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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 9, 2016Kathy OlivierAley RohdeDakota GonzalezLas Vegas, Nevada Fresno State - 66 UNLV - 60 THE MODERATOR: Coach, get your thoughts on tonight's game. HEAD COACH KATHY OLIVIER: Well, I'm just very proud of this basketball team. I thought when we got down, we just never gave up. I'm mad at myself because I took out a very passionate and great scorer, I thought that kind of turned the game when I took out Dakota with her second foul. And that second quarter really ended up being the deciding factor. We had a lot of fight. We were down by 20, brought it back to a one-possession game. And like I said, I'm just very, very proud of this basketball team. Q. It seemed like everything was precise in terms of your spin moves, your footwork. Everything that you tried, it just seemed like there was a lid on the hoop for you. It had to be frustrating. It seemed everything you were doing was right. What were your thoughts as the game progressed and you end up with ten points, but a lot of the great shots that you took weren't falling? ALEY ROHDE: I think some of them I might have kind of rushed. I think it was something, I just wanted it so bad. I don't think I took my time enough on some of them. And then, you know, No. 4 on their team, defense player of the year, she's a great shot blocker, I think that altered my shot a little bit, maybe affected it somewhat. It was frustrating, but it was definitely something I could have taken my time a little more on. Q. 18-1 season, success at the end of the year. What does this do for a lot of the younger players on the team to learn for next year and the late success you've had and the winning that you did all season, what does that do to develop some of the younger players going forward? DAKOTA GONZALEZ: I would say that it's definitely exciting knowing that we were able to kind of really come together at the end of the season and pull it out. And honestly, it's tough because a lot of that had to do with our seniors. So this is going to be a big loss for us. But at the end of the day we know we have young guys willing to step up and basically fill those roles. So we're excited about our future. Q. A lot of success at home this season, the next step would be maybe learning to win on the road a little bit. How do you do that and how do you instill that in your players? HEAD COACH KATHY OLIVIER: Well, you know, like you said, good winning percentage at home. I believe we were 12 and 3 in Cox. And now we have an older group. When you think about it, we had Aley and Amie as our two seniors, everyone else were underclassmen. And that's something you have to learn how to do on the road. We had a lot of close games, they could have gone either way. We're starting to groom the sophomores to take on the leadership role that Amie and Aley did such a great job of. And obviously Dakota is one of those. Brooke does a great job, Dylan, Nikki. So we have a very strong sophomore group that are very determined and they will find a way to win on the road. Q. What's going to stick out to you most when you look back on your time here? ALEY ROHDE: Honestly, a lot of the season, like she said, I think we were young but we had such a great season. We had a winning season. It was my only winning season that I had here and it was -- we were close on some of them -- it's hard to just look back on one thing. Basketball has taught me like everything I know in life. It's going to be difficult to not come in here and have practices for four hours a day. But definitely just like being a team and a lot of what today, like coming back from losses and -- or being down, even just making the semifinals. This is our first time in seven years. I just think it was such a successful season for us. And just so much excitement. I don't even know if I really just answered your question, but it was a great experience and it's definitely like a lot of times going through it, everyone is like: College is the best four years of your life and a lot of times I don't understand how. It definitely is the best four years of your life and I am going to miss it so much, and I already do. And it's been five minutes. Q. To go one more step now, what do you feel the future of the program is now, you're leaving UNLV, but what are you leaving behind, what is the status of the program moving forward? ALEY ROHDE: We have great leaders. We have great freshmen who have just like blossomed in their roles. The sophomore class have never in my mind been sophomores. They've all been upperclassmen to me. They play hard. They want to win. They have incredible work ethic. I think the sky's the limit moving forward for this team. Q. You had a great run, get to the semis for the first time in a while. What does it say about your players that they were able to fight back at the end? HEAD COACH KATHY OLIVIER: Crazy. They're a determined group. They're workers, they're competitive. They -- you should have heard them in the huddle. Sometimes you have to coach that. You didn't have to coach that. They wanted it. They wanted it. They expressed themselves. They stayed together. They didn't get down. Very, very determined group. I actually thought, I think it was like 40 seconds left that we've got this, like we were going to beat them. And you could see it in their eyes. Not one single player thought it's over. That's saying a lot about them as individuals. Q. Can you describe the feeling and satisfaction of just getting to the semifinals tonight as a team, can you describe the satisfaction there? DAKOTA GONZALEZ: I would say that it really is such an incredible feeling. I don't even think words can quite describe it. But really just coming together I think at kind of the right time for us was so important. And not just on the court, even off the court. We were able to find our chemistry and to vibe and really be there for each other. And that in itself was such a great feeling to have. Going forward it's exciting because you've built friendships that you know are going to continue and last a lifetime. ALEY ROHDE: I just don't think it's a feeling that can really be expressed. Like last year we were out, we had a buy, but we still lost our first game. The year before we were able to beat San Jose, but we lost to Fresno. So it's been something that we haven't experienced, like I said, in a few years, and it's awesome to at least go out that way. And like Dakota said, we finally started like coming together -- not that we never really played together on the court before, but we were playing together so well when it really counted. And we really thought we could have had it at the end. I don't think in years past we would have been able to come back from that hole. And at certain times in the season it might have been difficult for us. But I think we were playing such great basketball, and it was such a fun -- like even at the last, it was like a fun game. And it was so exciting to come back from it. And just being able to hang your hat on the fact that we did do something that hasn't been done in a while is a really great feeling. Q. We spoke the other day about your freshman year. You had a chance to play in a Big 12 tournament. You played against a very good Baylor team in front of a big crowd. But you also talked about the feeling of the Mountain West tournament and how different it is, but how much more you really felt a lot of heart, a lot of desire, competition. Can you share and talk about that a little bit? DAKOTA GONZALEZ: Yeah, I mean, I would say playing in the Big 12 was definitely a great experience and I'm very grateful to kind of have that under my belt. Coming to the Mountain West, I didn't really know what to expect. And even last year sitting out and watching it I was kind of in awe at how competitive it was and how intense it was. And this year being able to be a part of that, I mean, I really don't know how to quite put it in words. But it was so exciting and so electric. And the atmosphere itself, it was just so igniting in the fact that you wanted to go out there and work so hard every single possession. It was so great for me to be here with this group of girls. And I honestly don't think I could have asked for a better group, a better coaching staff to be behind me and be with and to be a part of. And so honestly, it was everything that I expected and more. And I'm excited that we have had this success and getting to the semifinals. Quite frankly, we came into this with the mentality that we were going to take over. We kind of had our little theme, which was: We're not going to just take part. We're going to take over. Going in with that mentality was really exciting for us. So in comparison, I have to say that the Mountain West, it might be a little bit underrated as far as conferences and looking at it, because everyone is going at it every single night, you can play the one seed, the nine seed, it's going to be an incredible game. And I think that showed in the last games we played in. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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