March 5, 2005

DUKE BLUE DEVILS

COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: I'm just really proud of the team. I thought this was our most complete effort on both ends of the floor. I thought we had great focus, great energy and tremendous intensity from start to finish. It was one of those nights when everything is clicking. We got a lot of good looks and we were able to knock our shots down. I'm just really proud of the team for coming in ready to play. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Q. Mistie, can you talk about the success you guys have had in Greensboro Coliseum and the attitude you take going onto the floor here?
MISTIE WILLIAMS: I know the tradition started years before I got here and I think coming into Duke and coming into the Greensboro Coliseum, we all know that tradition and it's like we have to have that pride and come to court with that pride knowing that we have had that tradition here. We talked about it in practice. We talked about it together as a team that we have to come out here and play, put 110 percent on the court because every team is going to come after what we have accomplished.

Q. Gail, could you point to anything specific about the fact that you came out, you hit nine of your first 10 shots, you built a huge early lead, did you say anything in particular to them, was there anything that really ignited the team tonight?
COACH GAIL GOESTENKORS: I don't think so. We just talked about playing with purpose and passion. We have had some excellent practices since our last game and we feel like we are playing very, very well together. I think we understand that we all have to come ready to play and we are best when we have our post playing well and our guards. When we try to play a game that just takes advantage of the inside or the outside attack we're not nearly as good. I thought today we just shared the ball extremely well, and I thought we were very, very focused and ready to go.

Q. Mistie, was the loss to North Carolina last week a motivating factor in tonight's win?
MISTIE WILLIAMS: Yes, no one ever wants to lose. You know, we just have to take that game in stride with the rest of the games that we've lost this season. You can't really dwell on a loss. The ACC tournament is a whole new season for us and that game ended the ACC season and were on to tournament season so we don't really think about it that much.

Q. Alison, you were much more effective than we've seen you in past games in the first half, you made six out of seven shots, you were going hard for the basket, did you have that in mind when the game started?
ALISON BALES: I think I need to play with more aggressiveness on offense and that was what I tried to do. That is what I tried to do.

Q. Alison, Coach Goestenkors said in the Carolina game you were the bright spot, you seemed a lot more aggressive, do you think that carried over today?
ALISON BALES: Yes, like I said, it comes from practice. I really thought my offense aggressiveness needed to be picked up. That's what I tried to do tonight. That's what I have been doing since our last game in practice.

Q. Wanisha, you were four for six on threes, six assists, one turnover, either one of them more pleasing to you than the other?
WANISHA SMITH: Well, just looking back at the season, that one turnover was really surprising me, and I'm really happy about that one. I'm just happy with it.

WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS

COACH MIKE PETERSEN: It's the best 40 minutes of basketball I've ever seen any team play on any level. I think you got to give a tremendous credit to Duke for how well they played, how hard they played, how efficient they were. They just did an unbelievable job of executing in every single facet and played with great emotion, great energy, at the start of the game and got us on our heels against a team that is as talented and as efficient as Duke. If you get on your heels, you've got real issues and we had real issues tonight.

Aside from the fact that they played as well as they did, we struggled. Obviously we struggled shooting the ball. Part of that was they did a good job defensively. Part of what was we had some shots early in the game that didn't fall, and we had a little domino effect going. I think you've got to give tremendous credit to Gail (Goestenkors) and to those players for the game that they played. It's as good as I've ever seen any team play.

Q. Liz, with all you guys accomplished this year, are you still able to take anything out of this; does it diminish what you guys accomplished this season?
LIZ STRUNK: I don't think there is any way you can let one night diminish what you've done for the past six months, ever since the first day of practice. We don't think our season is over. We are still ready to play. We are ready to go to the NIT. We really want to get a bid and continue playing. We are not ready for it (the season) to be over with.

Q. Mike, not to be cute but in the first half did you kinds of feel like General Custer?
COACH MIKE PETERSEN: You know, it's funny, because that thought crossed my mind. I've been to Custer battlefield. There is a cross that marks every spot where a soldier went down and I remember standing on that hill and there was two of them way off in the distance and thinking, you know, those two guys almost got out of here. And at one point I thought we could make a run for it, but they would probably lock the doors on us. But they were really good. And we didn't play well. Let's not kid ourselves. It's one thing if we would have played well and had that happen to us. We were not as good as we could be tonight, and they were just, you know, outstanding. They were outstanding. It's disappointing because ?? not to take anything away from Duke, because as I said, it's the best game I ever seen a team play. This was easily our worst effort of the year. We did not respond. When they came out and got us on our heels we kind of stayed there.