University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
March 27, 2005 | Women's Basketball
March 27, 2005
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery
North Carolina Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell:
(Opening Statement)
"First, I would like to complement Arizona State. They were confident and tough. It was a hard fought game.
ASU has an excellent program and we were really impressed with how they played us. I'm really proud of the
three girls sitting next to me [Ivory Latta, Erlana Larkins and Nikita Bell]. They all played hard and tough. We
were the only team from the East Coast that had to play someone on their home floor. That made us tougher.
It's almost 2 a.m. in North Carolina and these girls played well with a timetable they aren't used to. I'm just
really proud of the way they battled tonight."
Q: What were your thoughts on La'Tangela Atkinson coming in and giving your team a boost? "I thought she missed some easy shots inside and I kept telling her to be strong around the basket. She can surprise you with her great defense and rebounding. La'Tangela will come through for you if you just give her an assignment."
Q: Why did Leah Metcalf handle the ball so much? "Some of it had to do with the fact that Ivory got fingers stuck in her eyes twice and her contacts weren't staying in place. That is why we took her out to get that corrected because she couldn't see. Plus, Leah is very good at penetration. A lot of the things we were trying to do involved penetration. Especially after the second half when we were penetrating, drawing fouls and getting to the line. Leah is also a leader as a senior captain."
Q: Can you talk about Erlana Larkins and Nakita Bell's dominance inside? "They are both big and strong. We were trying to get the ball into Nakita everytime Regean Pariseau came into the game because it was a tough matchup. Even though we play her on the wing, Nakita is a very good post player because she has a great vertical and is so physically strong. I though we could score with Erlana especially when Kristen Kovesdy had four fouls on her. When we get the ball inside to Erlana she usually produces well."
Q: What surprised you about ASU? "I knew they were going to get in our faces, put a lot of hands on us and be physical. They frustrate a lot of opponents with their defense. So I told my players this game was going to be a game of runs. They were going to put their hands on us and I told our players not to get frustrated. We worked on stepping into them and getting open. Until you get out there you don't know how tough they play. But we play like that so I think that helped us. We get in each others' faces every day at practice and I think that helped us. We had two or three spurts where we scored two or three buckets in a row and I thought that was the difference in the game."
North Carolina Players Erlana Larkins, Ivory Latta, Nikita Bell:
Q: Ivory, how much did your injury affect you throughout the game?
Latta: "I tried not to let it phase me that much, or think about it that much. My teammates kept saying that they
needed me. All I need to hear is my teammates behind me and it gives me the strength to fight hard for them."
Q: Later on in the game Kovesdy had four fouls and they brought her back in, were you trying to work toward her knowing she had four fouls? Larkins: "We tried to get the ball inside and force her to make defensive decisions. We knew she had four fouls and if we could get the ball inside she could make two choices, to play straight up or physically. She did play great defense and had a great game though."
Q: What are your impressions of Baylor? ell: "It really goes back to that you really don't know just how tough a team is until you're out there on the court with them. We can watch all day, but we don't know until we're playing them. They might have had an off game today, or it could have been their best game of the season. We won't know until we get on the court with them. We're just going to try and execute and play our game like we know how." Latta: "Baylor is a great team and they have some great post players. We're just going to go out and play and when we get on the court is when we'll see how good they are. That's what some coaches have said about us that you don't know how fast we are until you play us. We're going to focus on our game plan and go out and play hard." Larkins: "I think it's going to be a great game. They're great with the fast breaks and they have two really great post players in Blackmon and Young, so I think it should be a great match-up."
Q: The North Carolina men's team is also in the Elite Eight, is there any competition between your teams to see who can make it further? ell: "No, we're just wishing them the best of luck and they're doing the same for us. Right now we're focused on ourselves, we're just trying to make it to the Final Four. But we congratulate them, and we're happy for them."
Q: What changed the momentum of the game? ell: "We had hard games during the season. In the ACC tournament we had to fight back for the first two games. I think those games helped in a large part. This win shows character, it shows our team knows how to battle. We play together. We stick together. We listen to our coaches."
Q: Was it as tough playing at Arizona State as you thought it would be? Larkins : "I think it was tougher than we thought it would be. Arizona is a great place and a great environment. They were the home team. They played really well."
Q: How did the crowd affect the game? Latta: "Our crowd is great. It is always great to see people behind us. We also had some fans from Arizona State, and I was a little surprised about that. I can sit here and say Arizona State was one of the top teams we have played all year. Coach was telling us how aggressive they are on defense, and you never know until you play them. Tonight they were very aggressive on defense. I commend our crowd for coming this far and everyone's parents that made it down. [Our fans] helped us our a lot."
Q: Erlana [Larkins], how were you feeling during the game (cramps)? Larkins : "The cramps were coming on. I felt it coming. I went out there and gave it my all, because right now, you lose and you are out. So you have to go out and leave it all out on the court."
Q: I vory [Latta], how did your injury affect your play? Latta: "I tried not to let it affect me that much. I just tried not to think about it that much. My teammates were telling me, `Ivory, we need you. Suck it up. You will be alright.' That is all I needed to hear, just my teammates behind me. It gave me the strength to go out and fight hard for them. I do it for me, but I give it one hundred percent for my teammates, a hard fought battle for my teammates. [I] lay my body on the line."
