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BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2016Anthony BozzellaAleesha PowellChicago, Illinois Seton Hall - 93, Marquette - 86 ANTHONY BOZZELLA: First of all, I have to congratulate Marquette. They're a heck of a team. I mean, everyone keeps saying watch out for them the next couple years. Well, watch out for them a couple hours ago. Tremendously exciting game, played like two really good teams. It's a shame Marquette started off poorly because they're clearly a team that is a postseason -- a team that would do very well. I congratulate first of all their head coach for molding six young kids together and two veteran players. I just want to wish them a lot of luck and tell them they have a lot of positives in their future. I have to congratulate our team, a veteran team, found a way when we needed to get some stops, get some stops and make the plays we needed to, execute an out-of-the-bounds play when we needed to get a basket, execute a couple other plays. And the two young ladies to my right really gave it everything, like the rest of our team. We could have two, three other people up here today. In the first half, it was tough. We found ourselves down, wanted to start off ahead, and we didn't because of them. They attacked, and they were tough and aggressive. But I just think our will to win and our toughness really showed forth a little bit and hopefully our experience. I'm just proud of the team. I'm excited to advance to the Big East semifinals, and I'm just really proud of the girls. It was an emotional day. It really was. I give them a lot of credit. Q. Tiffany, big game, obviously, 29 points, 18 rebounds, three blocks to go along with that. You've kind of been through quite a journey this season, a rough February, and then you finished it out strong and now of course this performance in the Big East Tournament. Can you just talk about what it was that got you to turn it around here in postseason play? TIFFANY JONES: Well, to be with my teammates, for him sending me out starting and coming off the bench just knowing what I'm capable of doing, he had me not start to better myself, to help me grow as a person and just go out there and have fun with my teammates. Q. In a game of runs, it seemed like every single time Marquette was on a run, you ended it with clutch shot after clutch shot. How huge was that to be able to respond? TIFFANY JONES: My teammates looking for me for the open shot. Q. Aleesha, Marquette kept on answering, they got very close. Late in this ballgame with a couple minutes to go, you found Tiff for three. When she's playing like that, what does that do for your team? ALEESHA POWELL: It definitely gives us a lot of energy because we know what she's capable of and once she is hot like that, we just got to give her the ball. We know she is going to play really well and she is going to hustle and she is going to block shots and she is going to do whatever she can to help us. And that just sparks us. That causes us to have a lot of faith in her and know that she has our backs at the end of the day. Q. Throughout this season when your team has needed a big play, you guys have several different players that can do it, but Aleesha, you offer a calming presence. How have you embraced that leadership role? ALEESHA POWELL: It's definitely been a challenge. It's been something I've had to grow with and just having the support of my teammates, and my coaches makes it a lot easier on the court to be able to take the big shots that come my way or to be able to pass them off if somebody else is open like Tiff today. I think it's definitely having the support system that helps me to be able to step into that role. Q. Tiffany, you were feeling it out there. Is this the best that you've played? TIFFANY JONES: I think it was. Q. Did you eat something for breakfast today? What was the key to this performance because you were on fire? TIFFANY JONES: Just knowing that us for seniors that was playing out there, it was win or go home, and we were not ready to go home. Q. Coach, this really was a wild game. How much did it mean for you to have players who have been in this type of situation before to be able to finish the game? ANTHONY BOZZELLA: I do. I think it means a lot. That's something you can't teach. I know people say that a lot, but we scored 93 points and our seniors had 87 today. That's why you've got seniors. That's what they're supposed to do at this time of year. If you have a chance in the Playoffs to play with a veteran group, and we have the past two years, you hope to be successful with their experience, and they showed it today. Q. Tiffany Jones has had to encounter adversity on the court this year. Off the court throughout her life she's had to encounter adversity. How proud are you of her for all that she's done at this University? ANTHONY BOZZELLA: I'm very proud of her because especially since she's going to walk away with a degree, first one in her family of I think 11 to have a degree. And more importantly, her answer is right, I benched her and we had a couple of heart to hearts about that, and she wasn't happy. But she listened to what I said, and she turned it into a positive. And I think that was really important, and I think in life, it's going to help her a lot because to come away with what she did today means a lot. Q. Let's talk about Aleesha Powell. I think sometimes it almost gets taken for granted. It seems like she's become a real dead-eye shooter and teams seem to leave her open and she's making them pay. ANTHONY BOZZELLA: Great player, great person. I have to say she's one of my top all-time here in my 24 years. But she is she's very underappreciated. No disrespect to anybody who's on the All Star team, but if we have ten players in the league better than her, then we have a heck of a league. I'll tell you that right now. She's a great player. She defended Blockton for a lot of the game, too. I know Blockton had 31, but that's hard to defend that kid, too, when she is up there pressuring and doing everything she can, driving, get a hit. We needed a big basket. She drove to the basket. It was a three-point game and called a play that didn't work. We give the ball to her in her hands, and we're like, oh, my gosh, do something. She drove left and scored a basket. That's a huge play in the game, and she wasn't afraid to do it. Q. Marquette scored 86 points, but did you feel like your team defended all that poorly? ANTHONY BOZZELLA: No. I thought we held them in the second half to under 40 percent shooting. They're a tremendous team, but a tremendous offensive team, and I just thought in the second half we really buckled down. We won the rebounding margin by one, but we won it. I knew if we could win that, we would have a chance. Q. Creighton is unlike any 7 seed. They've played a lot better as of late and they gave you a great game in Walsh Gym recently. What's that going to come down to? ANTHONY BOZZELLA: Absolutely. They're playing very well. We had a battle with them. We found a way to win the game. I think this is going to be very interesting. This is their third game, but no offense, this is I think two games for us today. I watched the Villanova game, no offense, that game was a combative game, but that pace of play was far different than the pace of play today. I think we both are going to have to utilize our bench and really play tough defense, and they've got to give us some shots, and we're going to have to make some. We've got to make our shots tomorrow. If we do, we're going to have a chance, and if we don't, we're going to struggle because they're not going to give us too many transitional opportunities. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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