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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 8, 2017Jaime WhiteKristina CaveyBego Faz DavalosLas Vegas, Nevada Fresno State - 53 UNLV - 51 COACH JAIME WHITE: Well, I thought we played another great defensive game. I feel like we've put three really good defensive games together on this run. Just proud of our bench came in and really gave us a lift. And kids that haven't played in a couple of games and they just never stopped believing and got in and did whatever they could to help the team. It's just nice to see as a coach everybody excited for those kids. So we kind of survived in the first half and then come back, we did a good job getting the lead. Lost the lead, but we maintained our composure. And I thought in the second half a little bit different things that we needed but down the stretch our kids were just determined to win the game. Q. Two field goals over the last seven minutes of the game for you. Candice hits a three, you hit the inside jumper for the game winner. Talk about resiliency for either one of you or both of you. The defensive effort you had to put up against a team that can fire at any given time. BEGO FAZ DAVALOS: My teammates, that's how I did it. They never stopped believing. And no matter what was the score, no matter -- or defense, if it fail or something happen, they never stop believing, and that's what keep me pushing. And I'm super glad they did it, because we're going to the championship. KRISTINA CAVEY: Teammates and I think our style of defense that we started to run definitely helped. They kind of -- I think we kept them where we wanted them and were able to get up in pressure, and I think that was a big part was just being able to pressure. And I think our front line did a great job of pressuring the balls, and then the back line definitely got some steals and didn't let the ball come in, have an entrance to get into their offense quickly. So I think that was awesome. And we all kind of helped doing that so I thought it was great. Q. Huge performance for you as a freshman here in the semifinals, matching a career high. What made you play so well in a big spot like this? KRISTINA CAVEY: Definitely the effort of my teammates and being able to run and have them pass it up to me, definitely started and helped get in transition. And also just great passes, running the offense, being able to go through it and then just kind of working it around. It kind of all just fell into place. Q. Last year tough, tough exit. What's different -- I may have asked you this the first day -- what's going to be different about this team come Friday in terms of its mindset and again, the resiliency, and just the talent that's stepping on the floor, the chemistry? What will be different as a No. 7 seed but that you feel it's more prepared to contend and win the championship? COACH JAIME WHITE: Well, I've been saying all year that we're inexperienced and now I'm saying we have experience. We were here. We feel it. We're excited by it. We've played enough games in there that it's like our home court. And I think our kids are just young enough to just be having fun. And that's nice, as a head coach. And then they saw what happened last year. And even I've seen -- we've had some close games, but I've seen kids say, Hey, it's not over, we get leads, Hey, it's not over, we have to keep grinding it out. And that's what we were probably the most upset with is losing a little bit of that lead in the championship game last year. Our kids really understand they've got to play all 40 minutes now. Q. You scored 38 points in the first meeting with UNLV. What adjustments did you have to make and what did you do differently to be able to pull this one out? COACH JAIME WHITE: Right. That's why you go to college to be a coach, because they always have to tell you what to say sometimes. We played them once during the regular season. So we played Wyoming at their place and we got beat pretty good. But then we beat Wyoming at our place. Look, it's just the second time we're playing them. We've split with a lot of people. We had a close game with Colorado State, we had a close game with Boise. It's just our second time playing them, anything can happen. And I just think they didn't think too far ahead. It's kind of nice when you're the 7 seed, you don't think too far ahead, you think one game at a time. And I think that's what they did. Q. Only one step to look forward to. You have to look ahead, what do you have to do to beat Boise State? COACH JAIME WHITE: Well, Boise is a solid team. I think they are a solid defensive team, also. They have a little size. They have a couple of shooters. And I think we just have to do what we've been doing, but better. We're going to have to defend better. They have a post player that's a nice post player. Their guards are nice. We have to understand where the shooters are. And we have to have a passion and we have to put all these three games behind us and just go for it. Q. Obviously it was a tremendous stretch there the last five minutes-plus of this game. You guys defensively were able to step it up. What was said as far as time outs when you addressed this team from a defensive standpoint against UNLV? COACH JAIME WHITE: We've been through a lot of close games and late-game situations. We'll run some of our pressure stuff but then late in the game we really have to protect the three-point line. And so whether we were going to matchup, whether we were going to switch on the screens, obviously that small stuff. And then that advancing the ball makes things tricky and we wanted to make sure they caught the ball out, outside of the three-point line and everything was contested with no fouls. Really the small stuff. And then a little bit of, Hey, we can do this. We've got this. And it does help, everybody looks around, but when you see Bego, you have a confidence. She got a -- if I'm correct, she got a monster block towards the last 30 seconds of the game. And that really gives our kids a lot of confidence knowing she's back there. Q. Kristina came off the bench and matched her career high with 13 points. How impressed are you with her as a freshman? COACH JAIME WHITE: When we recruited Kristina she was the hardest working kid in every gym we were in. That's going to pay off. Just like Emilie Volk. But for Kristina, I know she got popped in the mouth, and I think she said, Let's go, let's play. She's got good speed, decent length. We knew she could hit that shot. Ice in her veins a couple of times. We said, Work it around, make sure you have a good shot. She caught it, she knew she was open and she knocked those down. And we absolutely needed those. Those were big times for us, big baskets. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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