UNC postgame comments
Postgame Quotes
Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening statement:
“It was a good win for us. I’m really proud of the whole team but these two [Janelle Bailey and Taylor
Koenen] especially. Minnesota was undefeated, 7-0, and a really good team so I’m proud of our kids. We
have improved a lot over the last few weeks. We probably should be 6-0 right now instead of 4-2 but we
learn from our mistakes. Again, the strength is that we had five in double figures. Great team effort,
moving the ball around, everything defensively. The young ones are getting better. Taylor [Koenen] had
a great game, 9-for-13, her career high and Janelle [Bailey] had another double-double. These young
kids are really coming along. Jocelyn [Jones] went in there and helped us out. Paris [Kea] didn’t have the
upper numbers that she normally has but she was still 50%, 4-for-8. A lot of good things out there
especially against a very good Minnesota team. Now we have to get ready, we play again Friday, Sunday
and Tuesday. We have to get all those in before exams. It was a great win for us and I’m proud of them.“
On Defensive Effort and Player Contributions:
“We just brought her over and talked to her a little bit about playing solid defense instead of challenging
23 [Kenisha Bell] because she was the key to their team, she was really, really good. Jaime [Cherry] got
on her and took a couple charges off of her and it was really big. She is very good but she has got to go
right. We had kids go in there and did some really good things. First half Leah [Church] was in there. Livy
[Olivia Smith] was in there. Naomi [Van Nes] was 2-for-2 and gave us some quality minutes. She did a
really nice job for us too while Janelle [Bailey] was looking at foul trouble and we let her rest. Great
team effort.”
On Breaking Minnesota’s Defense:
“It was like moving chess pieces around… They’re a very good team and we were trying to get the ball
into Paris [Kea] more than we were able to get the ball in there. We shared the ball. We moved the ball
around. Movement is the enemy of any defense so I thought we had really good ball movement. We got
the ball inside. Played from the inside out and they collapsed and the rest of them we would pass it
around and find people on the outside.”
On areas for improvement
“Rebounding is a big emphasis. We got out-rebounded by one and we’ve really put a lot of emphasis on
that. Communicating, especially defensively, but just communication. We’ve got really good stuff and
when they do it, it works really good. So, the biggest thing is everybody knowing and understanding and
communicating especially on some defensive situations. Some of that is the youthfulness. Murray was
out there a couple times and we had some breakdowns defensively, but she’s learning. She’s getting
better and the biggest thing is that we play defensive without fouling because we need to keep Paris
[Kea]and keep Janelle [Bailey] out there. They’re getting smarter as far as what they can and can’t do.”
On Taylor’s skills getting inside
“Taylor [Koenen] is really good when she penetrates. She takes it in there to the middle. If you look at
the percentages, she has really worked hard shooting it. When she puts it on the floor and goes in there.
Her percentages when she does that is really good.”
On Taylor’s growth
“[Taylor Koenen] was good at that. They have to learn that a lot of things that they could do in high
school, they won’t be able to do in college. It won’t be called, the teams are more athletic and quick,
you have to adjust and it takes time to do that. Taylor has really worked on that. She got really
frustrated last year, because she was trying to do things that she could do in high school but couldn’t.
She can do a little bit of everything out there. She can play point-guard she can guard a post-player.
They have been playing with four guards a lot. I thought if we have to do that, we will go smaller. We
could put her on a post-player, because she can play post-defense. That’s why I said she is a utility-type
player.”
Taylor Koenen
On facing home state team
“I knew some of the girls on the team, but I mean anybody wants to beat their hometown team. So, it
was a good win and I know they’ve been playing well but we played really well as a team tonight and we
showed that.”
On career-high
“It’s pretty nice. My teammates did a really good job looking for me and just getting into the flow of the
game was huge. They play fast up and down so it was pretty easy for us to keep with the flow and the
quarters flew by. There wasn’t much stop to the play so that was pretty nice.”
On demanding the ball and Minnesota challenges
“They shaded towards my side a little bit. But like Coach Hatchell said, we did go to the 2 and then the 3.
At points, I was trying to help my team and the open person by telling them, ‘I am open! I am open!’
Then, I can do what I need to do and make the right play to go from there to make the correct read.”
Janelle Bailey
On getting second career double-double as a freshman
“It feels good. I’m rebounding more. That’s the biggest thing for me just trying to rebound out of my
area and be aggressive on offensive boards without fouling. So, I mean it feels good – just got to keep
doing that going forward.”
On keeping momentum (good shooting and good ball movement) into ACC play
“I just think before the game Coach [Hatchell] was telling us, ‘It doesn’t matter who scores as long as we
win.’ So, I think if we keep that mentality, I think that will get better and better each day going forward.
As long as at the end of the day we have a better score than the other team I think that’s the thing that
we need to remember, that Taylor had a career-high tonight because we moved the ball around. Not
one person was stagnant or anything like that. When the ball moves good things happen for us.”
