Virginia Tech women's basketball head coach Kenny Brooks, forward Elizabeth Kitley and guard Aisha Sheppard met with the media on Friday following their first-round setback against No. 12 Florida Golf Coast in the NCAA Tournament in College Park, Maryland. Read some of what they had to say:
KENNY BROOKS
(Opening statement) Obviously we're very disappointed with the outcome. But it doesn't change how I feel about these kids. The effort that they gave all year, very, very proud of what they accomplished. Stings right now because we had high aspirations for this group. So stings right now but I'm very, very proud of these kids and the effort they gave all year long.
(On it being hard to guard FGCU's shooters) Yeah, it is. It is hard to guard everyone. We wanted to make sure -- we did a really good job on the main two 3-pointer shooters. But in a game like that, with a game plan like this -- Karl can probably say the same thing. Their game plan was to take away our 3 and let Liz do her thing, and she did it. And our game plan was to make others hit shots and they did. And it wasn't only that they were hitting shots. They were hitting timely shots, the big ones, when momentum was about to swing our way or whatever the case might be. And give those kids credit, man. This is not just a Kierstan Bell show or whatever the situation is. They did a really good job. They stepped up and knocked down shots and they looked confident. It's a good game, very entertaining game. But give them credit. They did a really good job.
ELIZABETH KITLEY
(On her health and then her performance) It's fine. When the game gets going it's not something you think about. And obviously I had a pretty large size advantage. We knew that coming in. Did a lot of stuff to take advantage of that.
(On the challenge of defending 3-point shooters and a specific late switch) On that particular one, I think it was Bell in the paint. I was there, the game plan was for me to be there to help KT, I think it was and then to get out there as fast as I could. And if they make it -- she made them. She was, I think, 4-for-7 from 3. Credit to her. She stepped up.
AISHA SHEPPARD
(On FGCU's style of play) We knew coming in that they wanted to either shoot 3s or layups. And give them credit, they hit shots when they needed to. But that's their style of play. Very similar to ours. But they hit a lot of timely shots.
(On thinking about her legacy recently) No, like Coach said, none of this has really hit me yet. But I'm just grateful for the opportunity to have played here and to be able to have my name in the record books is a plus. But the biggest thing that I'm proud of is that I received two degrees from Tech.
