Feb. 3, 2008

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Head Coach Nell Fortner

"One of our emphasis' today was to take away Mississippi State's three point shots and we did that. They didn't get one until the very end, that one that went off the glass. The other emphasis we wanted to work on was getting points in the paint. We really worked hard with Cassie Moore and will continue to develop her. It's like she turned a big corner. I thought this week with the amount of emphasis we were putting on getting the ball to her, I was really proud of how she responded today in the game. She was quick off her feet and she had great focus on her finishes and really made a difference with offensive rebounds. She was a good presence inside and we need that presence."

On turning Cassie Moore into a post player...
"We knew when we watched her she wasn't a block post player, but we knew she had the ability. Her body is the size that you need to bang inside in this league. She came in here behind the learning curve and you just have to keep working with her and she has definitely made great progress. We knew it was probably going to be February until it all kind of kicked in for her. Hopefully we can continue to build on it. This was just one game, but it was a great game for her and I am really happy for her. I am excited to see how this helps open the outside. What happens now is we have to figure out how to play with a presence inside. It is like we are morphing into something different from when the season started."

On Cassie Moore getting more playing time...
"I think as long as she keeps being the presence that she is being she will continue to have more minutes. It's not even always about scoring it's about being a presence down there where they not only have to guard you and not only with one person, but they have to bring maybe a strong outside presence. That helps open things up on the perimeter. She just has to keep being a presence inside for us and if points come along with that it's great. It makes us more of a balanced team. Teams have only had to work to shut us down on the perimeter because we haven't had a presence down low"

On giving up 16 points in the last five minutes of the second half...
"I'm not happy about that. I am not pleased with that at all. You cannot play a basketball game for 35 minutes and that's what we did and that has to stop. We didn't do anything in the last five minutes to become a better basketball team. We have got to always play for 40 minutes so we can be the best team we can be. It's great because it was a win in this conference, but obviously we have got things we need to work on."

On holding MSU to four points the first 15 minutes of the second half...
"I thought it was great. You don't realize during the game because you don't look up at the score a whole lot except to know whether we are ahead or not. Then we just lost our focus at the end. I was trying to sub people in and sometimes you lose your rhythm and you can't do that. The bench has to know their roll and their roll is to come in and make a difference and play hard and not give up those kinds of points. We won the game and I am happy with that."

On gaining momentum after the tough start in the SEC...
"I hope that's what we are planning to do. We have got a tough two games ahead of us now with Florida and Arkansas on the road. Florida is playing well. They lost a close one to LSU today. Arkansas lost today at South Carolina, but we are going to be playing them at their home. Every game on the road in this league is tough. Florida has some good experienced players that will be hungry to win. We have our work cut out for us."

DeWanna Bonner, F/G

On defense...
"We knew today we had to come out and pressure the ball, because they shoot a lot of three's. Also we were turning the ball over a lot. At one time we turned it over five times in a row. We had to step on defense to win."

On the season so far...
"We started the SEC season with three of the top 10 teams in the country and I thought, except for the Tennessee game, we played pretty good. After that we have had a good season, especially with the win over Alabama and now this win gives us another SEC victory. I think we can carry this momentum to the end of the season and hopefully make the NCAA Tournament."

Cassie Moore, C

On play today...
"I have been working with coach Fortner and our post coach on my low post moves, which has really given me confidence in my game. I have also been working with the guards, which got us all on the same page. All these things are what really helped me today. I just had a lot of confidence, so the shots kept dropping. I didn't know I was going to have such a height advantage."

Mississippi State Head Coach Sharon Fanning

"As a basketball team our objective, from just looking inside, we have to focus on ourselves. We also need to focus on consistency and better work ethic. You have to give credit to Auburn. Auburn is an aggressive team. We had some really good defensive possessions whether they were man, a half-court press, or just a base defense. We are not weathering runs; we are not a mature basketball team yet. Every basketball game goes back to rebounding and shooting. We are just not mentally tough through things that do not go our way; whether it's a transition bucket, an offensive rebound, or a shot that was taken and missed. We are affected mentally by all of that. Right now we have to grow as a team in order to become consistent. We have to stop the other team from gaining confidence. An uncontested shot, an easy lay-up, and an offensive rebound are all ways of letting the other team gain confidence. We need to have more consistency on better plays. We also need to take better care of the basketball because this turnover ratio will begin to hurt us. Even though we had offensive boards, how many turned into points? So we found some long boards, but in my mind without watching the film Auburn had a lot of offensive rebounds that were put-backs. We did get offensive boards in numbers, but we did not do anything with them. The missed shots lead to the frustration that leads to the missed block and other things on the floor. These are all things that need to be worked on so we can grow as a team and be better equipped to execute on the floor."

On Cassie Moore's performance...
"I would think that anyone that is 6'5 playing against 6-feet girls on the high-side is going to score a lot of lay-ups. So defensively the first five buckets goes back to where we were. There was no weak-side help in that position. But we know that she can score, we have seen her play enough. So there is respect. You have to make sure that there is pressure on the ball and you are defensively in the right spot. When they miss shots you have be there to rebound."