense of relief upon the game being over...
This is an important time of year and you really do want to keep it all about the game. That's really what it should be
about. It was getting a little nauseating; I'm not going to lie. I think you called it the white elephant in the room or
whatever. I guess my approach to it was that it is what it is and we have to play somebody sometime and we knew
it was going to be here so that was a good thing. It's funny where life takes you and the paths and journeys that you
go on, but my goal was just not to create more of a monstrosity and a circus to it. I didn't really talk to the kids a
whole lot about it except for just to talk about that each team we were going to play, that's all we're going to talk
about. If we get an opportunity to move on, we'll talk about the team we're going to play and you'll get inundated
with lots of questions obviously for obvious reasons. Really, our job is to worry about 40 minutes of basketball and
nothing more. I don't play the game, she doesn't play the game, they play the game.
On breaking Duke's press...
They started turning it up a little bit. There was a section when they changed to kind of full-court man-to-man and
that bothered us more than their zone attack. I felt like their zone pressure, the couple press breakers that we had
and where we put people, I thought we could break it. I know their pressure was intense, but I felt like with the way
that they run their pressure, if you had enough outlets with somebody behind the ball, in the middle and deep, you
can really spread them out and a trap would become ineffective. When it bothered us is when they went to man-toman
and came up on everybody and you saw we got out of our flow. We created some offense, as you mentioned
Mia [Johnson] getting to the basket, and that's when they went to that man-to-man and she just kept going and she
made a couple of tough shots at the rim. What I say was that hopefully we had three different press attacks that we
went to and we used all three of them.
On the team's 14 turnovers...
I don't know if we've done that, I'll have to go back and look at our goal chart to be honest with you. We might have
done it one time. I think it speaks volumes about what a little focus and toughness can do because that is a
remarkable statistic. The thing is, these guys can score the ball a lot of different ways. They can score off turnovers
and rebounds and north and south dribble attack. We felt like with the turnover situation, we did not want them to
score in bunches and we didn't want them to get offense on our mistakes. We really worked pretty hard. We had a
little benefit in that Middle Tennessee State pressed us a little bit. It was a different kind of pressure, but at least we
had been working on it for a week.
On playing so well at the end of games...
I think you have to certainly put a lot of the credit on the kids. You can draw things or have certain ideas about what
you want them to execute, but they just have a will and a fight about them to never give in. I think that's what you
saw. When we pulled away a little bit, I felt like they were never going to get to us. I don't know why, but in my gut I
knew they had a different look to them. I can't explain it. Everybody around them that knows these kids just knew
there was a different swagger about them. I almost felt like at practice it was like, ?alright, come on coach, let's get
this thing going.' They were ready to play the minute the last game was over, which I think goes to the end of game
situations. They want to be in those situations and they want to execute. They did a great job in back-to-back
games of doing that.
Senior Guard Mia Johnson
On dancing in the second half...
It just felt good. When we come to play anything can happen and that is what we were all banking on. Last night we
got together as a team and talked about what we wanted to accomplish here today. With the grace of God we are
here and executed our game plan.
On the two lay-ups late in the game...
I saw an opening. I really don't think they respected my dribble drive and, honestly, I probably wouldn't either.
Again, my teammates believed in me and I kind of let my confidence roll and I ran with it.
On winking at Coach P...
Not Coach P. I winked at Kalisha (Keane) and we do the double wink.
On explaining her one turnover to a team that usually forces many more...
One turnover? Amen to that one. You told me twelve one day. I can't (explain it). I think we had to do what we were
doing. We had to do what we were doing and I didn't turn the ball over.
On the intensity of both teams...
They're feisty, we're feisty. We didn't back down and we weren't going to. We all did a really good job and
sometimes got a little more fired up than we might have anticipated but it was a great battle.
On her mind set playing with a little meanness...
The biggest thing is that is the type of player I am. I'm more feisty and more things happen when I play with that and
I think I just fed off that.
Junior Center Lauren Aitch
On when they knew the game was over...
From the opening tip, we knew we had this game. Just how the tip went, you knew we were going to be fighting
because it was a jump ball right from the tip. That rebound was a big one. I had so much confidence in my team and
when I came off the bench, I wanted to see how the team was going to start out and I saw all the confidence and I
had to carry it along. They came out with so much fire. I was impressed.
On neutralizing Chante Black...
I tried to push out a little more. When you watch on film, she is not that great when she is further out from the
basket. When she gets close that is when you are dead in the water. We just tried to push her out and tried to
capitalize when they missed the basket to get the rebounds and that's what we did. We had everyone coming in
and rebounding. Lykendra Johnson had 12 rebounds; she was out of her mind. It was the rebounding.
On when they knew they had the game...
We held the ball really strong, everyone did. There was a point when Foofie was going across the middle and she
snagged her arm and she held on to it and I knew right from then, we were in it.
Junior Forward Aisha Jefferson
On the feeling of playing Coach McCallie...
It was never about playing Coach P. She was a great coach and did a lot of great things here. It was all about us
today. A lot of teams that play Duke just look at the name “Duke” and that is the end of the game right there. We all
came out and played with heart and played harder than them. We knew we would be the better team tonight.
On the atmosphere in the Breslin Center...
It was definitely the loudest we ever heard the Breslin. We want to thank all of the fans and giving us the support we
needed. We fed off all the energy and it definitely took us to another level.
On when Duke knew they were in for a fight...
I knew at the beginning that they knew we weren't going to back down. I don't know if they thought we were just
going to roll over. We were in there fighting and battling. We were in there getting tips, getting jump balls, the first
play was a jump ball. We set the tone for the whole game. They saw the look in our eyes. Then they knew we
weren't just going to let up.
On defending Duke...
Our game plan was to protect the paint and we knew they had a lot of great penetrators. Most of the guards like to
dribble drive and Abby Waner is a great shooter. It was a good thing to only defend the one player. We're good on
defense; that is our go-to right there. We can't score, you aren't going to score. It was a low scoring first half. 20-25,
that is probably their lowest scoring of the season. We definitely took care of the paint
Players Mentioned
C
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballKara Lawson on Bella Flemings
Monday, November 17
Kara Lawson on Taylor Sofilkanich
Sunday, November 16
Kara Lawson on Sanai Green
Thursday, November 13
Kara Lawson on Autumn Fleary
Wednesday, November 12
