March 22, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
2009 DIVISION I WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
(Carver-Hawkeye Arena) o (Iowa City, Iowa)
(March 22, 2009)
#8 IOWA VS. #9 GEORGIA TECH
IOWA POST-GAME QUOTES
Iowa Head Coach Lisa Bluder
Opening Statement
“First off I want to thank everyone that came out for the game, we had great support here tonight. A tough time to play and the Hawkeye fans still came out and I just really appreciate the support and commitment that they made to this basketball team over the course of the year, but particularly tonight, it was really, really gratifying to see. And also just for Iowa, for the administration to committing to undertake this event. It’s a major event and for them to commit to do this it really shows the support they have here for women’s basketball. So I’m very grateful for that. I’m also grateful for the five seniors. The game didn’t go the way we wanted it to…”
On the problems Georgia Tech caused defensively
“They did a tremendous job penetrating. I think we had an exceptional weak side defensive help to clog up the paint, we gave up way too many paint points tonight. Some of that was the rebounding, some of that was our interior defense. But definitely we got beat off the dribble too many times.”
On Georgia Tech previously playing at Carver
“I think it helped them because they knew they were coming in here 1-0 on our home court against us. So I think mentally that’s a good edge for them.”
On Georgia Tech’s press
“I didn’t think early in the game, in the first half particularly, the press was hurting us so much as we were really making some unforced errors and making some passing decisions that weren’t so good in the quarter court. But obviously their press played a big part in the 17 turnovers, they shot the ball 67 times we shot the ball 47, our shooting percentages were about the same. But they had 20 more opportunities to shoot the ball, part of that was because of rebounding and part of that because of turnovers.”
On senior class
“I think with incredibly high regard. They obviously had a tremendous amount of success, but they will probably be remembered more for the people.”
Iowa Senior Kristi Smith
Forced pace was too fast/Defensive pressure
“It all started with their press, you know. We would break it, but we would be in a panic almost. When we got in the corner court we just weren’t running our offense quite right. I feel like we were forcing up some shots but we were just in too much of a panic I think.”
Georgia Tech’s dominance on the boards
“To their credit you know, they’re great crashers, and a great rebounding team. We didn’t do a good job of boxing out, especially in the zone, and they took advantage of it.”
Experience at Iowa
“…Basically the same…I’m leaving here with a lot of great relationships. I learned a lot of good life lessons along the way. I’m glad that I met the people that I met here. I’m not necessarily happy with the way I ended my career, but it’s been a good run.”
Iowa Senior Wendy Ausdemore
Experience at Iowa
“It’s been a great four years. We’ve had a lot of fun over the years. We’ve made it to the NCAA Tournament three out of the four years so, you know, it’s exciting. I learned a lot…we’ll both leave here, be better people because of what we’ve learned both on and off the court and forever be a Hawkeye.”
Georgia Tech’s answer to Iowa’s runs
“Yeah, it just seemed like when we got it within one, then we gave up an O board and that just kind of sparked their little run and they just kind of went from there. I’m proud of the way the team fought. We did get it back within one right after half, then they went on that little run, like I said, there’s just the O boards and they were just more aggressive.”
GEORGIA TECH POST-GAME QUOTES
Georgia Tech Head Coach MaChelle Joseph
Opening Statement
“Well obviously we’re thrilled to death to be sitting up here with a win over a great Iowa team. I have to give Iowa a lot of credit. They presented a lot of matchup problems for us, but I really have to take a look at my kids and how proud of them I am, not only on how we got the win, but how we approached it. The last couple of weeks have been hard, knowing we were preparing for this game without our leading scorer and leading rebounder in Alex Montgomery. She’s so much more than that to this team and we’re just really thrilled to death to have our second-ever win in the history of our program in the NCAA tournament. I have to compliment Jacqua Williams who came here to Georgia Tech when we’ve only been in the NCCA tournament twice and we never had any wins. The first win came in her hands with a last second shot against DePaul at Minnesota a couple years ago and then today, obviously you saw what she did today on the offensive and defensive end. I said early on in my press conference when we were in here the other day, ‘someone will step up.’ I was really impressed with our underclassman, our freshmen, and the last couple of weeks. They have really shown in practice what they are capable of. You have to look at Sasha Goodlett who had just an outstanding game today. Mo Bennett who came off the bench without having very many minutes over the course of the last couple of months, but really stepped up huge and hit some big shots. Obviously I’d be remissed if I didn’t mention Iasia Hemingway. She’s been great for us all year long; inside, outside, rebounding, scoring. I was just really pleased with our effort. One of the things we talked about before this game was just earning some respect for our program. We really feel like we played ourselves into a better seed than a nine seed and I think today we showed that we’re bigger than one player. Our program is not about one player. We’re a team and other players will step up. Getting our 22nd win and playing some of the best teams in the country, I think we’ve proven that we belong in this tournament and we’re going to be successful. We’re just really excited to get this win.”
On how they answered to everything Iowa had to bring
“I was extremely proud of our team tonight. I think we really weathered those storms. Iowa made runs and we made runs, but when it really got into it, it seemed like Brigitte Ardossi had ice in her veins. She wanted the ball in critical situations and I didn’t even mention her earlier. One of the things that we did all season long was upgrade our preseason schedule. We went and played U Conn. the second game of the schedule in front of 10,000 fans, so we’re used to playing in front of huge crowds in the ACC. To us, this was just another game on the road. This is what we prepared for all season long. To some degree, the fact that we’ve been here before was an advantage because we heard that crowd before. We’ve played through those spurts before, so we can revert back to that and that’s what we talked about in the timeouts. I said, ‘we’ve weathered these storms before.’ I was just really pleased and proud of the way our players made plays in critical situations.”
On how their athleticism will affect the next game
“Well I’m very impressed with Oklahoma. Now we get to play the fourth number one seed that we haven’t played this year. Obviously, I have tremendous respect for the Paris twins; what they’re able to accomplish inside. They have great shooters from the perimeter. Obviously, we do what we do. We press and we play hard on the defensive end. We talked when we started this program six years ago and we said we’re going to build this defense on rebounds. That will never leave us. Your offense comes and goes, but your defense and rebounding is always there. That’s what we reverted back to and that’s what I’ve been talking about the last 17 days. Our offense is going to come and go but as long as our defense and rebounding stays consistent, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win. We’ll go back to the on Tuesday night. We’ll take some time here to get ready for Oklahoma, and we’ll come out here and try to do the same things we’ve always done and that’s play defense and rebound.”
Georgia Tech Freshman Sasha Goodlett
On the team’s rebounding proficiency
“I feel like as a team, we came in with the mindset that we were going to out-rebound Iowa today, and that’s what we came in knowing. Every rebound had to be ours in order to win the game and that’s just what we went out and did.”
Georgia Tech Senior Jacqua Williams
On their second half
“We knew what we were up against. Heading into the ACC tournament, we knew that we didn’t take it as seriously as we would have liked; we didn’t realize what was at stake. Coming in here, we knew we couldn’t let up. Our second half had to be as good, if not better, than our first half.”
On the offense and dribble penetration
“We’re quick and we had to use some of our athleticism and quickness to get to the basket. Our post was setting great screens and we just took advantage of it.”
On their pressure defense
“If you start running something and it’s working, then you just keep going back to it until they stop it. That was kind of our M.O.”
Georgia Tech Sophomore Iasia Hemingway
On the upcoming game against Oklahoma
“I just want to go out and play my game and work on our game plan for Oklahoma. Attacking the rim off the dribble, and keep attacking it and attacking it.”