March 5, 2005

MARYLAND TERRAPINS

COACH BRENDA FRESE: I will tell you what, I'm just so proud of this team. They made a commitment to each other and they've made a commitment to defense and it's definitely showing with our energy, and intensity. We came out ready to defend and with a lot of emotion and with a lot of intensity today. It's exciting to see this team coming together at the right point in the season.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Coach, your 3 2 defense was really key tonight, what made you decide to go with that at the start of the game?

COACH BRENDA FRESE: Just from watching a lot of film. The first time we played NC State we sort of took them out of their rhythm a little bit. We went to our matchup zone and full court. We just executed. We are at a point now in the season where we are doing a much better job coming together with concepts and communicating and it's all clicking for us.

Q. Kalika, can you talk about your expectations coming into this game, just what you were thinking as the game was progressing?

KALIKA FRANCE: Well, our expectations is to win. We do whatever we have to do to win. I think we put forward our best effort today, or one of our best efforts, and we just have to make a turn around tomorrow and be prepared.

Q. Jade, can you talk about what it was like going up against Stansbury, she is taller than you, quicker, but you did well against her?

JADE PERRY: Yes, she is a great player and also physical. I know that I might be a little bit stronger than her. I was trying to use that advantage and just be a dominant force.

Q. Brenda, you were on press row scouting Duke before the game, what do you think of the matchup tomorrow.

COACH BRENDA FRESE: We're excited. This will be our third time playing them, and we want to come out and defend. We were disappointed in our performance at home. Obviously, they played extremely well against Wake Forest, and we are clicking on all cylinders. We are going to have to come and be ready to play another 40 minute game.

Q. Crystal, you have had back to back 20 point games, double digit rebounds, are you feeling tired at all?

CRYSTAL LANGHORNE: Tonight I'm taking an ice bath, to get ready for tomorrow. My teammates have a lot of confidence in me and so do my coaches so I try to do my best.

Q. Brenda, is tomorrow the matchup of the two teams with the biggest, roughest front court players in the league?

COACH BRENDA FRESE: I will tell you what, Duke has got a tremendous amount of size from every position. It will be another physical matchup.

Q. Brenda, in the last two games Crystal has had a big impact for you, why do you think she has been so successful coming into the tournament?

COACH BRENDA FRESE: I guess I don't look at it any different than I do the regular season, Crystal has been steady every game she comes out to play and she continues just to progress and be solid as a rock as she has all conference.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE WOLFPACK

COACH KAY YOW: It's a disappointing loss for us. I felt like the team played really hard. We definitely lost it on the free throw line. We don't have total control over that aspect of the game. We just play hard and hope that area sort of evens itself out.

Basically, we look at all of the other stats, and we could have won the game just as easily as Maryland. But that was a difficult area for us tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Tiffany, could you just talk about the matchup with Langhorne?

TIFFANY STANSBURY: I think she is a good player. She is very physical. She posts hard and she is always pressing the board.

Q. Kendra, you struggled shooting early tonight then you hit 4 of 5 there late in the game, and you had the open shot at the end, can you talk about what was happening in your mind at that point?

KENDRA BELL: I saw I was open and I shot it too long. It happens.

Q. Kendra, were you perhaps looking for your shot more than usual; it seemed like you took more shots than you would normally?

KENDRA BELL: Yes, just looking at the game I felt like I needed to score more. So I just tried to take what was open.

Q. Coach, you have a long time now before you find out about the pairings of the NCAA tournament, all of those kind of things that come next, what are you going to do during that time and what do you need to work on?

COACH KAY YOW: Well, we just talked about it a little bit in the locker room. We will take a couple of days off and then we will practice hard for several days and then we will take a couple more days off and then the pairings are on Sunday at 5. We will try to get a little rest and then...... this might be the third game all season where we committed this many fouls defensively. We want to get back and work on playing our aggressive defense without fouling as much and we'll continue to work on our offenses. We really needed another perimeter player to really step up for us tonight and hit some shots.

Q. Langhorne is only a freshman and she led the league in rebounding, how strong would you describe her and what is her forte; she is putting up some big numbers in this tournament?

COACH KAY YOW: Yes she is an excellent post player. She really plays her position well. She doesn't wander too far from the basket. She is a hard worker. She posts on every pass. She is a very difficult player to defend and I really thought that Tiffany and KB did a good job tonight on defending her. Overall, they really worked hard on the inside and she averages 13 rebounds in ACC. So we held her below her average on rebounding. She is an excellent player. She will be a great player in this league.