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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 8, 2017Ryun WilliamsElin GustavssonEllen NystromLas Vegas, Nevada Boise State - 65 Colorado State - 61 COACH RYUN WILLIAMS: Boise was outstanding. It's a really good college basketball game. I think you saw two talented teams out there and you saw kids on both sides that didn't want to lose. You saw a lot of really neat plays and special plays being made. They just made a few more than us tonight. Q. You guys' defense has been so good this season and really throughout your careers, but in the second half it just seemed like Boise caught fire offensively and couldn't miss. Was it just a matter of them making shots or what was it about that second half with Boise? ELIN GUSTAVSSON: I don't know. As you said, they play very fast on the perimeter. They set a lot of screens. They made their shots. We played good defense, but they made their shots. They're good basketball players. Q. Have you ever seen a team just really get that hot? Lupfer scores 15 of her points in that fourth quarter after having 2 in the first three quarters. It just seemed like once they got going, everything was going to go in for them. ELIN GUSTAVSSON: Yeah -- are you asking if I've seen a team -- Q. Just like they did. ELIN GUSTAVSSON: Yeah, I played basketball for a while, so I feel like, yeah, I've seen teams play really good and make their shots. And I've seen our team make our shots, too. But I don't know. Today was just not -- I don't know. Sorry. Q. You guys have been in a lot of tight games this year and you've won a lot of them, six of your last ten games have been fairly slim margin victories. Is it frustrating to be ahead of the game all the way but never to be able to put a team away, and maybe give them a chance to get hot in the fourth quarter like this? Is there anything in particular you haven't been able to finish off some of these teams? ELLEN NYSTROM: Of course it's frustrating. But sometimes, I mean, teams are just going to make shots. So I think we tried to stop them. Q. You guys shot 16.7 percent from the field in the third quarter today. Yesterday against San Jose State that's when they got back in the game as well. Was there any reason you are struggling in the third quarter lately or is it just a coincidence? ELLEN NYSTROM: I don't know, I think for us we come in with the same mentality for every quarter. Q. You two are going to go down as two of the best basketball players at Colorado State, and unfortunately things like this can happen to you girls. What are you going to take from this moving forward, not only from basketball, but for yourselves? ELIN GUSTAVSSON: I know after this season how much I really love basketball. And how much I love playing with Ellen. I don't know, my four years here at Colorado State has been so amazing. And I feel like I'm just going to -- I'm enjoying every little single thing here. I'm not going to say that I'm enjoying losing, but I love my team. I love playing with Ellen. And I'm just going to take all the positive energy, all my positive memories, happy memories, and everything. I don't know, keep loving basketball. Q. Obviously tonight didn't go the way you guys would have hoped for. Following the game Boise State coaching staff and players had a lot of praise for both of you and the CSU coaching staff. I believe they went as far as saying you two are two of the best players in Mountain West history. What does it mean to you to receive that type of praise from a fierce competitor? ELIN GUSTAVSSON: It means a lot, of course. But I would never be the player that I am today if it wasn't for Ellen. ELLEN NYSTROM: Same. ELIN GUSTAVSSON: So I feel like -- yeah, we're good as individual players, but I would not play -- I would not have this good a season if it wasn't for her. Q. When you had that stretch, you made that jump shot and you dived for the loose ball and it leads to a layup. It seemed like that was going to be the turning point. Is that the impression you got and allowed them to get the momentum back on their side? ELLEN NYSTROM: I'm going to try to do everything I can to win the game. And I feel like we all tried our hardest, and they kept making shots, yeah, tough shots. Q. I know it's extremely difficult to go through right now, but you guys won it last year, and then knocked out the two years before that. Can you process the emotions right now, what's going on? How tough is it? ELLEN NYSTROM: It's tough, because who knows if I'm ever going to be able to play with Eli again. Q. And then obviously a brutal matchup facing a Boise team that is a tough draw for you. Just how difficult is it to face a team like this, not even in the championship, but in the semis this early in the tournament? COACH RYUN WILLIAMS: When you get to the semis these games are supposed to be like this. We've had two really tight games with Boise. So this shouldn't surprise anybody. And I think on paper that's as talented a roster up and down as we faced in the league. I said that from day one. And so it's a very, very good basketball team. You run into them in the semis -- you've got to go through them. And today they just -- they made a few more plays than we did. Boise was, again, they were outstanding today. Q. Coach, despite the loss, Myanne played well, she had 14 points, and her season high was 16, but she doesn't score double figures that frequently. How was she able to be so successful today? COACH RYUN WILLIAMS: I'm really proud of Myanne. I'm proud of our whole team, the way we just kept making plays. We'd get down. We'd answer. And we'd get up and Boise would answer. And Myanne was a big part of that. She played with such great confidence. And to see Myanne, if you were to see Myanne game one this year and where you see her now, you have to be so, so proud of that young lady. Her confidence just as a basketball player and as a young lady has just really, really grown. And that's what the game of basketball can do for somebody. She's a more confident player off the floor, as well, now, because of what she's done. But she showed great courage today. And that's impressive. She's got -- she has a lot more games left in her Ram uniform. And so the conviction she shot the ball with today, that's, as a coach, that's all you can ask a player to do, put a good stroke on it, be confident and shoot it. And Myanne did that. She had a smile on her face a lot tonight. I'm glad she was having fun, competed like crazy and she was outstanding. Q. Back to the third quarter struggles, would you say there's a particular reason your team hasn't done well in the third quarter recently, would you say it's a coincidence? COACH RYUN WILLIAMS: I would say it's a coincidence. We had good third quarters, but we just didn't play good in the third quarter. Q. Coaching cliches, that you don't remember the wins so much as you do the losses. Curious as your thoughts on why is this one going to stick with you for a while, assuming it will. COACH RYUN WILLIAMS: Well, yeah, our goal was to win this tournament, which is very hard to do, by the way, okay, as a 1 seed. And why will this stick with me? Because this is -- as far as Mountain West conference play, this is the last time 13 and 22 will represent Colorado State in Mountain West conference play. And that's what makes it tough. You don't want it to ever end. But you don't always get a win. And our kids know that. And that's why I respect these two to my left so much is they have respected every single opponent every single game every single year of their career here. And that's why their record is so outstanding. They've really helped change the culture. They've changed this culture into a championship culture, a high-character culture. So the toughest thing, it's just that, yeah, coaching these two, I mean you've seen a lot of basketball. You don't get these two rolling into a program that often. So that's why I'll remember it. I won't remember the loss, okay? We'll all have more losses. But when you lace it up with a team like we had this year, with these two individuals, it's just -- it's special. And when it ends it sucks. And tonight it ended. Q. Coach, like I said before yesterday, Gordy referenced these two as two of the best players in Mountain West history. What does it mean to you to hear that type of praise about two of your players coming from an opposing coach? COACH RYUN WILLIAMS: I respect Gordy a lot. Gordy coached a really good game tonight. They've won a lot of basketball games, too, during these four years that Ellen and Eli have played. So for him to say that, that's quite a compliment, because he knows what he's talking about. And Gordy is right. He's right. These two -- this duo right here, they're special. They've won a lot of games. But I wish the whole league could just know Ellen and Eli, just know them as people, not as basketball players, but just know them as human beings, they would be even more impressed with these two. But it's very nice of Gordy to say. I think he's got some really good players, too. And like that Lupfer kid, we got Lupfer'd in that fourth quarter. She was outstanding. We tip our hat to Boise. They beat us tonight. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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