Nov. 17, 2008

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Auburn Head Coach Nell Fortner
Opening Statement...
"To score 95 points, and to shoot the ball as poorly as we shot it tonight is amazing to me. I am pleased that we can find ways to score and win ball games. We haven't scored 95 points, I don't think since I've been here; it's been a long time. I like what we are doing offensively, but really we shot the ball poorly.

"The potential of what we can do is very encouraging. I thought we beat a very good Temple team; we wore them out and that is something that we are trying to do within this offense; to keep the pressure on and push the ball.

"I was very pleased with how the veterans played. I thought we saw the veteran presence tonight. There was no panic or worry; the veterans just kept doing what they should do. The experience shown in Whitney Boddie, Sherell Hobbs, DeWanna Bonner and Alli Smalley was apparent tonight."

On half time adjustments...
"It was just a matter of coming out after half time and making shots. We were only shooting 31 percent in the first half and they weren't bad shots. We were missing layups; we made 13 offensive rebounds and weren't capitalizing on them. We weren't shooting well at the free throw line either. I just told them that they needed to go out there and knock shots down, focus hard, finish and get and ones. It was just a matter of recommitting and focusing on the 20 minutes and that's where our veteran presence stepped up. We had Alli Smalley really looking to shoot the ball. Sometimes we have to just shake her and tell her to shoot the ball and she did in the second half. Alli Smalley shot very well and made a couple of great shots.

On Temple staying in the zone defense...
"Temple was getting in foul trouble, so I think that is why they had to stay in the zone. I don't think they expected us to come out in the second half shooting like we did, because in the first half we only shot 31 percent and shooting poorly from the three-point line as well. I'm sure Coach Tonya Cardoza felt comfortable staying in the zone defense. Coach Cardoza called a pretty quick time out to try to stop the bleeding a little bit."

DeWanna Bonner, Guard
On playing against Shanea Cotton...
"She's a great player. Coach told me to play behind her and I had some good help from the other guards and that's the way we shut her down. She would come in and we would double up on her. She's not as fast, but she knows how to get into great position under the post."

On adjusting her play when the team is shooting well...
"Like Coach says, with us being veterans, that's what makes us go on runs. We need to come in and lead the team. Sometimes, I know that I need to come in and take over, but tonight I didn't need to. Whenever Alli (Smalley) came in, they'd hit a shot and she would come right back and hit a bigger shot. We kept taking their momentum away and that really kept my confidence up."

On being SEC player of the week...
"I just found out right before the game, so I really didn't have a chance to play according to that. Coach told me before the game, but with my team playing the way that they did, it made me look better."

Sherrell Hobbs, Guard
On taking shots during a team hot streak...
"After I hit those first few shots, it gave me some energy and confidence seeing all those shots going in. Whenever I took a shot, I had no doubt that it would be going in. When Alli (Smalley) had the ball, my thoughts were to get back on defense because I knew that her shots were going in."

On how much fun it is to play while the team is hot...
"It's a lot of fun when we play like this and you have a lot of room for error. You always have confidence because when you miss a shot, you know that you're team is going to get it back for you on defense. We're playing very fast-paced and that's fun. What makes it more fun is that you have great subs who can take over when you get tired."

Temple Head Coach Tonya Cardoza
Opening Statement...
"It was a very high scoring game. I know the last game Auburn put up 91 points and I see why. They have a lot of great offensive players. They are fast-paced, up-tempo and are going to score a lot of points. They will create a lot of easy opportunities for themselves. I thought in the first half our zone was pretty good. They only scored 37 points in the first half against our zone. They weren't making any outside shots. Alli Smalley knocked in a couple of threes and I think they gained a lot of confidence after that. It seemed like every shot they threw up after that went in."

Did the fast tempo catch you off guard?...
"That's the type of game we wanted to play as well. The biggest thing was being careless with the ball. We didn't really give ourselves a chance in the second half. We had 29 turnovers and they scored 39 points off of that. We actually shot 50 percent from the floor. If we had taken care of the ball, who knows what the outcome would have been. We never gave ourselves a chance with those turnovers."