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March 10, 2015
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
New Mexico – 57
San Diego State - 56
THE MODERATOR: We are joined by New Mexico.
Coach, just some thoughts on tonight's game.
COACH SANCHEZ: First, I want to congratulate SanDiego State on a terrific year. I have a lot of respect for Stacie Terry, I think she does things the right way.
I credit them. They took us out of a lot of things we tried to do. That's a very good basketball team. That's a very good coaching staff.
What a great game for the fans. This is what tournament time is all about. Our fans were terrific. I give them a lot of credit for creating an atmosphere like the Pit. We were fortunate. We were fortunate to come away with that.
Now it's time to see what's next.
THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student‑athletes.
Q. A lot closer game than the two regular‑season games. What was the difference they did to make this one closer?
ANTIESHA BROWN: I mean, it's called March Madness for a reason. You can't look back on what you've done in January or February. You know, it's a completely different season. Every team starts out 0‑0. I just think we can't take anything for granted. We can't look back on what we've done a month ago and what they've done a month ago. We're both two completely different teams.
I think we came into the game with that mindset knowing we could possibly face anything, so...
BREA MITCHELL: Coach told us before the game it was going to be a grind, there are no blow‑outs when it's tournament time. We knew it was going to be a grind.
Q. You had a hard time last season closing out these close games. You rectified that. What is different about closing out games?
ANTIESHA BROWN: We've grown up. We've worked on things. We've taken every lesson that we possibly could from last year.
Our freshmen got an amazing chance to go to Italy with us, kind of learn the pace of the college game. I think that is what helped us out, building that team chemistry, not looking down on each other or any of our opponents. We stick together, do what we have to do, get stops on defense, execute on offense, close out games.
We have to know time, score, situations, but we can't panic.
Q. Seemed to be a game of runs. What were you told at halftime to possibly prepare for coming out the gates?
BREA MITCHELL: Halftime we just wanted to focus on defense and rebounding, just keeping the energy high. Runs are going to go back and forth.
The team that rebounds and plays the best defense and works the hardest usually comes out with the win.
ANTIESHA BROWN: SanDiego State, they're a long, athletic team. We know this.
They got a lot of drives to the basket, more than what we wanted, in the first half. We had to contain the drives. They were getting a lot of points in the paint. Most of them were layups.
Whenever we tried to kind of slow them down a little bit on that, it kind of worked in our favor. Other than that, we had to execute our end, rebound, run the floor, push it if they were getting a little tired and fatigued, because they have one game over us. You know, just do what we can.
Q. Seemed to be a physical game. You got 12 second‑chance points to one for them. Do you feel from a physical standpoint, were you expecting it to be that physical, and how did you do in the physical game?
ANTIESHA BROWN: We really didn't know what to expect. Like I said, it's March. Our posts did a fantastic job of staying mentally in the game and physically in the game. They got beat up a lot. SanDiego State posts, those are some big girls. They're very strong, they're very athletic. Our posts took a lot of big hits for us. That's a sacrifice we make for each other. We're willing to run through a wall for each other and I think the posts took a big load off of that.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies.
We'll continue with questions for Coach Sanchez.
Q. Would you expect anything less than a tight game?
COACH SANCHEZ: I told them at the end of the game, I said, You guys have done this all year long. We've won close games. We grew up a little bit. I grew up a little bit.
It's a fun and a very, very special group. I told them that the last timeout, there were 14 seconds left, 14.3, I said, You guys have won games like this all year long. You can't expect anything less. Get out there with confidence, scramble around, do what you need to do, it will go your way.
We were very fortunate. It's a very good SanDiego State team we beat.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about Cherise's play coming home. Almost like she set the tone for you.
COACH SANCHEZ: Cherise has been like that all year long. We went and played at Wyoming, she scored the first six points. We were a little stagnant in the beginning.
Cherise is, and is going to be, a phenomenal player. She's even a better person. She's long, confident, she can handle the ball, shoot it, take it to the basket, like you saw. We were very fortunate to get her out of Las Vegas. I'm glad she's wearing cherry and silver because I definitely wouldn't want to play against her.
Q. I can't imagine you could overlook anything with the season you've had. No.1 seed loses earlier. You're coming off some awards, some recognition. You're in an unfamiliar place of getting a lot of attention and praise after a slow start to the season. Did you worry about overlooking an opponent a little bit?
COACH SANCHEZ: No. We know better.
We were picked ninth. We were 1‑7 at one point. We know better than to overlook anybody.
Your opponent played on this courtone time and we hadn't. That's a little nerve‑wracking. The first game of the tournament, this was our first game, is always a tough one.
I look back at the history. I've been at New Mexico 15 years, SanDiego State one.  I've been here the whole time. You see that first game. I remember when Colorado State beat Utah the year that everybody wanted to change seeds and brackets, everything like that. It happens. It happens.
When you see as much basketball as we've seen, you don't ever overlook anybody. You just have to stay focused, play. You're going to have games like this. You just have to be ready for them.
Q. Since you've been around the program so long as an assistant and now head coach, how does this compare to some of the other teams you've been around?
COACH SANCHEZ: It's hard to compare. It really is. Each team was so unique. We've had some very good teams here. We've had some very good players here.
This team is built like some of those teams being long, being athletic, having an inside presence, having an outside presence.
It's really hard to compare some of those teams. I think, like I told them before, they have a chance to be a special team. Our journey has been fantastic. Sometimes you don't want to get to the destination because your journey's so much fun. We're still on our journey. Hopefully we can be on it for a while.
Q. I know this game just happened, but in your processing will you have a chance in the next few minutes to think about tomorrow's opponent? How do you match up with Fresno State or Wyoming?
COACH SANCHEZ: They're two tough teams. They're two difficult teams.
Fresno State is just very good. They've got an inside game, outside game. Sheedy and Smith are phenomenal players. Collins does a great job of forcing tempo and getting to the hole. Huff [sic] does a great job if she's hitting threes, they got Fox off the bench. That's a really good team.
The week before we played Wyoming, I saw them beat UNLV 99 to I forget what it was. We had just lost to UNLV. I'm like, Oh, great. I know what they can do with Woodward, Dent, and Mileto. Rader can get in there if you let them throw lobs.
It's two different teams in some respects, but we've got to be ready for anything. We'll sit and watch. Trust me, on the way here, I've already processed it, figured out what we need to do, not do. Kids will get back and get some rest. We have to be ready for tomorrow. This is going to be another great game with Fresno and Wyoming. We'll see what happens.
Q. Cherise starts quick, Tiesha. Alexa Chavez seemed to be one player throughout the game that came up with big plays. Talk about her game.
COACH SANCHEZ: Alexa does that all year long. She's kind of a silent assassin. She had eight rebounds, seven points, three assists, zero turnovers, two steals. She's always in the mix of everything. There could be three or four black jerseys, then you see little Alexa battling her tail off. She's done that for us all year. Her and Khadijah both. It was very, very physical. They had to do what they had to do to get in there and get rebounds.
On their ball screens, she's the one that had to help off Fort and all those quick guards. Harvey had a great game. She's a nice player. Alexa did a nice job of trying to contain it.
Like I said before, we played a very good SanDiego State team.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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