2009 America East Women’s Basketball Championship Post Game Quotes

Semifinal #2: #3 Vermont 66, #4 Hartford 56

March 14, 2009

 

Vermont head coach Sharon Dawley

Opening Remarks:

“Our ladies did a great job, especially on the defensive end, and executed really, really well. When it came down to it, they said we’re going to take this game over and we’re going to make sure we secure victory.”

 

Vermont junior guard Courtnay Pilypaitis

On how experience helped the team advance to the finals:

“Last year we were in this kind of tight game in the semifinals, and we lost. I think we’ve just gone through so much and we’ve learned everytime. We just really knew how to handle it now. We had that composure by every single person on the floor and our bench was phenomenal.”

 

“I think we really learned and proved we’ve grown up.”

 

Vermont junior guard May Kotsopoulos

On the big shot Hartford hit to end the first half and the momentum swing:

“We thought coming into the second half, we needed to come out hard and win the first four minutes. We had to come out with that extra intensity because they hit that shot.”

 

“It’s that hump we’ve been trying to get over and we’ve always thought that we were a good team. We’ve always struggled with those games so I think we’re just really happy to be in the finals and know that we have one game. Then we can go to the NCAA Tournament, but we have a really tough team that hasn’t really lost in a while.”

 

Hartford head coach Jennifer Rizzotti

Opening Remarks:

“Obviously, we’re disappointed. I feel like the team we had this year is as good as any championship team we put on the floor.”

 

“We ran into a Vermont team that played really well. I have to give them a lot of credit.”

 

On postseason chances:

“I would hope that the WNIT would be a shoe-in. I don’t think that our NCAA resume is good enough to get into the NCAA tournament.

 

On whether she’s happy with a WNIT bid:

“Anytime we get to keep playing, it’s a great thing. It’s tough because we’ve built the expectation so high here that it’s NCAA or bust. It’s a good thing but it makes it devastating to the players.”