New York Liberty vs. Indiana Fever (8/4)

 Indiana Coach Quotes:

Pokey Chatman on Indiana’s resilience… “It is exactly what we talked to them about in the locker room. A lot of times when the shots aren’t falling your defense tends to go down a couple of notches. I credit them for continuing to get good defensive stops, not letting Tina [Charles] get comfortable, not letting Sugar [Rodgers] get loose in transition and not putting them on the free throw line. Eventually I said, ‘look keep getting me those good shots they are going to eventually fall, and they did.’”

Chatman on back to back wins… “Well you know, you get your head beat in but you’re learning lessons under the lights. Some of the young ones are learning how to play in the moment, but we know it’s going to take asserted effort from all. I think the addition of Cappie Pondexter to go along with Candace Dupree took some of the pressure off of the players who have only being playing professional ball for a couple of months.”

“It’s nice to get these wins and try to finish out the rest of the regular season strong.”

Chatman on keeping Kelsey Mitchell aggressive … “I take the focus off of the shot, to Kelsey’s credit she had a stretch of six or seven games where she did not make the scouting report and now they’re scheming for her. Now what’s happening for us is, it gets Natalie [Achonwa] shots, and Dupree shots. I just like her pace she gets the ball coming from the back court to the front court in about 2.2 seconds, and that gives a opportunity for some good stuff.”

Indiana Players Quotes:

Candace Dupree on key stops throughout the game…  “I thought we did a good job of getting stops tonight, limiting their key players, and putting the ball in the hole.”

Dupree on playing to win… “We are still fighting. We still have a lot of different ways we can get better and keep growing. We are building for the future right now. There is no need to relax, this is the second half of the season and we are trying to finish with a winning record.”

Dupree on individual performance… “I was just trying to stay aggressive and in attack mentality. Earlier I think I went like 0 for 3. I just was not trying to settle early on and try to attack and put the ball on the floor a little bit. Everyone else just kind of followed; because initially everyone’s jumpers were short. So, we knew we needed that attack mentality.”

Natalie Achonwa on win … “I think Cappie Pondexter said it yesterday, we are in here just to get wins at this point, we are here to continue to get better. At the end of the day that’s all we wanted to do today. It did not matter if we were down or the circumstances weren’t what wanted, that just adds a bonus when we win.”

Achonwa on first quarter deficit… “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, and we really took that first quarter and was like ‘we really let them score 21 in the first quarter.’ When we came in here at half time we were like, ‘they really were not doing anything special we just need to lock in a little bit more.’ In that second half, we reevaluated and worked hard.”

New York Coach Quotes:

Head Coach Katie Smith on her message to the team… “Pride. Play hard. You’re not only playing for yourselves you’re playing for your future. It’s your work that’s being out there and being a professional so you have to have pride in everything that you do. Honestly [the message is] to come out here and play as hard as you can, be happy with your effort and proud of how your performed and how your showed up that night.”

Smith on the second half… “We didn’t hit shots, extra pass, the ball sticks a little bit with us. The defense gets a chance to recover and find another person so its just the next pass, the one more, driving and picking and also then knocking down a few shots.”

Smith on what the team needs to work on… “We need to have an aggressive mentality, we have to pass, driving and being aggressive not only to get your own shot but then find somebody else. Then it is also wanting the basketball and being ready to take shots when you get it.”

Smith on Empowerment Day… “Its huge. These ladies are way more than just basketball players and these platforms that they have and being strong and having a voice but also who they are outside of just basketball is just huge the way they represent themselves. This league means so much to us and to have powerful women for these young ladies and boys to see is huge so basketball aside they are awesome people, awesome women. We love this game, its given us a lot and we want to empower others to go after what they want in life.”

New York Players Quotes:

Kia Vaughn on her injury… “Day by day, I guess, now. That seems to be the story of the season, injuries here, injuries there. Overall just not the outcome I wanted to not be out there with the team. We locked it up. If I were able to go, I would have given [Katie Smith Head Coach] the okay. You can’t tell when you’re standing. Its different when you get on the court.”

Tina Charles on the second half of the game… “We only scored two points in the fourth quarter so that’s what happens.”

Charles on how to move forward from here… “From my team, we have to change. Until we change as individuals, taking ownership of what our position is, what Katie asks of us, things won’t be different. As far as the fans, thank you for coming out. The things that we can control are our effort, our energy, our attitude.”

Rebecca Allen on her play… “Its good to have some extended minutes. We just need our team to stay together and play for the full 40 minutes each individually. It’s good to know the team has your back and everyone is still supporting each other.”