March 2, 2008

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Head Coach Nell Fortner

Opening Statement
"I think the team really responded during the second half on defense, especially when we went on that run of 18-2. I thought we were making a good effort, but we just were not making good enough stops. We did that for a period of time in the second half and made a really good run on them. It was good seeing players like Jordan Greenleaf step up. We cannot just rely on points coming from two places so I thought we did well in that regard."

On playing Arkansas again...
"Florida beat Ole Miss so that puts us playing them again. We are familiar with them so that is a good thing. Playing a team three times is not ideal but it makes scouting less time consuming. It will be a tough game again."

On needing to win...
"We just want to win as many games as we can. I hate to play the numbers game to figure it out."

On setting an eight-win goal...
"It is either a half dozen or the other. Sometimes it works sometimes it does not. It is a toss up. Some years on some teams it will work and some years on others it will not work. The bottom line is that we dealt with a lot of adversity this month. Tamela McCorvey has been hurt since the Alabama game. She has not been at full speed. Trevesha Jackson was the best player on the floor for us in Fayetteville and she was not in the building today because she was sick. We are just being thrown things and we have to respond. I am proud of the way we responded today. Alli Smalley came back to us offensively and we need her. So I am happy with their responses."

DeWanna Bonner, junior guard/forward

On today's game...
"I thought we rebounded well. We have been working on rebounding in practice and giving that extra effort, because the play is never over. Everyone was knocking down their open shots. Also we had four players in double figures today. Overall I think we played good."

On keeping composer when the game was tight...
"I knew if we stayed strong and kept the game close they would wear out. My teammates made a lot of big shots, we just came out and kept playing hard."

Sherell Hobbs, junior guard

On if performance today was NCAA Tournament worthy...
"Today we made a statement. Our main goal was to come out and play all 40 minutes. Against Vanderbilt I felt we only played 36 minutes then kind of gave up and that is why I feel we lost the game. So if we want to keep winning we need to play hard the whole game."

On importance of this game...
"I felt that since it was senior day that there wasn't a lot of pressure on us because we were playing for them."

Arkansas Head Coach, Tom Collen

On today's game...
"It was somewhat similar to the game up there, we got behind early and came back late on. We were pretty savvy for about ¾ of the game. They just made their run at it. We gave Alli Smalley some open shots that helped give them the lead."

On getting ready for the SEC Tournament...
"We have to practice-starting tomorrow. We've got three days to prep. I don't think we're going to take a day off. We're going to back to the drawing board and figure out what we have to do to win a game. We're going to practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and be ready to play Thursday night."

On the aggressive game...
"Ayana Brereton is going to be alright. I think she is ok. She just got bumped a little bit. Ashlea Williams got hit in the head a little bit when she had a collision with Brittney Vaughn. My guess is that she's going to need some stitches, but I think she'll be fine. Bumps and bruises, as the season wears on, we don't have a lot of depth. We just hope we can keep everybody healthy going into conference play."