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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: LEXINGTON

March 23, 2017

Lexington, Kentucky

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us for the Texas women's basketball team. We're joined by Ariel Atkins, Joyner Holmes and Brooke McCarty.

We'll go ahead and open it up for questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Ariel, what is the biggest growth you guys have made as a team since last playing Stanford in the season opener?
ARIEL ATKINS: I think biggest area we've grown in is learning how to prepare for teams. I think we take it a lot more serious, and I think we take it day by day.

Q. Brooke, as I mentioned to Coach earlier, you guys already play in a big gymnasium. I don't know if you've seen this place yet, but this may be the biggest one you'll ever play in. Do you as a player have to get accustomed to a gym like this for depth perception? What can you do to get ready for a big gym like this?
BROOKE McCARTY: Well, we do have a big gymnasium at home, but like you said, this one is huge. I think it's just going out there and getting a feel for the gym and the stands and everything that's going to be in it. I think it's just in practice getting more comfortable in there.

Q. Joyner, can you talk a little bit about what that first game against Stanford was like for you personally. It was your first college game, I guess. You obviously struggled. I was wondering what it was like just going into it, how did you feel after it, and how do you feel about how things have progressed since then?
JOYNER HOLMES: Going into the first game, I was real nervous. It was my first college game. So I think, like when I got on the floor, I wasn't really comfortable with myself like I am now. I knew my teammates are going to be there for me.

I know I didn't have my best showing, but recently as I've been playing and going along, I think I've gotten more comfortable. My teammates have made me feel like I'm part of the team and I can do as much as they can. I know they have my back, so regardless of what I do, they're not going to put me down or anything like that. Just as the season progressed, they talked to me and my coaches talked to me, so just making sure I listen to them and follow what they say.

Q. Ariel, Stanford has the No. 2 3-point shooter in the country, as you probably know, (Karlie) Samuelson. You've seen great 3-point shooters on other teams, but what can you do to help prevent her from going off? And will you, as the biggest guard on the team, are you going to be assigned to her? Or can you talk about things like that?
ARIEL ATKINS: I think as the game goes on, it will probably be between me, Bri (Taylor), Lashann (Higgs), between our guards. But like you said, she's the second best 3-point shooter in the nation, and I think she's going to make shots. That's what she does. So we just got to play basketball.

Q. Joyner, Coach VanDerveer has boasted a lot about how the Pac-12 has done so well this year and how the Pac-12 prepared her team for this tournament. The Big 12, you've seen a lot of good teams in there. How has the Big 12 prepared you for this kind of competition?
JOYNER HOLMES: Playing in the Big 12 this year, I mean, going up against girls bigger than me, taller than me, stronger than me, I think it's just made me a better player.

I think this year mainly I'm just trying to focus on players' tendencies. I think playing against a lot of forwards and stuff has been the hardest job for me this year. Just focusing on their tendencies and stuff, but I think the Big 12 has prepared me a lot just for the upcoming tournament and the upcoming games that we have.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student-athletes? If not, then the press conference has been concluded. Thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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