March 1, 2002

Wake Forest Head Coach Charlene Curtis:
"Obviously, the best team won tonight in terms of execution. Maryland did a "great job pushing the ball in the second half and their players did a great job of running the floor. They didn't make a lot of shots but a lot of them were layups. I am proud of this team. We could have given up and rolled over when we were down by 21 points.

"We tried to fight back, but we let it get away from us. It started to slip away from us before the half when they scored on the last play. I thought they gained a lot of momentum from that play. When we came out of the lockerroom we didn't have a lot of positive energy going our way.

"This was a different situation for us, as we were the higher seeded team. This is the best season we have had at Wake Forest in a long time. Our players played a little tight. We played like we had a lot to lose rather than relaxing and playing basketball. I brought two players with me that I feel will be big in the future of our program. Tracy Alston has played great defensively all year and Tonia Brown had a very good year for us in the ACC this season. I feel as if the program is in good hands with players like this, and that will make us better.

"I thought we missed some crucial free throws and Maryland made theirs down the stretch. At the end of the game when we were trying to come back, we took the ball to the basket and we got some good looks and timely offensive rebounds. We struggled all year with our free throws down the stretch. We missed some opportunities that we had. We had a long way to come back. Jennifer Johnson put us in a great situation to come back by hitting some key three-point baskets. She is a freshman that will only get better."