North Carolina State University Athletics
The Doors are Wide Open for NC State
10/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 21, 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State women's basketball has started practice is about to complete its first full week. Today, head coach Kay Yow and seven of her players participated in the annual NC State Women's Basketball Media Day. The season is less than a month away, see what Coach Yow and the players have to say about the upcoming season by reading some quotes from media day.
Head Coach Kay Yow Quotes
Opening Comments
We're coming off of last season, especially the second half of the season, where we turned everything around. We picked up a lot of momentum at that time and saw several things we could accomplish at that time. Following the second half of the season, after fighting back from ninth place (in the ACC) to being the third seed and then a bid to the NCAA Tournament, we had postseason workouts. Then about nine players went to Rome, Italy and Athens, Greece, and I felt we picked up momentum. Our momentum just kept building. We played extremely hard over there and it was really a fun team to watch over there. So we enter this year after that. I thought in the weight room this summer and in the preseason, our team has really worked hard. Our charts downstairs look the best they've looked in a long time. We also have more healthy people than we've had in a long time. It's just a lot of enthusiasm on the team and I feel our chemistry is better than it has been. You just have those teams that you know click, and this is a team I feel that about. I don't hold anything back from a team that works and plays as hard as this team does, and the way they play together. The doors are wide open. I've not set any limits on this team. I'm really anxious to see this team play.
On Expectations of the Team
The best I can say right now is that I am not setting any limits on this team. I'm really anxious to see this team compete. As I told them since we've been in Greece and Italy, if they play that hard when we hit competition this year, with their skills improving and the talent and the addition of the new players to our team, if they play that hard, I think great things can happen for this team. We're shooting at a high level.
On Billie McDowell
Her injury to her shoulder kept her from giving as much to this team and doing as much as she could because of the shoulder injury. When we practiced to go overseas, she didn't even practice at all because we were dealing with that injury. But when we got there, we had eight players and with the physical play over there, we were playing some pretty top-level competition. We needed some help and so Billie actually played some considerable minutes over there although she hadn't practiced. She did a great job. I remember even in our NCAA playoff game that Billy played really well defensively in that game. She was a person who was getting a lot of deflections and getting her hands on the ball. She really has stepped up. She and Ashley Key have done a really good job at defending the guards. Also, they are both scorers. They can both shoot threes and can both penetrate. I think Billie has been looking really good in practice. She's been playing really well day in and day out.
On Kendra Bell
KB is a smart point guard. She works really hard. She plays defense well-positionedly. She really knows the game and uses the glass on a lot of her shots. She has a lot of people on this team to get the ball to. We have a lot of people that can score. She's been playing really well for us and has been consistent with it.
On Any Possible Lineup Decisions
It's going to be a pretty tough task because one thing we have is depth. I like that challenge. On paper, it really looks like we don't have that much experience, but I feel like we play like a team that is experienced. Even though I look at the paper and I know what people think, but when I'm on the court with them, I really don't feel that way. They play at a higher level than the paper would indicate. I think the chemistry feels great.
Player Quotes
Kendra Bell on the Second Half of Last Season
We always knew we had the talent. We basically just had to execute better and so we just tried to pick up everything we were doing and just take it from there and not have any regrets. We knew what potential we had as a team.
Kendra Bell on Her Role as a Senior
It's funny because we were all here this summer and I was looking around for Kaayla or Nanna and then I was like, wait, uh oh, I'm an upperclassman. So I mean I know that's been expected of me. My role of a point guard is a leadership position and I'm just trying to come from the momentum I had last year and build on that, and my teammates are making it easy for me and helping me.
Rachel Stockdale on Her Health
Over the summer my knee was doing great. I came back and did preseason here with a lot of workouts and time on the water treadmill. I had some swelling here and there, but overall my knee is looking really good.
Rachel Stockdale on Team Chemistry
The chemistry (this summer) was great. After going through last season we went over there (Rome, Italy and Athens, Greece) and played well together. It was really unselfish play. Even not playing, the time we spent touring and hanging around the hotel, just all the time we spent together, I really feel helped even how we have started this season off.
Ashley Key on Summer Play
It started in the ten days we had to practice trying to gain more knowledge about the teams over there and how we were going to play against them. Coach kept saying it would be physical. So we wanted to go over there and play hard and physical against them. I was able to get my confidence level up. I think this season I will more confidence in myself to play hard every game and be consistent and just to work hard every day at practice.
Marquetta Dickens on Her Sophomore Season
Physically it feels a lot better. Mentally I have a year under my belt and in a year you can do a lot of maturing and a lot of learning and I think I have learned a lot. Already I learned a lot from my new teammates and I think even not playing this summer with them I felt the chemistry just watching them play and its just amazing, its just great.
Billy on The Health of Her Shoulder
I'm not going to say that it's great but compared to this summer it's a lot better. Everyday I am doing rehab. On the court I try not to think about it but after practice I can think about it and get my treatment.
