Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb
On Holzer's performance:
"Where she did a really good job was on the defensive end, getting deflections, blocked shots, rebounds. On offense she's just really starting to get a good feel of what we're doing. She was extremely efficient in her time tonight, on both sides of the floor.
"The more and more she practices, the more and more she'll be able to play. Being able to play her as much as she did, without her feeling fatigue, I felt really good about that."
On Vanderbilt's three-point shooting:
"At halftime when we shot 8-of-11 [from three] and shot 64 percent from the field, if you continue to do that you're going to have a national record, and I knew that wasn't going to happen this early in the season with a young team. I knew it would balance out there somewhere, so at halftime I tried to not even speak of it, but obviously that didn't work; the percentages balanced out."
On the play of the freshmen today:
"It's exciting to think about the future of this year, because they're going to get better and better. To get that much experience from two kids that are carrying themselves with the confidence that they have; they're very coachable. I can't give them the confidence that they have. They came with that and as they play more, and are successful, they're going to gain even more confidence."
Center Stephanie Holzer
On the start to the season:
"Honestly, it's just a long time coming. This year, it's definitely been amazing so far. Both exhibition games were great, finally being able to get out there with my teammates. Finally being able to get the ends to all the means, with all of the hard work we've been putting in at practice."
On her play today:
"I just tried to do the little things, and do what Coach teaches us. I was able to get open, my teammates were able to find me, and we just connected. My game has always been being able to step out and hit shots, and also play with my back to the basket. I like being versatile. I had the opportunity to do that tonight, and I was able to perform."
Guard Christina Foggie
On the three-point success today:
"Our posts were working so hard inside, getting some open seals, so the defenders were worried about the posts inside, which opened up the perimeter. We were hitting early on so we gained a lot of confidence during that one stretch. In the second half they kind of figured it out, and shut us down a bit."
On the pressure of playing as a freshman:
"We saw it as just another day, just another game, because every day in practice Coach gives us the same amount of pressure and challenges. We knew that there would be pressure to be out there as freshman, but we just played it as another game."
Howard Head Coach Nikki Reid Geckeler
Overall thoughts on the game:
"You have to give credit where credit is due. Vanderbilt had a really good three-point shooting first half. They've got some great shooters and we knew that we had to make an adjustment to that, coming out in the second half. I'd also like to give our kids credit for coming out in the second half and really playing strong. They got some open looks. They made great plays, they had some great swings. They had some players make some tough shots as well."
