University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
March 29, 2005 | Women's Basketball
March 29, 2005
North Carolina Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell:
(Opening Statement)
"I'd like to congratulate Baylor, they outplayed us tonight. They played very physical on the inside especially. I thought in the first half especially that we weren't attacking the basket like we should have and our shot selection was poor. I thought we did better in the second half. Our transition was better overall. Defensively we did a few nice things, but they basically outplayed us. We normally play a lot better, but we'd like to congratulate Baylor. We picked a bad game to not play well, but we have a lot of great players returning and we have to look forward to next season and hopefully do a little better."
Q: What made this game different from the ACC Tournament games where you were down and able to comeback?
"I thought if we could make a few baskets and get the lead down to single digits, then we'd start rolling. I thought Baylor was worn out in the last three or four minutes, and we'd get the rebound and transition it down the floor. We had a few fast-break opportunities, but again our shot selection wasn't good. We also had several players who weren't playing up to par tonight and Baylor may have had something to do with that."
Q: What did you think about your team's execution tonight?
"It wasn't very good, we weren't setting screens hard and getting people open. I told them at half time that they weren't making enough contact. I thought Baylor was much more physical, we were taking fade-aways instead of taking it to them. We should have been more aggressive and taken the ball more to the basket. We didn't get the ball to Erlana enough, and we should have gotten it in more to her. Baylor is good though, and I can see them going all the way. They did what they had to do and did a nice job with it."
Q: Where does Baylor rank against all of the good teams you've played this season?
"Shooting-wise Baylor is as good as anybody else that we've played. They have a lot of kids who can score and shoot a good percentage of their shots. They're a very good team and they have very good balance on the outside and inside. I think the main thing was rebounding, they out-rebounded us, and I thought that was key to the game. Baylor doesn't have a lot of weaknesses and they play well together as a team, and they executed well."
Q: What did you think about Sophia Young now that you've seen her play?
"She did a nice job, but she was 7 for 16. I thought at times we did a really good job on her. She's tough around the basket and she's very athletic and you can't give her a lot of open looks. When you have to double her inside it leaves other shooters open and they have some excellent shooters on that team. They did a nice job setting up and getting the ball inside. She did a nice job getting them set up to do what they needed to do."
Q: Was it a surprise to see Chameka Scott have the game that she did tonight?
"We knew that she was a dangerous 3-point shooter and that we couldn't leave her open, and she lived up to that billing tonight and did a good job for them."
Q: What are your final thoughts on your team for the season?
"I hate that we had to end our season like this, but tonight Baylor was better than us. Believe it or not, we're better than we showed tonight. We beat Duke three times this year, once by 20 in the ACC Tournament. We'll look back on it and we'll learn. We had a great year, and we'll move on. We have a lot of great returning players coming back, so we'll hope to learn from it and get further next year."
North Carolina Senior Forward/Guard Nikita Bell:
Q: What was the reason that North Carolina got off to a bad start?
"I'm asking myself the same question. Baylor came out with momentum. All I can do is congratulate them. They played hard. They came out physical and scrappy. I think Baylor knew how it was going to be and they came out tougher than we did."
Q: Reflect on your career and what this loss means to you as a player?
"I had fun, especially this year. This was the best team I have played on and this is the farthest I have ever been in the NCAA tournament. This is the last time I will ever be able to put on this jersey. I just thank Coach Hatchell for this opportunity to play at North Carolina. I am very grateful and I am looking forward to moving on. I'm a senior and I'm looking forward to bigger things. When it's all over and I graduate in May I am going to miss UNC."
Q: Did you ever think you could comeback being down by 18 points?
"We always thought we were going to comeback. In the ACC tournament we were down and fought back in the final four minutes and ended up winning by ten or twelve points. I never thought [tonight's game] was over and I never think the game is over. If you make a few lay-ups or it a couple three's you're back in the game. Myself, my players and Coach Hatchell, we never think we are down. We were still in the game and we were thinking, 'Take better shots and score points off of turnovers.' You can't tell me we were going to lose, I wouldn't believe it. I didn't believe until the clock hit zero that we lost."
Freshman forward Erlana Larkins:
Q: What did you think of the game tonight?
"It was terrible."
Q: It seems like everything that worked all year for you failed you tonight..."
"We didn't execute. They played their hearts out and we didn't do the same."
Q: What did they do to take you out of your game?
"We beat ourselves up pretty badly. We didn't box out. We didn't do the little things."
Q: You didn't get the easy transition shots that you usually get until late in the game.
"They had all the potential all game and we didn't."
Junior G/F La'Tangela Atkinson:
Q: How would you characterize the game tonight?
"There's not much to say...I wish we could have gotten to the Final Four."
Q: Can you pinpoint something, where did it go wrong?
"Rebounding. They just wanted it more than we did. They hustled for lose balls and we didn't. We had a great season. We were [good enough to be] a national championship team, but we didn't come out tonight and play our game."
North Carolina sophomore guard Ivory Latta:
Q: What frustrated you throughout the game?
"I wasn't hitting my shots and that was it. I am going to put this game behind me and get ready for next year. [I am going] to work harder in the off season."
Q: What momentum did Baylor guard Chameka Scott give Baylor through out the game?
"She's a great three point shooter. She provided a lot of momentum [for Baylor]. The threes that she hit [also provided momentum]."
Q: How difficult was Baylor's defense?
"They play very good defense. It wasn't as tough as I expected. We had careless turnovers. We had terrible shot selections. But I am just putting it behind me right now and looking forward to the next day."
