Wake Forest Athletics
Charlene Curtis Weekly ACC Conference Call
2/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2004
Opening Statement:
"We had a game against Clemson here at home. I think we're not rebounding the ball and we're not shooting it very well and it's really led to the recent loses that we've had. We've got to figure out a way to fix that. In the last two games, we go to Virginia on Thursday and we have Georgia Tech at home on Sunday. We've got to regroup here and make more of a commitment to rebound the basketball and work harder on the offensive end to get better shots so that we can improve on our shooting percentage. Our players' attitudes are good and they're continuing to work hard and we've just got to stay a little bit more focused on the process and not worry so much about the outcome. If we can just regroup and get our heads back in it, I think these last two games - the one at Virginia and Georgia Tech at home - hopefully we can get the results that we want. We're in a position right now that we can make a difference in whether we finish in ninth place or in seventh place. Our players would like to take on that responsibility and make something happen, so we're looking forward to these next two games and we'll see how it goes."
Is it weird to see them (UVA) in the situation that they're in now, 7th place in the ACC and not going to the tournament for the first time in two decades?
"Well, to answer your question if it's weird, it's certainly different. I think we have all become used to seeing Virginia at such a high level and we all have wanted our programs to be like Virginia. I just think that they're just going through a tough time right now. I don't expect them to stay that way going into the next year or whatever, it's just different seeing them there, but I think at some point most programs go through something like that. Debbie will find a way to regroup."
You talked about how your team has not been shooting the ball well as of late, but the last game against Virginia, you shot 44 percent from the field. Can you talk a little bit about what you did differently then and then what has happened in between those games since you last saw Virginia?
"Well, what I thought we were able to do against Virginia was execute our offense better and got what we wanted. Liz Strunk and Erin Ferrell had very good games against Virginia the first time we played them. Really since that time, we haven't been able to get the two of them scoring in the same game. Liz has had some down games and Erin has had some down games. They were such an important key for us at that point, and what has happened is that I think our players have been looking so much to those two that we're at a point now where we need other people to step up. They weren't ready to step up, so hopefully we're going to get some other people to step up and take a little pressure off of Liz and Erin. Most teams have been able to kind of gear their defenses towards those two, and now we need a little more production from our perimeter players that we have not been getting."
