Maine picked up a quarterfinal win Saturday afternoon 57-40 over Binghamton in the America East Womens basketball tournament in Portland. Maine advances to semifinals Sunday at 2 p.m. to face top seed UNH. Here are a few of the coaches and player quotes:
Interim Head coach Amy Vachon said, “Well at halftime I was a little concerned we weren’t gonna make a shot again. We struggled from the floor in that second quarter. Loved how they came out in the third quarter, really focused in, really aggressive, and looking for their shots. Defensively, we have been solid all year long so that wasn’t a surprise to me. When we aren’t shooting well, the reason we are able to stay in games is our defense”.
On defending Binghamton tough post player Alyssa James, Maine forward Anita Kelava said, “Yes it was physical, but I think the major thing for us was the real help. We were there every time. We knew how we wanted to defend her, and we stuck to it. We didn’t let her physicality like go over us, we just played really smart”.
Maine guard Sigi Koizar said on the second half turnaround and rally, “Yeah I think a big part of it was making shots that we didn’t make in the first half. Blanca (Millan) I think gave us a good lift with some steals and easy layups on the other end. We definitely talked about our shooting and it wasn’t good. Coach Vachon told us we can’t leave any bullets in the gun. She said go out there and keep shooting and keep believing in it. And also for us right now, it’s do or die”.
