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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 3, 2017Nikki FargasAlexis HyderRaigyne MoncriefGreenville, South Carolina Mississippi State - 78, LSU - 61 THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome LSU. Coach, if you would start us out with an opening statement, please. COACH FARGAS: I'm extremely proud of the LSU Tigers. I thought we came here with the mindset of really competing against some of the best players, not only in our conference, but in the country. I felt like we fell short of our goal today. But for the most part, our fight and our determination to win today was there. I didn't think that our kids came in playing scared or not to lose. I felt like we had some great opportunities. But down the stretch, we fell short. But we're going to learn from this. We're going to get better. We're going to be better from playing a team, not only just an Ole Miss team, but Mississippi State, who potentially could be a No. 1 seed in the tournament. But to see the growth of my team over the past few months, that's something we're going to continue to work on. Again, I can't say enough about the play of our team, stepping up in this hostile environment. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions for the student-athletes. Q. Raigyne, the game was pretty close until midway through the fourth quarter. What do you think the difference was in the game? RAIGYNE MONCRIEF: We had some miscommunication on defense. Allowed a lot of open shots to happen. Things were going their way. Calls were going their way. They executed in the game, and we didn't. We played 33-34 minutes. We need to play 40. The last six minutes, the momentum started going their way. They started to score. Q. Alexis, you had 19 fouls. Mississippi State had eight. How big of a factor do you think the fouls were in tonight's game? ALEXIS HYDER: Fouls give a team momentum. Towards the end of the fourth, they were and-ones, late and-ones at that. That gave them momentum, three-point play. They didn't miss many free throws. That gave them the edge on us. It definitely took a toll on us. Q. Alexis, tonight wasn't the way you wanted to end it. How does it feel knowing you probably have more basketball to play, that you've turned things around, have more to do? ALEXIS HYDER: I think this definitely puts some fuel, some fire under us. We're more hungry than we ever been, especially losing like this, in a game that we were really thought we were going to win. It's motivation. We're ready to go get it in the NCAA. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. We'll continue with questions for Coach Fargas. Q. Obviously, you didn't want to finish the game this way. You know there's more out there for you, more chances to improve and show the turnaround that you have made. COACH FARGAS: Well, it's been a complete turnaround from last year. This team has grown a lot in just a one-year span. For us to finish in the SEC regular season in the top seven, top eight I think, that says a lot about this team. It's not easy getting wins in this conference. To see our team really fight, like they said, the last four, five minutes there, we wanted this game to go down to the stretch where it's back and forth, where we're playing our basketball, they're playing theirs. That's how it was. The game was being played through the players. There was no influence of fouls and things like that. We had gone through that with Ayana Mitchell getting three in the first half. We felt like we really had a game plan of defending one of the best players in the country in Vivians. I'm proud of the defensive effort on her. When you do that, it sometimes gives up the paint. They got some good looks in the paint against us. This is something that this group are going to learn from. They're going to learn from it. I'm proud to be their coach. There's not another team I want to be on the sidelines with, because this team gives me everything that they have. We're one of the smaller teams, but I think we play with a huge heart. You get ready for NCAA tournament play, which I think our team has done enough in the sense of our non-conference schedule, what we've done in the SEC, to get our name called. So we're going to go back, we're going to practice like we're an NCAA team. Q. A little bit more about the turnaround. When you go to where you were last year, maybe a good season is three more wins than the year before, five more wins. It's more gradual than what we've seen. How did they buy into it immediately, that last year wasn't going to be repeated? COACH FARGAS: The buy-in was last year. The people who had to sit along the sidelines stayed engaged the entire season. The energy that they brought on the sidelines, it was almost like they were able to play, but they couldn't physically because either we were injured with Moncrief and Mitchell, or we had Jackson and Neubert sitting out due to transfer rules. We like our people who had to sit out, due to injury, we like them being in every practice, traveling with us, experiencing everything that they can. That group that I just mentioned, they sat on the sidelines, sat on the bench last year when we got our first win in the SEC tournament. The excitement that they had for their teammates, I knew that this year, when they were eligible or healthy to play, they were going to kind of repay Rina Hill, Jasmine Rhodes, Alexis Hyder, Shanice Norton for only having to play with six players in the season. They love each other. We're family. That's how we're going to continue to foster this program where I hope no one ever has to experience that again. But I think our kids grew from it. I think it's going to help them later on in life. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH FARGAS: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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