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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 3, 2017Marlene StollingsGadiva HubbardCarlie WagnerIndianapolis, Indiana Maryland - 92, Minnesota - 80 THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Minnesota. Coach, an opening statement. COACH STOLLINGS: Thank you. Well, first of all, credit to Maryland. They're a seasoned team and a team that's used to playing in these moments. And every time we made a run, they came right back. We were trying to get it to 10 in the second half and every time that we would get on a little run, they answered it. And that's what championship teams do. And they're very seasoned and used to that. So I think a lot of good takeaways from our team at the same time, especially with our youth. If you take the second, third and fourth quarters, if I did my math here correctly, we won 66 to 65. But the start of the game, obviously, hurt us, transition defense and then turning the ball over. The 27-14 deficit made it difficult for us to dig out of. But three very good quarters for us. One first quarter start that really cost us the game. Q. Maryland's offense, they have a lot of talent, perimeter players and they pass very well. What stands out to you, though, about their offense that makes them difficult to defend. CARLIE WAGNER: I would say they have good ball movement and they just find each other really well on the floor when they're playing. You can definitely see that when they're playing, too. Q. Gadiva, you obviously had a very good night. What kind of was there within the offensive rhythm for you, or what kind of enabled you to have so much production tonight? GADIVA HUBBARD: My teammates and my coaches were just telling me to shoot. I know the last game I had an off-shooting game. So I tried to keep shooting and attacking, mix it up. Q. Carlie, obviously five, six days ago or whatever you lost by 33, what strides do you feel you made even within this short span of a week in tonight's game? CARLIE WAGNER: I thought we came out with more heart and intensity. If they made a run, we didn't break down and stop playing. We kept playing with them and kept coming at them, kept staying alert, stayed aggressive. And I thought we did a good job of that throughout the third and fourth quarter just staying aggressive. Q. Coach, similar question just about Maryland's offense, especially in that first quarter, I think you had four scores in the last eight minutes but they answered every single one of them. What just about their offense and maybe even the timing sometimes of their offense that is so difficult to guard? COACH STOLLINGS: Well, I think it's more individual talent. It wasn't so much a play that was hurting us, it's just that they have a number of people that can score from anywhere on the floor. So you take away something, there's another person there. And it was just a lot of times it was just quick ball movement with several people that could make a shot from many different places. Q. What stands out to you about Gadiva's game tonight? COACH STOLLINGS: A lot of things. She really stepped up in a big moment. And she's used to that on the youth level, amateur level, having played for the Boo Williams program in Virginia. So she's used to big moments. But I'm really proud of how she handled this because it's even a much bigger moment on this stage. She shot the ball extremely well, but she also made some great decisions. She made very nice reads and you don't often see that from a freshman in this type of a game and this type of moment. She has an extremely bright future ahead of her. Q. You kind of touched on it. You guys are down 27-14, but you cut it to five. After the way the game went six days ago, what does that say about your team, you feel that to not let that happen again and cut into that deficit there? COACH STOLLINGS: Well, we're not into moral victories by any means. But a lot of positive takeaways: As I said, we outscored them for three quarters. We outrebounded them, made one more free throw than they did. We made eight 3s. Statistically you go across the line, it's really solid in a lot of categories. Big takeaways for us is we had so much youth in the game, they were in this moment for the first time. And they'll remember this, and it will sting a little bit. And they certainly don't want to be done playing this early in March. They have aspirations to really put our program back on the map on a national level. And this freshman class is going to do big things by the time they get some more experience under their belt. Q. You mentioned the youth of this team. What's one or two components or developments they need to make to take that next step forward as a program and reach a higher level? COACH STOLLINGS: Well, I think a lot of it happened just by them being able to log so many minutes this year. And we also made our freshmen February and March captains. So we gave them a voice early on here. We're trying to speed up their progression. So that in itself will bode well for us in a lot of ways. And then we'll have an offseason with them so we can advance their individual skill development, which will be very beneficial to them to have that one-on-one time with the staff in spring and summer. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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