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Beckie Francis
Oakland Head Coach

Opening Statement
"To be that close and to have a chance to knock off a ranked opponent and then lose by one, I was really proud of the players. They really fought back. I loved how they were whipping the ball away from them, diving on the floor and they just kept fighting. I told them in the locker room that, 'It's a good sign. There's a lot more games to play and just keep your heads up."

On the runs that the team made
"As Brittany said, that's Oakland basketball. The problem was, and this happens all over the country, when you're shooting poorly, they hang their head and don't play intense defense. No coach can do anything about it. They get excited that they made their layup, then they play defense, which is the exact opposite of what you need when you're not shooting. You need to have that intensity on defense. So, I think once some of their shots began to fall, they make a layup and get excited. But unfortunately, it needs to be the reverse when you are missing layups. But, Brittany also nailed it: our shot selection was horrible. It looked like it was our fist game of the year, but I want to give credit to Georgia. With the conference they play in, was a whole other level of who we've played so far, so it felt like our first game of the year and we acted like it in the first half. It was kind of ugly to watch. We were 2-9 from the three. People that don't shoot threes were taking them and I told them, 'Just take care of one or two more possessions,' and then it comes down to a two-possession game.

On wanting the rough five-minute stretch in the first half back
"Exactly. And she [Angela Puleo], strangely, was 0-12 going into tonight's game. But we had a talk about what we were going to do. We were going to sag off and let her stay that way, or go tight on her. It's the second game in a row where somebody's gotten hot like that. It's very frustrating."

On the play of April Kidd
"She can change the game around. She can guard any point guard in this country. She did the same thing to the point guard at Marquette. It's really embarrassing to the other point guard when she sparks us and April knows when to pick those moments. That's why we have her coming off the bench, so she can keep her energy up and do things like that. I think Sharise Calhoun, she didn't score much tonight, but she's going to be a great defender, like the next April. I think we have a nice future with Sharise."

On the play of Brittany Carnago
"Brittany's a big time player. Last year, a lot of people didn't get to see her because she had a broken foot. Now, she's really showing who she is and she can score against the best ones out there and defend the best forwards in the country. So, we're excited to see what Britt's going to do in the league." How do you prepare for a big game like this? Francis: "We said yesterday that tonight's game feels like a tournament game. This is what it feels like in the Summit League tournament. It doesn't matter what seed you are and it's a huge opportunity and a great game. Unfortunately, they have to handle their nerves, so we're going to be talking about that. But that's why we love this game. It's a great experience for them, but as we go down, hopefully they'll be less nervous. They can face some adversity earlier and change their habits earlier than a whole half.

Sophomore Brittany Carnago
On the team's play in the second half
"I think we slowed our offense down and we spread it out it more and worked the inside. We took better shots and just did everything better. We played Oakland basketball."

On playing a top-25 team like Georgia
"It definitely boosted our confidence because we know we can play with these big, top-25 teams. They're great teams, very athletic and we know we can stick with them and play at their level."

On whether the team was expecting a physical game
"Yes, we were. We knew they were going to come out and pressure us really hard."

ANDY LANDERS
University of Georgia Head Coach

OPENING STATEMENT
"We feel very fortunate. As I looked at the schedule, before we even started to play, this was a game I, in many ways, dreaded and in many ways, wanted to embrace, because of the challenge that we knew it would be. This is our fourth time of playing you guys and three of them have been just like this: terrific, well-played basketball games. I think our team is fortunate this evening that Puelo was able to shoot the ball well early. She gave us a 10-point lead that we basically nursed and protected for 30-32 minutes. Then, she came back and nailed a big shot in the last minute and the two free throws. A lot of kids played hard and a lot of kids contributed, but I thought her shooting early out us in a position where we didn't feel a lot of pressure or a lot of heat until their run later in the game."

On the challenges of playing a team like Oakland
"Oakland is superbly coached. Because of that, they have tremendous discipline. They execute to a T. We probably did the best job of defending them. They ran us out of our man last year. So after they got the ten point lead, we had to get out of it and could never go back to it. They just cut us to shreds. So, we probably played our man the bets that we played against the, but they are well-coached and very well-disciplined. They have tremendous conditioning and energy the entire game. If you watch the game, you saw Georgia get tired and they just keep going and I suspected that was going to happen. It doesn't reflect well on us and I understand that. But that's who we are right now and those are things we can affect as we continue. And they're talented. They're just very, very good."

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