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2016-17 UT Arlington Women's Basketball
UTA vs. UTSA
Nov. 13, 2016
Arlington, Texas - College Park Center
Post-Game Quotes

Head Coach Krista Gerlich

Opening statement …
"That was fun. It was fun to get these girls out there to play against somebody else. It was fun to see them have to get it up and extend to win the game. They didn't panic and there were some definite times that they could have lost their confidence but they really stepped to what we were trying to do. Then showed a lot of emotion at the end of the game to get the W. Really proud of these two (Cierra Johnson and Christina Devers). We knew that they were going to be lethal and they are going to continue to be. It is really nice to be able to play them at the same time on the court, and in particular with a couple of other kids in our lineup. I didn't think that Beck (Rebekah VanDijk) didn't have a great game and what was nice about that is we had other people step up and really rally around her. She is going to continue to get better. But overall, just really thrilled for this team to get that win to get the season started and get off on the right foot."

On fighting through nerves in the season opener …
"I think Christina's numbers speak for themselves. It is funny because I told them at the beginning that somebody is going to shoot an air ball their first shot. And it was Christina. But then she followed it up with 21 and I just like that about her. I love that she is a scorer and a competitor. She just kept fighting through it. She really let us coach her. She didn't get rattled. She didn't get frustrated. She listened to what we were talking about and she continued to be aggressive. I really liked that. I thought that Ericka and Aysia - especially for freshmen - they had some great minutes. We threw Ericka in the fire a little bit by starting her. She handled it really well. She is going to get better and better. I was super proud of Miranda for coming in and giving us that calm effect and that experience. That is really hard when you have a freshman start in front of you and Miranda could react in a lot of different ways. She is absolutely being a team player and wants what is best for us. She handled that really well. We are going to continue to get good looks out of Aysia and Shelby (Richards). I thought Shelby had a great pick at the end of the half that I thought was awesome. She is going to get better and better at that. I am just ready for them to shake the nerves off and show you guys that they can play because they can really go."

On adjusting to new lineup options …
"I struggled with some lineups. Just having so many new players I struggled just trying to find combinations. I put our team in some bad situations at times, where maybe we didn't have the right combinations on the floor to where we really could utilize our strengths. In the fourth quarter we went with a lot of returners to give us that confidence and then obviously Christina came in and gave us that punch. It helps a little bit when maybe you don't have quite as many new players on the court at the same time because its just so new. I felt that our returners really held us together and Christina came in and gave us that lift that put us over the top. Our defense got a lot better. We stopped fouling and turning the ball over and we started rebounding. That is what we talked about at halftime: if we would take care of the basketball and rebound and stop fouling. That we would win the ballgame. They did a nice job of that. We only turned the ball over four times in the second half, where we turned it over 12 in the first half. Huge difference when you take care of the basketball."

On UTSA subbing a lot of players early …
"Their two leading scorers came off the bench for them, so that is one reason they subsisted so much early. They were struggling with some matchups. We kind of jumped out on them pretty quick, then I felt like in the third quarter that is what kind of got us, we had some matchup difficulties. No. 30 (Tesha Smith) really went off rebounding the basketball inside for them a little bit. That matchup hurt us for a little while. We did a better job on (Loryn) Goodwin in the second half, kept her in front of us and didn't let her go off as easily. I really don't notice a lot when the other team is substituting unless it causes us matchup problems."

On Lauren Billie hitting some key 3-pointers …
"That is exactly why she starts in that position. She is definitely a great shooter for us. She has to get a little bit more selfish on the 3-point line, know when she is open and pull the trigger a little earlier. Because I'm okay with it. I'll tell her when I don't want her to shoot the basketball. But I thought she did a really nice job and hit some big ones down the stretch for us. I also want to say that Ally Te'o had some nice offensive rebounds and putbacks that sealed the deal for us. It was really nice to see her do that."

Student-Athlete Quotes

#0, Jr., G Cierra Johnson
On her defensive performance
"It's great because my favorite thing is defense. That was one of my goals, is to get more steals than I averaged last year. This is a start and I plan on making those numbers go up.

"A lot that was said was motivating. As far as the new people shooting it, I have so much faith and trust in our newcomers that we just had to get them out of their nervousness. We all were nervous but you have to have that mentality that you've been there and you've done that to calm down. They stepped up and we did what we are supposed to do."

#23, G, Jr. Christina Devers
"Besides being blessed, I just have a great team. A lot of that is just trust in my team to get me the ball where they know I am good at. Having teammates that trust you to be able to go out and do that. Especially with me being new, it just speaks to characteristics of my team and how much we try to stay unified and trust in each other."