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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 2, 2017Matt BollantBrandi BeasleyKennedy CattenheadIndianapolis, Indiana Purdue - 72, Illinois - 58 COACH BOLLANT: Coach Bollant. THE MODERATOR: Matt, we'll just ask you to make an opening statement. COACH BOLLANT: Proud of our team. I felt like we didn't get off to a great start, didn't make shots in the first quarter. We were down 20-8. And then we battled, battled and fought. Tied it in the third quarter, and made a lot of plays. Today we left some shots short, but we outrebounded them. They battled and they fought. And I could take some mistakes when you're battling and fighting. And I was really proud of their effort today. I thought Kennedy played great and stepped up and made plays. And Brandi had another good game. I thought Ali in the second half was really good. She had a tough first half. But then, you know, typical Ali she's got that toughness comes back and makes plays in the second half for us. So proud of our team. Didn't get the result we wanted. But they fought and tried and did a lot of good things today. We just didn't come out on the winning end. THE MODERATOR: Brandi, sum up your team's performance today. BRANDI BEASLEY: Like Coach said, I think we fought hard. We gave it all we got. It's fun to see the drastic change from the beginning to the end of the season, just with our heart and effort and what we gave and coming together as a team. I felt like we gave all we had. I think we played to the best of our ability and just left it all out there on the floor. KENNEDY CATTENHEAD: I agree with Brandi, and I agree with Coach as well. I think I was really proud of my team. We all fought and we all showed our heart throughout this tournament, and especially like, you know, Ashley's last games and Alex not being able to play with us. And CC as well. Q. Matt, talk about Keys. COACH BOLLANT: I didn't realize -- if there's such thing as a quiet 26, I know she was making shots in the second half. But when I saw the box scores, that's more than I realized. She did it just kind of quietly. She hit a couple of really tough pull-up's. And I know one time over Kennedy and I think one time over Ali. And she just made all the shots. 10 for 14 from the field and did a lot for them. And I think her pull-up's, when we needed to get a stop, seemed like she was knocking down the shot and made the shots to make the difference. Q. Could you sum up the season and looking ahead to next? COACH BOLLANT: I'm really proud of the growth of this team. Obviously we weren't the team we wanted to be in the non-conference and got better throughout. Obviously Ashley graduate, walk-on graduate, and Ashley incredible heart. But yesterday to have 71 points out of 79 from freshmen and Kennedy step up today and play the way she did, makes it really exciting. And I told them in the locker room, I believe we can compete for Big Ten championships in the years to come. We're not there right now, but it's the first time I've said that at Illinois to the team and really believe in my heart that we can be a team that competes for a Big Ten Championship in the years to come. With what we're adding, we've got an incredible class coming in, and the returners we have, it's a really exciting future. We're going to be playing deep in this tournament next year and playing in the NCAA Tournament. THE MODERATOR: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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