Postgame quotes from CSU vs. SCSU

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Charleston Southern women's basketball coach Julie Goodenough talks about her team's 87-71 victory over South Carolina State University Saturday afternoon from the CSU Field House.

We were really trying to focus on our defensive effort today. We had a few breakdowns defensively. Our offense was really good again today, but I think we saw some intensity on the defensive end from some players that are starting to figure some things out.

On the play of LeChell Rush:
One of LeChell’s offensive roles is to beat everybody down the floor, and if we don’t get the ball to her than at least we make the defense have to keep up with her. She’s very athletic, she’s fast and she’s a good jumper. I was glad to see her get some opportunities to score in transition because she was working real hard and being consistent in running the floor.

On the 87-point performance:
I think that we have some real good offensive weapons. We saw some different people score tonight. Lakeitha came through again with double digits and LeChell has 15. Tina came in off the bench ready to score. She did some really nice things defensively for us as well. I think we’ve got some players who can put some points up on the board. We just like to limit our opponents a little bit and keep people out of the 70’s. If we can do that than I think we’ll really have the opportunity to compete night after night.

On the team’s defensive effort:
I felt like we did a great job blocking out, rebounding and finishing possessions with block outs in the first half. They only had one offensive rebound at halftime. We didn’t do quite as well in the second half, though. It seemed like on some of those we had people laying on the floor and they benefitted from us getting knocked down. But I thought we did a good job putting ourselves in position to take charges. I felt like our defense out on the perimeter was better.

On preparing for North Carolina:
We’re really excited about the opportunity, and obviously North Carolina is one of the best teams in the country. They use their defense to generate their offensive points. We have got to do a great job taking care of the ball. We don’t have much time to prepare for them, but we just need to take care of the basketball. Turnovers high up the floor will turn into layups for them. We’ve got to do a great job of finishing possessions by blocking out. They’re going to be bigger than us at every position, and we have to be tough and block out. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to play a team at that level, and I’m looking for success in certain areas that we can carry onto other games.