College of Charleston
Head Coach Nancy Wilson
Opening statement ... "Obviously we're very disappointed not to be advancing. Extremely proud of our team today. I thought it was a great game. Georgia Southern is as hot as any team right now. Our girls fought back and played some great, great defense. No. 34 (Jessica Geiger) came in and hit that big shot. It was a tough, big shot to beat us. I felt like we pushed them to the wire and wish we could have gotten the win."
On the emotion for the seniors ... "The emotion is tough because they do remember the excitement and thrill of getting to the finals and they also have great respect for Georgia Southern. The league is even tougher this year and to play such a great game against Georgia Southern, I think we're disappointed not in the loss itself but just not to be in a position to advance at this point. We have great respect for the team that just beat us."
On falling behind so far in the first half ... "They shot 50% in the first half and I think we shot 34% that was pretty much it. They were really connecting on everything. The main thing we talked about at halftime was it was their three post players. We talked about post defense and players needed to play better perimeter defense which they did and picked that up."
Georgia Southern Eagles
Head Coach Rusty Cram
About the game ... "You know you want to get fans back and I can't think of a better way than a close ball game. Nobody left early; I can promise you on that. I'm proud of the kids. They hung in there, especially when they (C of C) drained that 3 to go up by 2.The kids stayed focused. We played smart defense to finish the game. So my hats off to them, they played well."
About the second half ... "We started getting complacent and we started feeling the pressure. And it all started because they turned up the heat defensively. They got up in the passing lanes and really started bodying us up on the basketball. Then, they started attacking the offensive glass. I thought we did a good job in the first half with that stretch that lasted about five or six minutes of taking away their offensive glass and getting in there and limiting their second chance points. But, they began to turn up the heat at the end of the first half pressure wise; they started hitting the offensive glass and got some offensive put-backs. That really hurt us and we lost our confidence and our poise. We had to regroup. The first four or five minutes of the second half, you're right; we came out a little complacent. I don't know if that was mental or tired, I don't know what it was, but fortunately we had people in there to pick it back up."