Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus #16 Baylor on November 3, 2025 at 12 p.m.
Women's Basketball
vs #16 Baylor
Quotes: Duke 79, Liberty 41
12/17/2015 10:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie
Opening Statement:
“It was just a good game for us to get better. I thought we improved throughout the game and were able to play well with different lineups. We got to experiment a little bit, which was good. We played our bigs, we played four guards. We did a lot of different things that helps us get better. Becca [Greenwell] was great. She was attacking and when she's rebounding and getting eight rebounds she's going to score 26 points. I feel that goes hand in hand; to be aggressive to the boards and also aggressive offensively. I really appreciate seeing Angela [Salvadores] get out there and do her thing. As a passer I think she'd have more assists if we could catch all of the passes. She's learning her teammates and at the same time learning the spacing on the floor and how to make some of those great passes. We got better and we're looking forward …onto the next.”
On the team having different options this season:
“I'm just working with the team and trying to figure them out and how they play together. I think it's important to have versatility. I think it's a good thing. Where we use it will depend on how we're matching up and what we're doing in a particular game. We'll have to see. It's a game-by-game thing. I definitely believe in getting the most out of your team and really being able to allow the players to play and use their skills to the greatest advantage. So if that means four guards in a particular game and one post so be it. If that means three posts and two guards, whatever works.”
On the team's rebounding efforts:
“That kind of fight is really important. That's one thing I really like about Lyneé [Belton] and Becca. They get after it. They don't like the idea of someone else getting it before them. I think for Lyneé she had six rebounds and I think she could have had 10. She could have been there and she was talking about that after the game saying 'I should have rebounded more.' The tenacity with which you rebound, that's a huge part of it. If you keep that tenacity you're going to get a lot of rebounds. Becca hasn't approached her high in rebounds and when she does that it's a whole other level.”
On Lyneé Belton's play and projection for the future:
“She knows the game. She's got a basketball IQ. That's an important part of the game and she gets a sense of that. I feel that way about her and I feel that way about the team in terms of we have a long way to go to get everything we can out of each other. We have to really push for that because that will be a very special time when we can get it in gear. It's a challenge, maximizing the whole team and certainly getting Lyneé to where she is.”
On the upcoming game at Kentucky and learning from previous losses:
“I think we learned a whole lot about rebounding, a whole lot about being smart with the basketball. Those are very disappointing. Those are games we could have closed out. If you think about [Texas] A&M in overtime, I just remember their guards stepping up in the overtime and that cost us. At South Carolina, we're up with four minutes to go 51-50 and we're not making the right decisions. I think those are painful and I don't think you have to lose to learn so that's bothersome. We're looking forward to going, again the environment in Kentucky will be loud, but I don't think anything could be louder than South Carolina. In terms of the way that gym works and the way they're on top of you. That's a great opportunity for us. Ranked or not ranked, I don't care if people are ranked I just want us to play our game anywhere. And we haven't quite always done that.”
On the second quarter:
“With these quarters you're always changing [lineups] and I'm always asking the coaches one thing 'Who are the five most productive people?' That's what I always ask. It's not a matter of starting, it's a matter of finishing and really finishing well. That's what we try to do as we work through those quarters. Who is being productive? Who is really playing out there? I think the team just turned it up a notch and we needed to because it was sort of slow paced. We needed more up tempo.”
On Duke's up tempo play and press being the reason for Liberty's 24 turnovers:
“It's probably a little bit of both. We press all the time. We're the team that presses the most in the ACC. A lot of people wait and press at the end for reasons to catch up. We're trying to press throughout and create havoc and really attack and as Becca said get more steals and just really disrupt what people are doing. I think we did that to some extent. I think we can get a lot better at it. We're still missing opportunities, but when we're aggressive like we were today and intense, that's really good.”
Redshirt Sophomore Guard Rebecca Greenwell
On her mindset coming into the game:
“Coming into the game, I wanted to try to be effective in different ways, and I really just tried to focus on defense. That just helped my overall game, and the offense came with that – defense and rebounding.”
On gaining a large lead against Liberty:
“We were just playing like it was a broken play game. We weren't setting up very many offenses. We were just giving what the defenses gave us. I think we played consistent defense the entire game.”
On Liberty's 24 turnovers:
“I just came into the game with the mentality to anticipate passes more. I think their presses were really great, they put in really good passes. But I think we did great everybody anticipating and reading a pass.”
On heading to her home state to play Kentucky:
“I'm really looking forward to that game, especially not being able to play my freshman year. So I know what the environment is like and I'm really looking forward to it. I know a lot of my friends and family will be there so it should be fun.”
Freshman Guard Angela Salvadores
On whether she feels comfortable after her initial start to the year:
“When I came here first, it was with a problem in my foot. It was difficult to start a game. But now I'm much better. I have to keep working to stay in shape as much as possible. Now I'm getting better.”
On what she was thinking during her dribble between a defender's legs on a fastbreak:
“Nothing but where the space was between her legs. The first thing I saw was her legs, so I got out of that space behind her. So I threw the ball there.”
On a pass to Greenwell that resulted in a missed layup:
“She always gets the most difficult ones, so it's no problem. I've got to give her more chances, opportunities.”
On passing up shots to send the ball to her teammates:
“I think I have to score more on this team and I'm trying to do it. It takes time for me because I was out for two months and I'm learning. But I have to score more. I don't want to be just a passer. But they are pretty good – they are much better than my teammates in Spain. It gets easier to pass to them than to pass in Spain. But I have to score more and keep making assists – both.”
Liberty head coach Carey Green:
Opening Statement:
“First of all, I want to congratulate Duke. They played intense and consistent the entire game. I'm very proud of our girls. We competed for two quarters and it's unfortunate, and obvious, you have to play for four quarters. Just a few miscues, or as I discussed with the team, some immaturity or inconsistency, whatever you want to call it, opportunities you have to stay in a battle against a top 10, top 20 team. We've had some good competition in our non-conference … top 20, top 25 teams. Obviously Duke is one of the best ones we've played against. Very difficult to win on their home court. You've got to play consistent.”
On the team's success in the first and third quarters versus the second and fourth:
“Some of that's pretty simple. Both of them (Ashley Rininger and Mickayla Sanders) were sitting beside me in two and four. I'm thankful. Both of them have played hard. Mickayla goes to the bench because of foul trouble. Ashley goes to the bench because of the injury. They mean a lot to us. Those two quarters were not very good. The first and third, really proud of them in the first quarter. We hung around, hung around. We had some game goals. We were right there. Two little miscues right there at the end of the first quarter and I think we gave up four points right there and we're down three. We played what we needed to do … execute and just took a poor shot and turned the ball over and we're behind. Third quarter, just played with a lot of energy, a lot of spunk. Played good defense. We've got to be a little bit better, obviously. And they know it, too. Our size, their size matches up. Unfortunately I don't like this number; they got 18 offensive boards and we got 18 defensive boards. As we discussed before we even came up, that defensive board you want to control about 70 percent or higher. Not go 50/50. Gives them second chance shots. We've just got to take care of the ball a little bit better. There's so many things that sort of blew up. You look at those quarters … executed good and unfortunately didn't have some very valuable players on our team in the second and fourth. I think the second one, Ashley was playing good. She was playing aggressive. On her injury, it was an aggressive rebound and got it. Just not having them out there on the floor. Not that we're one or two player team … just that other people have to step up. It wasn't consistent. We talk about being mature and making good decisions there. Inconsistency.”
On how to improve the team's decision making:
“It's unfortunate. Ashley is inside on the post and the turnovers are coming on the perimeter. Really doesn't make any difference if she's in there or not; those people on the perimeter … they've just got to make more mature and better decisions. We go back to drill work and practices … conditioning. We've been working on an offense we haven't even thrown out there yet. We run that offense without any dribbles which allows the defense to really get up on us. Just condition ourselves, prepare ourselves for those tough moments. During those periods of time too, we were 0-for-10 from threes. We took 15 shots and 10 of them were threes and we didn't make a one. We're starting to bury ourselves along with turning the ball over. So it was ugly quarters. So you have to take care of the ball so it doesn't transition so much into easy quick points. The perimeter people have to be tougher and take care of the ball.”
Redshirt Senior Forward Ashley Rininger
On her status after the injury:
“As of right, not really sure what's going on.”
On what she told the team after she came out of the game:
“All I said was, 'Go out there and give it your all. It doesn't matter, you're going to make mistakes, but just go out there and try your absolute best and try your hardest.'”
On the size matchup with Duke:
“Well I actually like it. It's a challenge, but I think it's also helpful because we have each other. We play against each other every day in practice, so we have that kind of experience. It's definitely challenging, but we've had a lot of practice with it.”
Junior Forward Mickayla Sanders
On picking up her third foul:
“I think it just hurt energy wise. We had some momentum going and I made an emotional foul, so that was kind of hard to take in. It wasn't really a smart foul, it was more of a selfish foul that I took. They bounced back though. They played hard, which is good.”
On Duke's run in the second quarter after Rininger's injury:
“I think it was a little bit of both. Ashley is one of our leaders on the court and off the court, so it's hard to see her go down. It kind of took us back a little bit. But we tried to play for her and play hard for her since if she was out there she'd be playing hard.”
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F/C
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