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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 4, 2016Katie MeierJessica ThomasAdrienne MotleyGreensboro, North Carolina Miami - 74, Florida State - 56 KATIE MEIER: Well, I mean, I'm not up here without these two to my left. Without their play today, we don't win that basketball game. I thought they were amazing. I thought Jessica had total command for every second of the game. We did some things to sort of move her off the ball, too, and be a secondary outlet in that second half, and I think that really pushed our tempo when Jessica released down the court. We got some great flow, and then brought her back to the point and really had her controlling the game in crunch time, and huge shots, I thought. So I think my guards are pretty well known, but I also think the story of this tournament, so far for us, has been our post play. It's just been so reliable and it's just been unbelievable. Certainly Erykah, Emese, and then Key Hayes, they're just great. But when we need big minutes from somebody like Kee Kee Harris, we're just dialed in. We're just really dialed in right now and really focused and arguing, which is great, fighting about coverages in huddles. And we didn't do that earlier. We got really quiet when we were not playing well, and I was coming into huddles today like I was a referee, like okay, okay, we're good, we're good. But that's great. I mean, that raw, it`s authentic, we don`t have time to write each other a note and be nice about it. And we communicated a lot of strategy throughout that game, and defense was outstanding. Is that a long enough opening statement? Q. You're playing them the third time this year, the teams are fairly evenly matched. Was it set up for you to play well against them today? KATIE MEIER: I believe it was. I believe that, you know, we did the old Yoda line there, there is no try, just do. None of this -- coming close wasn't going to be good enough. And I said, don't you dare have the mentality after the game, you get a hug from you family, saying nice try, baby. We're not nice try, baby, anymore. Like it's time. We do have wonderful families, but today they get to hug us and say, great job, and that's what we need to be. That's our mentality. We need to win. Q. Jessica, can you address where that feistiness comes from and how you keep that a positive thing and not let it turn into something negative the way Coach is talking? JESSICA THOMAS: I believe it starts with Coach Meier and the staff. They put it in to us every single day that we have to be tough and we have to grind things out, and when it comes down to it, at the end of the day, no matter what we say or how we say it, we know it was all good. We're just competitors, we wanted to win, big-time game, big-time moment. Sometimes things happen like that. Q. Katie, can you put in a nutshell, you lost to them earlier, can you put in a nutshell what you did differently today? KATIE MEIER: Not that much, but we hit the big shots. I mean, the last time we played them our defense was just about the same, just really, really high level, and kids were communicating and rebounding and doing all that. But man, did we hit big shots today. We answered every time, and that -- 32 minutes we had controlled that game, but there was a six or seven minute span there we kind of went cold, kind of like our second quarter. We didn't score for like five minutes. It was early enough to recover. Well, that lull hit us in the fourth quarter down there, and that was the story of the game. Q. You have more experience with the ACC Tournament than all but a very few people now. What do you see as the key -- KATIE MEIER: That's a polite way of saying I'm old. Q. Maybe Sylvia Hatchell. But what are the keys from this point? You're in the semifinals. Anybody that gets to the semifinals has a chance to win it. What have you seen teams do in the past that would be an example -- KATIE MEIER: I'll tell you one thing we're not going to do. We're not going to change our style because Miami is running so much and they've got another game and -- so what? Our style is what makes us win, and so we're going to come at you hard. We're going to battle on the glass, and they can be tired on Monday. Q. You've gotten to a really good point in the tournament, two more wins and you have the championship. What do you think you need to do well over the next couple days? JESSICA THOMAS: Stay consistent. We're playing really well. We're rolling on offense. We're doing big things on defense. These two games we've got to just keep it rolling, keep it going, stay consistent. ADRIENNE MOTLEY: I've got to agree with JT, just stay fresh, keep our bodies fresh, and just keep our mindset on what we came here to do, and I think definitely tonight or this morning we definitely were focused. Just looking through the huddles, like Coach said, we were bickering, but that's what sisters do, we bicker. We came back, came together, huddled together, and came out with the W. Q. Katie, if you could address the way Emese played today and what she gave you off the bench? KATIE MEIER: She was so locked in, and we were just talking about it on the walk down here. I mean, demanding the ball. I loved her last foul when she was stopped short and tried to post-up Bulgak in the middle of the paint, like she was just playing with great physicality. I don't care if that`s a foul. I mean, that`s big time player being pretty smart and saying I`ve got more real estate to the basket than you if I stop short, so I loved it. I was like, wow, I hadn't seen that, and it was nice to see from her. But her IQ is -- it settles them down. She never makes a play that you're like, what? A lot of times I go, wow, but I don't like -- like wow, that was really high level, I wasn't even thinking of that, and she has an explanation for every reason, where she goes to the ball. Then the guards get a Larry Bird point forward a little bit on the court with them and that frees them up ton. We have Emese in the middle of the floor a lot and that allowed them to kind of streak up the sidelines and attack. She's a big-time player. Q. Jessica, you scored 21 points. I don't know, is that your high score for this year? And were you looking going into this game to put more points up? JESSICA THOMAS: Hmm, I think 21 is my high for this season, but no, I tell Coach -- KATIE MEIER: It's your March average, though. She's like Reggie Jackson. She's not Mr. October, she's Ms. March. JESSICA THOMAS: I let Coach know and the team, I'll do whatever I have to do for us to win. I don't have to score. I mean, whatever it is, I'll pass out, just clapping everybody up, trying to get the energy going and make sure everybody else focuses before I score the ball. My teammates found me in open spots, and I hit them. Q. I don't think anybody is really surprised that you won, but were you at all surprised at how dominant you were today? JESSICA THOMAS: No. We woke up this morning and we knew what time it was. It's the third time playing Florida State. They beat us twice, one at home that really hurt, beat us on the road. We were just that close again. But no, this game, we knew we had to come out with a little more fight and integrity. ADRIENNE MOTLEY: The last game at Florida State, just how we played then, I knew this was going to be a different outcome. It felt different waking up this morning, like as a player you just kind of get these feelings before the game, and everything felt good. And so when they were making that run, I believe they had about -- they had a seven-point lead, and we started hitting shots coming together, and I was like, this is us from now on, and it just so ended up that we came out on top. But JT was big. I love her to death. We bicker. We're each other's biggest critics, but JT was outrageous tonight. I tell her all the time, we've got to do it. It starts with us. So everybody feeds off our energy, and tonight we really had -- this morning, we really had a different mindset. KATIE MEIER: The surprise at the margin? Is that what the question was? Dominant? No, I honestly think we wanted to beat Pitt because we wanted to advance, and we wanted to beat Pitt because we wanted Florida State, no question. Q. Were you surprised at the amount of turnovers? Was it the game plan to force them to have so many turnovers because Brown and Romero combined for 12 turnovers? KATIE MEIER: It was fantastic. Our guards -- I mean, I think that might be Mot's career high in steals, I'm not sure, but they were five well-earned. Really game playing, kind of digging out. I thought we dug out their posts and really bothered them, caused a lot of interior turnovers. Our hands were very active. And then, yeah, when -- and Brown and Romero are so good, and Brown beat us at home, Romero beat us there. And we definitely wanted to get in their heads and let them know that they weren't beating us three times. Absolutely part of the game plan. Q. Could each of you talk about Notre Dame? KATIE MEIER: Just in general, because they're playing right now. Q. Yeah, just in general. KATIE MEIER: Okay. Q. How your games went with them and their strengths -- KATIE MEIER: A coach won't do that. We've got to let that game play out, sorry. I don't want to jinx it. Q. Having played at Duke, you saw a lot of great North Carolina rivalries. Is the one with Florida State up there now? KATIE MEIER: It really is. It really is. And it's so fun because Sue built that program up, and then I feel like me and my staff and my players have built this program up. And it was always a rivalry, but now when both teams are in the top 20 and it's talked about nationally and you've got All-Americans on both teams and stuff like that, I'm really proud, and Sue is just as proud. We are very, very respectful of each other and spend a lot of time together on the road because we're all watching the same kids. That's why the scouting reports are so easy because we sat and watched them in AAU all summer long right next to each other. It`s like that. Our staffs are close. But the game, the rivalry comes down to your great players, and did they play better than their great players. And before it was just let's hope both teams get to 50. I mean, 10 years ago this thing was tough. So that's what we're most proud of, and we're proud to represent the state of Florida and have such high-level programs in the state. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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