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Head coach June Daugherty meets the press Sunday.
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March 19, 2006
NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship
Nashville First and Second Rounds
Memorial Gymnasium - Nashville, Tennessee
Sunday, March 19 - News Conference
WASHNINGTON QUOTES
Head Coach June Daugherty
We are excited to be into the second round of the NCAA tournament and walk through some things here to get ready for LSU. They're very athletic and, obviously, a very talented team. We look forward to playing them well tomorrow evening. I think Pokey (Coach Pokey Chatman) has done a great job with that program. We had opportunity to see them up close and personal out in Seattle last year with the regional. We are pretty familiar with them, though we have not had the opportunity to play them yet.
We have to stay focused on playing our system and playing great Huskey basketball. I think we're capable of doing that. It's been a game of runs all year with our program. It is a team that buckles down, stays disciplined defensively and takes care of the basketball against the different pressure schemes we're going to see from them. They're going to mix it up, I think. If we can do that, I think we'll be fine. You have to be careful at this point in the season not to get too far outside yourself. We must stick with what got us here and do it with a little bit higher level than we did yesterday. That's going to be important.
Sophomore Guard Emily Florence
I guess we are a pretty inexperienced team when it comes to the NCAA. The coaches have been and some of our seniors have. We just have to come out ready tomorrow. It's an exciting experience, being able to win that first game. We've had so much fun down here. Come tomorrow, we've got to get down to business and get another win.
I like the open space (of Memorial Gym). It gives us room to dive for balls out of bounds. With the benches on the baseline, you get a different perspective of the game. It's something I'm not used to, but I really like it.
It all comes down to working hard. We outwork a lot of teams and that's when we get our "Ws." We've just got to come out and play 40 minutes. With LSU, you can't give up at all. You can't let down at all.
Sophomore Guard Dominique Banks
Seimone Augustus is a great player. Guarding her is going to be tough. I'm not going to really focus on who she is as much as what I have to do to stop her.
Junior Guard Cameo Hicks
The start is very important because it sets your momentum and it sets the tone for the entire game. But, above all, our finish will be of utmost importance. The games here have been so tough and so competitive. How we play the last five minutes, especially down the stretch, is going to be the most important.
A neutral court definitely helps us. We are just going to have to build our own energy. The team that can build the most energy and feed off the energy is going to be the winner of this game.
