March 3, 2008

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Head Coach Terri Mitchell

On trying to come back and getting so close:
"I was so proud of our fight and I was so proud of what we did, but we just didn't finish. That doesn't mean how hard they cared, or how hard the fought. That is, to me, what you build on and that is, to me, what the positive is in this. The players wouldn't give up and they were going to fight. I am so disappointed for V and that we couldn't win for her on the night that we are celebrating all that she gave to us and this program. At the end of the day what I saw in the players is fight and togetherness, regardless of things that may happen, you stick to your principles."

On the play of USF's Shantia Grace:
"She was pretty amazing. I thought we did a better job in the last 10 minutes. I thought we needed to double her or get the ball out of her hands more, and we started to do that. She was amazing tonight and when you put a lot of people out there who have never been in the situations and you're playing a lot of bodies like we did, but I still thought we fought great. We just ran out of gas."

On the three point play at the end:
"We're all disappointed by that. One play doesn't make or break a game. That one play will stand out in everyone's mind, but we needed forty minutes of making plays and a lot of times we didn't, but we really fought hard."

On Jocelyn Mellen's play:
"I am proud of her. She's going to keep getting better and that is what we're going to build on, the people who want to get better, who want to fight, and who want to work, that is the people we will build on and that is where this program will go."

On decision to keep Ellis, Lam and Monfre out of the lineup:
"I will never give up on my principles. This is a principle based program and it was a tough decision and even if that decision leads to a loss, I hate to lose, but there is a greater lesson here. We lose the game, but we don't lose who we are and that is what it is about."