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PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 3, 2016

Seattle, Washington

USC - 77, WSU - 73

THE MODERATOR: We have USC head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Courtney Jaco and Sadie Edwards. Coach, I'll let you open and take questions.

CYNTHIA COOPER-DYKE: What a great 8-9 game. Hat's off to Washington State who did a fantastic job executing the top court both offensively and defensively. They were very aggressive. I thought we had a great third quarter. Came out with the right level of intensity and got some key stops. We were able to execute down the stretch both in the third quarter and in important moments of the third quarter as well as the fourth quarter.

Of course, these two young women up here are a big part of the reason why we got the W, and so we're excited to be moving on.

Q. Coach, you shot 60% in the second half, and that was a pretty big improvement. What were you doing differently in the final 20 minutes?
CYNTHIA COOPER-DYKE: I felt in the final 20 minutes we started to attack more. We were kind of looking for someone else to take on some of the responsibilities in the first two quarters, and it kind of threw us off our rhythm. But in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter, we started to attack the basket, attack the aggressive play of WSU, and get some calls and get some buckets. At the end of the day you've got to score and you've got to keep -- with your offense, we've got to keep the pressure on WSU to stop us defensively, so we were able to do that in the third quarter. I just thought we came out with the right level of intensity because we didn't play a perfect third, fourth quarter. We just turned the ball over and missed some defensive assignments, but we did what we had to do especially down the stretch in order to come out with a win.

Q. Coach, I was wondering if you could talk about the play that Temi made down the stretch. She scored most of her points in the first three quarters but had the big free throws and then the plays that she made defensively, what did that mean to you?
CYNTHIA COOPER-DYKE: Well, Temi made incredible plays down the stretch. And it doesn't always show up on the stat sheet what Temi gives us, but the 17 rebounds showed up on the stat sheet. When you think about it, knocked down the big free throws and then got the charge and also blocked the three-point shot. Got her hands on everything, literally. In the last 40 seconds she was everywhere. And she's the reason why we were able to maintain the lead and be in a position to knock down free throws later on in that fourth quarter. She was huge.

Q. Courtney, you finished 5 of 6 from three-point range. How did you set up Temi's game, and Temi set up your game?
COURTNEY JACO: During halftime Coach talked a lot about reversing the ball, going inside out. In the first half we were kind of stagnant on offense. But Temi did a really good job finding me, and I think we just did a better job reversing the ball and waiting for Temi to get open on the outside and open things up for her.

Q. For both coaches and coach and players, with you guys being on the NCAA Tournament bubble, how much do you discuss going to the NCAA Tournament knowing that you need to make a big run? And how much can you look back to 2014 when you made that big run to the Pac-12 Tournament championship game to kind of lean on for this year?
CYNTHIA COOPER-DYKE: Well, we're the only team that's done it. We're the only team in the Pac-12 that's won four games in four days, so we know what it takes. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We want to look to Oregon State. We know they're great. They do a lot of great things, but we just want to take it one game at a time. We're not looking at what we did before. We're looking at what we have to do now in order to come away with a victory. We played them twice. One, where it was a really good game at our place, and then we kind of let it get away from us out in Oregon, when we played them at home. We're looking to execute a game plan.

SADIE EDWARDS: I think going off what Coach Cooper said, we just want to focus on the opportunity that's next. So I think that we don't look too far down the road. Tomorrow is a great, great opportunity to play a very good team, like she said. But we have to take it one game at a time and not focus too much on being on the bubble and all these things. We have to focus on our game plan and how to win that game. Like she said, I wasn't a part of it, but we are the only team in Pac-12 history to win four games in four days, and I think our coaches know how to do it. There are some players that were on that team that won, so I think we lean on that, and each other and our coaching staff and try to take advantage of the opportunities we have.

COURTNEY JACO: I agree with everything Sadie and coach said. We've just got to take it one game at a time. We know that. Next stop is Oregon State, so just getting ready to prepare for them.

Q. Talking about that Oregon State match-up. You've played them twice now. How do you prepare for this Beaver team tomorrow?
CYNTHIA COOPER-DYKE: I think we have to be aggressive. We have to be confident. They execute so well in the half court, we've got to make it an up-and-down game. We're going to have to do some things defensively to shorten that shot clock for Oregon State. I think at the end of the day, you know, they put five players out on the court like we do, and I believe in my players. I believe in their ability, and I believe in their ability to compete with anyone, and that is a great thing about basketball. Any given night you can get a win.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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