On Thursday night, Lady Vols basketball and Georgia went to the wire in an overtime bout in Athens. However, it was Tennessee holding on, claiming a critical 82-77 win.
After the game, Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell met with the media. She was asked about the play in the overtime period, improvements from the loss to UConn, the play of Talaysia Cooper and more.
Here’s what she said.
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Opening statement
“Didn’t love the end of the game. Happy to get out of here with a win. You just have to stack them in this league and on the road.”
On what she saw from the team in overtime
“I think it was good for us. It was good for us to get one under our belt. It was good for us to win. I thought we played with poise and good pace and together down the stretch. And I was a little bit worried about the momentum not being in our favor and us being deflated, and we weren’t.”
On having 16 assists, if that was an emphasis at practice
“It is, and I think it’s impressive that we didn’t shoot it very well, and we had sixteen assists, so it would have been higher if a couple of those ones would have fell in the first quarter. We did. And I think that they did a really good job of talking amongst themselves, too, of we said it, and they echoed it, and I think that’s progress.”
On Zee Spearman making clutch freethrows
“I think she’s always been one of our better foul shooters, and so I don’t necessarily know that she was lacking in confidence in that area. She was somebody that I would trust to put at the line, and I’m pretty confident when she’s there.”
On Mia Pauldo’s physicality
“She’s tough, and I think that says a lot about her. If she’s down there rolling around on the ground, and I look at her, and, ‘Do you need a sub? Do you want-?’ We could have put whoever to shoot those foul shots, and she looked at me, and she said she got it. And that’s the trust I have in her. She’s a very good foul shooter. She works on them every single day, and when you work on it, and you put the work in on anything, it’s going to pay off.”
On starting slow from range, heating up later
“It was great to see them go in. I was really proud of them. Once we saw one, I think our confidence kind of sparked. I wanted us to get off to a really good start today. I don’t think we did, but I do think we did a good job of continuing to play. I think they had the lead the majority of the back half of the first quarter, and then we pulled away with it at the end.”
On Mia Pauldo, Talaysia Cooper stepping up in the second half
“Again, I think it came from a team. I think they didn’t have to create for themselves tonight. They were able to catch it on the opposite side of the floor, where we shared it a little bit better, and they were easier shots, and they didn’t have to work as hard for them.”
On Kaniya Boyd’s status, if she was available after not playing
“Yeah, I think when she had that injury, she was set back a little bit, but she’ll be fine. She’ll be back in it.”
On if they took anything from the UConn loss that played into the win over Georgia
“I think that we had, again, a twenty-minute span where we looked great, and they have to play like that every night.”
On Talaysia Cooper’s game
“I don’t really care about her points. I was really happy about her rebounds. That was very big for us, for her to go get four offensive rebounds. Everyone that had an offensive rebound helped us win that game, something we need to get better at.”
On if she saw any defensive improvements
“I think that they did a really good job of going into the post, and then their post got in foul trouble, but they were kind of whipping it with us at the rim. So something we need to continue to get better at, and then IQ down the stretch. Just learning. We’re learning. We had some freshmen make some freshmen plays at the end, but again, I trust them to be out there. We’re learning in real-time, and we’ll continue to fix it.”
