Oct. 15, 2009

PITTSBURGH -

Coach Berenato Opening Remarks...
We're excited that you're all here today, so thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy day to come by and hear what Men and Women's Basketball have to say and what we're hoping for this season. We're very excited with our schedule and the upcoming season. I think the story of Pitt Women's Basketball is the celebration of back-to-back Sweet Sixteen appearances. I think that anytime you can have a back-to-back Sweet Sixteen banner you start to develop a tradition, and that's something we haven't had at Pitt with women's basketball. We have a great tradition with academics, a great tradition with football, a great tradition with men's basketball, a great tradition with all our Olympic sports, but I think that we have really tried to develop a fabulous program.

It was talked about this morning when we came here to Pittsburgh - we're now starting our seventh year - so when Jeff Williams and I came here together and it's amazing that this is our seventh season. When we said that we were going to turn this program around, the one thing that we were consistent with was that we didn't want to have a good team, we wanted to have a great program, and I think we're working on that right now. I think the ladies that sit to my left and to my right (Pepper Wilson, Jania Sims, Shayla Scott and Sophronia Sallard) are awesome examples of what we want for our student athletes. We want the best both on the court and off the court, and we feel that we have that right now. A lot of people come and talk to me and mention, "You know you lost Shavonte Zellous and Xenia Stewart, two four-year starters" and really you know that last year they were the names of the program. But the year before they said, "You're losing Mallorie Winn and Mercedes Walker, what are you going to do?" And for us, all that is, is that we had a great program, it wasn't about just the team.

The kids up here, they're the ones that are going to step up. I'm really excited to have Jania Sims back, a true point guard. I believe that she is one of the best point guards in the country, and all of you will be really pleased to see her in action, and I bet that she's just chomping at the bit to get back. Pepper Wilson was the only Big East student-athlete to participate in the U.S. U-19 team trials and unfortunately she had to have knee surgery, so she didn't make that trip with the team. Shayla Scott comes back to us, and what we've done is moved her from a forward to a guard, so I think that will be a big challenge for her, but I think it's something that really excites her. Shayla likes to be outside, she likes the perimeter; she likes to face the basket maybe more so than having her back to the basket. And then we have our only returning senior, which is Sophronia Sallard. I think Sophronia really has weathered the storm here at the University of Pittsburgh, and this is her last season, and I think that you've heard from Phro before in the past. She'll have a great game, and then you won't hear anything from Phro, but I think this is an opportunity for Phro to really make a name for herself and to have people talk about Sophronia Sallard.

Our schedule is fabulous, and that's expected anytime that you're in the Big East. We have a few home games, both teams that were in the National Championship game, how awesome is that, with both Connecticut and Louisville? We have fabulous games for weekends in January and February, so they're good promotional games.

We're hosting the 2009-10 NCAA First and Second Round of the regionals and I know for me, our goal is to sell out, and not only sell out, but sell out before the event. Some people might cringe when I say that because I'm putting it out there, and now that puts pressure on me to get it done, but I think that when you have a product that sits here, why would people not want to come and see it? That's basically it. We open our season on the seventeenth with a school day, and we're really excited about that to play North Florida. The game is at 11:00 AM, and we're using it as a field trip day which is really exciting for Pittsburgh. We already have several middle schools and grammar schools that are coming and then right from there we go and play the University of Florida. I think that is going to be just a wonderful opportunity- we went down to there place last year, had a tremendous battle, and now its their turn to come to us.

On Jania Sims returning to form after being sidelined last season due to injury...
I'm very confident. I think that Jania was in great form back then, but I think that she's better now. I think what J has done in the last year and a half is that she has become a student of the game. I think that she took that year and a half, and rather than sulk and be sad and upset that she couldn't play, she really took up a learning opportunity. Whether it was in practice, or for games, I think Jay became a student and I think she was constantly was picking Coach Williams', Coach McCombs', Coach McCuin's and my brain, and she was listening to what we would say.

There were times when I would ask her, "Do you know why I just did that?" and she would look at me and go, "I have no idea," and I would tell her. And I said, "When you're a coach, this is why I did that. Now, you can do whatever you want, but this is why I did that." The thing for me, our point guard, she's the coach on the court, she's the one that has to direct the team and I think that people are really going to be pleasantly surprised.

Pepper Wilson
On her experience at the U.S. U19 team tryouts...
For me, that whole experience was amazing. When I first started playing basketball, I would have never expected for me to have an opportunity like that so I just took it all in. I went up there real humble and made a lot of friends. I feel basketball-wise that my game got better simply because I was around a lot of competition, and all the girls that I played were very talented. So I went- I played hard and competed at the level that was expected. I have more confidence in my game now because I was able to compete and produce against girls that are the best in the country.

Sophronia Sallard
On her leadership role heading into this season...
When you really look at it, I came in and had the opportunity to play with some really great players: Mallorie Winn, Mercedes Walker, Karlyle Lim and Shavonte Zellous, to say the least. Now it's just, I have a lot of teammates that are there to back me up, they know that I'm the only senior, but we have a veteran squad. We have Shayla, who is a very good student of the game; she knows what it is that she needs to do. We have Jania Sims as well. I'm not going to take it too hardly because I'm surrounded by sisters and family that will help me get through it, and together we're going to lead this team.

Shayla Scott
On her season goals...
I think, from an offensive standpoint, I have to step up and contribute more than last year. A lot of our scoring is gone, but I think that is going to make us more of a threat this year. We have a lot of weapons, and without the scoring that's going to contribute and help a lot. Moving from forward to guard I think is a challenge, but something that I'm really looking forward to.

Jania Sims
On getting back onto the court...
I'm really excited to get back on the court. I finally got to play and I was running up and down, and people were like "J, relax, you can't just jump in and play everyday the same like that." But it's really exciting to know that I'm coming back to a team that has so many weapons and that can be really good. After sitting out and watching, I honestly thought that I wouldn't be as good as I thought I would be before. But sitting out helped me a lot because I was always asking the coaches questions, I was always watching films and talking to my teammates. So when I came back, I was more so surprised because I was doing things that I couldn't do before I sat out. Everything came back, my speed, my jumpstarts and stuff like that but I'm doing well.

Coach Berenato's closing remarks...
We just want to thank you guys so much for being here. Again, anything that you can do, you grow our team. It's really not us that grow; you grow the team because you're the one that is in charge of our social media- whether it be print, TV or radio. You're our voice, and we enjoy and appreciate the fact that you are our voice. We have very, very high goals. So by you helping us you become a part of this team and I do want to say that we do not only want to host the NCAA First and Second rounds, but we want to be in it, and that's our goal. We don't want to just think that we have back-to-back Sweet Sixteen, our goal is to get out of this tournament and move on to another venue. So, anything that you can do to help us with that we really appreciate.