Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus #16 Baylor on November 3, 2025 at 12 p.m.
Women's Basketball
vs #16 Baylor
Quotes: Duke 71, North Carolina 55
1/24/2016 6:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie
Opening Statement:
Opening Statement:
“I just love the game for our team because it was a hard-fought game and obviously a very physical game, and I thought we were able to really dictate the physical play in a good way with all this great rebounding to my right and my left here [Amber Henson and Azurá Stevens]. So, it was a great game for us to grow and get better. They are a talented team, a very talented team. Quick first steps on those guards and to hold them to 55 points and a poor shooting percentage was very good for our team so we got better. Amber [Henson] was fantastic, as you already know. She is extremely strong. She not only got the rebounds, but she had to get people off of her when she got the rebounds, which was incredible, and the same was true for Azurá [Stevens] with her rebounding. So we are excited to get better and a good team game overall.”
On bench player performance:
“I have a lot of confidence in our bench. I have never seen a game with zero points from either bench; that has to be a weird record or something. I was very confident in our bench, but people were playing well on the floor so we did have a shorter bench simply for that reason. I do feel good about our bench; they will factor in I'm next sure game or something.”
On defensive performance:
“A lot of good shot contesting. You see Azurá [Stevens] out there, she has a long reach and she was contesting a lot of shots. Amber [Henson] and Oderah [Chidom] underneath, I felt they really filled up the lane and contested a lot of shots, and then Becca [Greenwell] has a nice reach herself. We spotted up well with the shooters. I know number 10 [Jamie Cherry] got loose a little bit, to her credit she knocked down some shots. But I thought overall there was good movement on defense and good communication and I thought it was both halves. It wasn't one portion and that was really important to us.”
On holding North Carolina to poor three-point shooting percentage:
“I think length has a lot to do with it and I also think disrupting some of the half-court work, and our team disrupted people getting into their flow a little bit. So, it was just great team defense and I thought the length has a lot to do with the shot contesting and just being there and not allowing people to get their feet set.”
On Kyra Lambert's performance and mature playing:
“Yes, that was a very mature play. Kyra [Lambert] is getting better every game and that was a very poised and athletic play what she did there. That's exciting for us. She is just getting better every game, playing solid defense and she can really knock down shots, and I just think she is getting more comfortable overall.”
On change from half-court trap into a three-two zone:
“Azurá [Stevens] again, using her at the top, she has such great length and instincts and athleticism. That is a nice combination to read passing angles and take away the high post a little bit. They had gotten it into the high post too much in the first half. They had gotten it in and number 22 [N'Dea Bryant] is such a nice player for them. She had a terrific game for them and she got the ball in spots we didn't want her to get the ball and mostly in the first half. The team made a good correction there in the second half.”
On Angela Salvadores' Injury:
“Angela was not very close to playing today. We will take it one day at a time. We will work on Thursday. She is pretty remarkable because I know you were there when she did that ankle on the first play of the NC State game and then she played, and I think that probably took a huge toll on that ankle. She found a way to score 11 points in that game when many people wouldn't have even played, wouldn't have even tried to play, they would've been out. But it has cost her and she is really anxious to get back. It's been hard for her, but she'll be back sometime soon and we will be happy to welcome her back.”
On recent team performance:
“We are a lot better. I think we are better every game. We got better at Clemson, we got better today. Just getter better, improvement every game, regardless of who we play, that's pretty important for us now. I think we are excited about just growing as a team. When you get numbers like this and it really reminds you of what you can do. That's a good thing.”
Sophomore Forward/Guard Azurá Stevens
On how defensive deflections helped disrupt UNC's offense:
“I think it just takes away passing angles. The ball got in the middle too much. I just stuck my arm out, and people second guessed about it. I think when we all put our hands up it really helps a lot to take away inside looks.”
Sophomore Forward/Guard Azurá Stevens
On how defensive deflections helped disrupt UNC's offense:
“I think it just takes away passing angles. The ball got in the middle too much. I just stuck my arm out, and people second guessed about it. I think when we all put our hands up it really helps a lot to take away inside looks.”
On the team's mindset about hustle plays and the UNC comeback:
“Whenever they were coming back, it was in our minds that we have to stop whatever run they go on, and we cannot continue to let them get hot. They had their little run, and we had to find a way to get it whether it was a stop, an offensive board, or anything. I think we did a good job of that.
On working on the 3-2 zone:
“I mean, I played it last year too, so that helped a lot. Last year, I was just trying to learn it because when you are a freshman you are soaking in a lot of stuff at one time. Coming back this year, it is something that has always been in my back pocket in case coach ever needs me to play it. I just run through the sets, and when we do our scout in practice, I pretty much know how the movements go.”
Graduate Student Forward Amber Henson
On rebounding:
“I was more aggressive and committed, and I did not leak out before going to the board. Games before this, I have not really performed on the boards as I should. This game, I just really wanted to focus on crashing the boards.”
On how she felt about playing 28 minutes:
“Oh yeah, I feel fine. Look, I got how many more months? So, I will play forty. I will play fifty. It does not matter.”
On how the first scored shot of the game helped with the offense:
“I mean I have great teammates obviously, and two or three players always have eyes on Azurá and Becca [Greenwell]. Being a pressure release and hitting open shots helps to open it up inside for everyone.”
On the importance of this game:
“It is a lot of fun. It was a lot of the reason that I came to Duke. I mean, it is fun. I get to go home, call my brother, and laugh about it.”
North Carolina head coach Sylvia Hatchell:
Opening Statement:
“Thank you all for being here. I am really proud of how hard our team played; they scrapped and fought out there. We matched them on the boards; we actually had more offensive rebounds than they did. That is pretty good considering the size that they have. It is pretty simple; if you make threes, you beat Duke. We were 5-for-34. If you look at the teams that have beaten them, they made threes. Everybody that has beaten them has hit 12, 13, or 15 threes, and I think last year over here we made about 18 threes. I was proud of how hard our kids fought; we do not have a lot of depth so it was hard for us to press because we don't have substitutes out there. These kids fought all the way to the end and we will look forward to playing them again in four weeks.”
On having a short bench:
“I think we are getting tougher. They are in shape - trust me, they are in shape - and they know that they are going to play all of that time. Every day is an opportunity for this team to get better because they will all be back next year except for N'dea Bryant, and we have nine new players coming in. Do not count us out this year because we are going to be fighting in every game that we play. Every day is an opportunity for us to get better, and we are. If we make some of those threes then it is a different game. I thought the biggest thing would be rebounding, but I thought we did a good job of matching them on the boards. If we make a bunch of threes than it is a different game. We had 14 turnover and they had 19.”
On Duke's size:
“I think Azurá Stevens hurt us a lot more than Amber Henson did. Their size, they have a lot of size and they are big. We started trying to take it inside and drive it to the basket. Hey, there is always a lot of contact when we play Duke. The tall man gets the advantage I guess in that situation. We were trying to drive it in there, kick, and get to the foul line, but it did not happen that way.”
On sequence on getting a technical foul for bumping the referee:
“I was trying to get his attention. I was not trying to hit him or anything, we just ran into each other. I was just trying to get his attention because obviously I thought that we were getting fouled. That was okay, it was worth it.”
Senior guard N'Dea Bryant
Senior guard N'Dea Bryant
On facing Duke's front line:
“With my size, I'm pretty much playing every game I play at the four-spot. Most teams are bigger than me, so I don't feel like it was much of a difference. We rebounded a lot better than we usually have, so I'm just happy that we played hard and rebounded the best that we could with them being bigger than us. But for me, I play people bigger than me every day, so it didn't really feel like a big difference.”
On her increased playing time:
“I just got to go out there and do what I'm told to do and try to just hit my shots. I don't really think that much of it. If I'm in the game, I just try to do my best in whatever minutes I have.”
Sophomore guard Jamie Cherry
Sophomore guard Jamie Cherry
On playing 40 minutes:
“I accept it. I mean, who wouldn't want to play 40 minutes? That's everybody's dream to play that. Last year I wanted to play and I got the opportunity to play, so I'm not complaining at all.”
On facing Azura Stevens:
“She made a big difference on me because she's 6'4” and I'm 5'6”, so I can barely see over anybody. I can barely see over hardly anybody in this league. I think my thing was just trying to get in the gaps and being able to see my teammates because she was long. She covered a lot of space, so I think it changed what we have been doing in the past. We haven't seen anybody that tall at the top in the league, especially who we've had, so I think we just had to adjust our passes. We couldn't make longer passes than we normally make; we had to shorten them up. I think we did a better job in the second half with the press.”
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