Lady Vols vs. Arkansas - Pine Bluff Postgame Quotes - University of Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement:
"First thing, I want to express our condolences to Sierra'li Wade's family and the entire Arkansas-Pine Bluff family. I know it took a lot of courage and strength to play today, and I cannot imagine what they are going through. Our hearts are with them right now."

On her team's gesture to Arkansas-Pine Bluff before the game:
"Well, we wanted to do something for them. I know it's not anything big and nothing is enough at this point, but we wrote individual cards to their players and staff. We gave them to them before the game, so they will have them now. It's just a small token, saying that we are thinking of them."

On if she feels like she got a complete effort from her team tonight:
"I thought in the first half, especially defensively, we were pretty solid. I thought our energy was pretty good. We did some things defensively with changing up our defenses to help that. We didn't change it up as much in the second half, and I think that our energy was a little bit lower there. Our execution in our man defense in the second half was not where I wanted it to be. We were a little gapped out at times and gave too many driving lanes, or we weren't getting out to the 3-point shooters. We can clean some of that up. They did a better job in the fourth quarter than they did in the third, but in the locker room right after, they were disappointed in their second half defense. That's good, and I am glad they were feeling that."

On tonight being a night where things are just bigger than basketball:
"Absolutely. You don't want to have to go through a tragedy to put things in perspective, but it does; it puts things in perspective. All afternoon it has weighed on me, because I cannot even imagine being in their shoes. That is a young life gone way too soon."

On Kasiyahna Kushkituah's play recently:
"Kasi is playing with a little more confidence now than she did early on. She is more physical, which is great, because she is a very strong and powerful player. She has wanted the basketball. She has put herself in great positions on the court to catch and score, and our guards have been finding her and rewarding her for her effort. She has finished well. I am just really proud in how she is playing right now, and hopefully she will maintain that confidence and momentum."

On the play of Kamera Harris and the development of her shot:
"Well, I think Kamera can knock down 15-footers as good as anybody on our team right now. She's doing that in practice, and she's doing in it games. It's consistent. I think she has been has been pretty consistent defensively as well, so that's a good positive for us. I think we will continue to work with every player and try to find areas for all of them to improve, but I like that she's been giving us good minutes."

On Jordan Horston's playing time in the second half:
"Jordan had a lot of turnovers, and it is one of those things that we we've got to help her and continue to work with her on how to cut some of those down, but we're trying to get a lot of people minutes. I needed to put Rennia Davis out there and she got out there a little bit at the point .She got a few extra minutes because I needed to give her some opportunities handling basketball you know there's no reason really that Jordan didn't get as many but she'll continue to get better and she'll still make plays."

On Rennia Davis getting double-digit rebounds in games:
"I think it's huge when we can have not only our bigs getting on the boards, but our guards getting on the boards, and I think that Rennia has an opportunity to get put-backs when she's getting in there and getting on the boards, especially from that perimeter position on the offensive end. I think it really rounds out her game. I think her defense has been solid. I have been proud of our defense, have been proud of her effort on the boards and obviously, we know she can score. So again, like everybody else, we're still trying to work with her and find ways to get her better. Maybe she get a couple more boards, you know. Maybe she can find another finish. So we'll keep working with all of them."

On how to keep young players from getting low on themselves:
"I think players have to have confidence in themselves. I think they have to know they can make plays. I think Jordan will come back confident in the next game. I think she is a competitive player. She wants to do well, and I think some players will be motivated differently than others. Some players, (you) pull them out, put them back in. Some players get a little play-throughs. We're working right now to help Jordan and find what works best for her and make sure that she knows we have confidence in her ability."

Sophomore Guard/Forward Rae Burrell:

On how much she feeds off coming off the bench and providing a spark:
"I just try to come off the bench and give the team energy and look to see what we need to work on. Off the bench, I see what we need to work on. I just try to come in and give them energy and do what I can for the team."

On how difficult it was to hear of the passing of Arkansas – Pine Bluff's Sierra'li Wade:
"I admire their toughness that they brought out, even after having that news and just still being able to play and play hard. I just send my condolences to them."

On how she balances playing with energy, without playing out of control:
"That is one thing that I've been working on, is my decision making, actually. Just making sure that I'm not forcing stuff and letting the ball come to me, but still making sure that I'm giving energy and having an impact on the team in everything we're doing. Decision making – I've been working on that."

Senior Forward Kamera Harris

On hitting shots and her confidence on the floor:

"Honestly, I think that's just it: confidence. I think this year, even over the summer, I've been really working on my shot and making that a priority for m. Especially being at the four position, I knew I would have opportunities to hit that shot, so I've just been practicing it. And when I take them, I'm confident with it, because I know how much I've taken those shots."

On how difficult it was to hear of the passing of Arkansas – Pine Bluff's Sierra'li Wade:
"I mean it's hard. I have so much respect for them, to go out and compete still. That's tough. I can't even imagine that being one of my teammates. We send our condolences to them, and it's an unfortunate situation."

On her biggest takeaway from the 6-0 start to the season:
"I think there's a lot, but probably the main thing is when times get tough, how we're going to react to them. I think that this year, we're all really trying to focus on when things get tough in practice or in the game, just making sure we stay together. And when we hit adversity, I guess just testing us, I think we've been doing a good job of that so far."

Junior Guard/Forward Rennia Davis

On the cards given to UAPB before the game and how they felt when hearing about the death of UAPB Player Sierra'li Wade:
"The cards we gave were just to offer our condolences. Obviously, they're going through a tough time. I can't imagine how they must feel right now. For me personally, it just kind of made me appreciate my teammates a lot more and just try to take a step back and look at life for what it is. That was tough for them."

On what the team wrote in the cards:
"They were just handwritten, genuine messages offering our condolences to them. Again, we couldn't really speak too much to the situation, just because. (So it was) just our general condolences."

On her double-double and if rebounding is a priority:
"Rebounds are on my mind all the time. I just think that if I can give the team something different other than scoring, I feel like rebounding is that thing that I can bring to the table every single night, so I try to get at least 10 a night."

UAPB Head Coach Dawn Brown

Opening statement:
"Tonight's contest was a great matchup for us. I definitely have to give credit to coach Kellie (Harper) and her new program that she has put together. This is a very tough team to play and playing in this environment. I think it is something that we definitely needed to experience this year. I think this is the biggest crowd that we have had an opportunity to play in front of. We have a very young team and a team that is learning a new system. I think we had a tough first two quarters, but I think when we came into the locker room and came back out, really put things into perspective with some things we knew we were capable of doing. I think in the third and fourth quarter, we were able to get more relaxed and get some type of shots that we really wanted to have in those first two quarters. But like I said, Tennessee is the women's basketball capital, and we have so much respect for this program and coming here was very important to us, to our young ladies. To have this experience on our schedule as a first-year head coach here with this program is very pivotal to our season this year."

On if there was any thought on not playing this game after the events last night:
"One of the main things was that I don't think it was ever an option – it never crossed any of our minds – that we weren't going to play this game today. Our young ladies love what they do, and they understand that they were given a gift and a talent. To have such a tragedy to happen last night when we found out around 6 or 7 o'clock, right before dinner, I wanted to give the young ladies some peace. We did some things with them that allowed them to spend some time with each other. It was never a situation where we thought about not playing this game. We gave them the opportunities and the time they needed to cry and to love on each other. I think that was really important. It never crossed our minds to not show up and play."

On how the last 24 hours has been for her and her team:
"Honestly, this is my 12th season in coaching basketball and nothing that I have ever experienced had prepared me for the phone call I received yesterday. I think the biggest thing is, as a leader, you want to always be strong for your young women, and they feed off your energy. Like I said yesterday, it was really, really tough because we were at dinner when I got the phone call with them. We immediately collected their phones so that they wouldn't find out anything via social media. My staff and I took it pretty hard. They didn't have a clue. They just knew something didn't seem right. But like I said, nothing really prepares you for moments like this. It is tough, but we have to try and be strong for them. One of the things we talked about yesterday in our little meeting space was that it is okay to grieve and okay for us to cry, because I think that is part of healing. You are initially in shock in the beginning, but I told them that we are family. I think that is a great thing about being a part of the team, that you don't have to go through these things by ourselves. We can go through these things together, and I think they were able to embrace that."

On the cards given to them from the Lady Vols:
"We haven't read them yet. We will get an opportunity to share those with the young ladies when we get back into the locker room, but we haven't seen them yet. I didn't want them to be completely distracted, it was already tough enough for them. Once we get that, I am sure we will be able to share that, and we will share it on our social media."

On what it means to her on getting support from the Lady Vols and Vol Nation:
"Last night, we made a phone call to Chris Walker, UT's chaplain. I think I talked to him about 8:54 last night. About 9:35, him and at least 15 other people came out to pray with our young ladies. I told them, 'I don't know if we could have been at a better place to get news like this.' To have people around us that felt like family, just for them to be covering us in prayers and standing with us. And not only last night, this morning they got up and brought us breakfast. That meant a lot. Just the fact that we are so far away from home, it's not like you can just get on the bus and try to go back to be there with the family. So for us, it meant a lot.

And for us to get those cards, it is a really special place. I think that the legacy and foundation that has been laid here just speaks volumes for this program. To have those type of people to continue to grow and to be a part of what you have established here, it just speaks volumes for the type of people that stand to represent Tennessee. Chris checked on us right before the game and all throughout the day. They have also somebody from international studies that reached out to her mom and her grandma. It has been a loving environment from the entire Knoxville family. I guess you guys have Vol Nation. They have reached out to us. It has just been amazing. We have embraced it, and we are thankful for it. I don't think we could have been in a better place to get that type of news with the people that have shared their condolences with us in the last 24 hours."

On how much of a problem Tennessee's size was for the team:
"We started off this season playing some really great teams. But one thing we haven't seen is a team as big as Tennessee this year. I think that it gave us an opportunity to really focus in on mismatches and also matchups. I was letting them know at halftime that you all can't go in there and drive in there the same way that you would drive on somebody your same size. You have to make counter moves, or you have to make your shot fakes. Those are things we work on every day in practice. I think for us to have that type of size is really good for us, because I think it allows you to play at a different level. It allows you to think at a different level. It was a great atmosphere. I think our big, Nissa Sam-Grant, dominated the boards for us the last few games, and for her to have somebody crashing the boards that was just as big as her, that speaks volume. For this team, they average 54 rebounds a game, and we were averaging about 28 or 29. We knew that would be an issue for us, but we wanted to have those small victories on boxing out and to draw the fouls, so we could have a chance to get some points at the free-throw line."

On how proud she is of her team:
"This team is very different than any team that I have ever been able to be a part of. I tell them that all the time. They don't really know their potential and the gift that they have. I think tonight I told them, 'One thing that we can do is that we can lay down; we came here and (are) still mourning. But we can also go out there and let them know that we are strong and will get through this thing together.' I think tonight after they relaxed, because there was a lot of emotion, with the moment of silence and the ROTC Cadets there. I think that was heavy on all of us. But after halftime, they kind of got adjusted. I think they were able to see their capabilities and what they can do and what they do every day. We make practice really, really tough for them. We push them very hard. That is the reason why UAPB women's basketball is going to be different than what they have seen in the past, because we are not going to quit. They are going to work hard, and they are going to play hard for 40 minutes. I think that is one of the biggest takeaways that I have with this team this year. They are strong, and they are not going to back down. And now that they have an angel watching over us, I think that is really important that we can continue to do those things that Sierra would've wanted us to do."

Junior Huard Trasity Totten
On how she was able to put the tragedy behind her and focus on the court:
"When I first started out, it was pretty hard. I wasn't scoring or rebounding, but I stayed focused. As coach Brown said, 'Big time players show up for big time games.' I know that Sierra wouldn't want me to lay down and just let them run all over us, so I had to get together and score the ball for not only her, but my team as well."

Senior Forward Aiya El Hassan
On Sierra'li Wade's personality:
"She was full of life. She was a really high-spirited girl. She didn't come in at the same time as all of us, but when she came in, it was like she wasn't different than any of us. She was there. She never gave up during anything. She always pushed her hardest and was always determined to finish a layup or any drill or anything we were doing. If we had a tough time, she would not sit the drill out or give up. She would stay in there and work hard. That is what helped us all tonight."