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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 1, 2018Joanne BoyleAliyah Huland ElLauren MosesGreensboro, North Carolina Virginia 60, Georgia Tech 58 MIKE FINN: Coach, just a brief opening statement and we'll go to questions. JOANNE BOYLE: I'm just so proud, just what a great basketball game, and just so proud of my team for again, just being resilient down the stretch and just finding a way to win. A lot of credit to Georgia Tech. They are a great team. They have been playing some great basketball here as of late, and I hope they get some duration, but that was a hard-fought basketball game by both teams. Q. For the players, you're down eight with eight minutes to go. What's the mindset at that point, and what did you think you started doing better on offense and defense in the final eight minutes there? ALIYAH HULAND EL: More than anything was just getting stops, clawing back against a team like that would be very difficult if we weren't getting stops, if we weren't being disciplined on that end. And on the offensive end, you know, kind of running the play strategically, being disciplined about the plays that we do run and taking care of the ball and taking good shots. LAUREN MOSES: And I would just go along to say, like the last eight minutes was just very sharp. It was sharper than the first half, so that allowed us to get stops, not allowing Pan to get wide open shots and just like making sure that we were finishing the possession with the box and board. Q. For much of the game, Pan was lighting you guys up, and then down the stretch, nothing. Did you change the way you were guarding her, or did she just run out of gas or what do you think happened? JOANNE BOYLE: You know, our whole M.O. was just to chase her around all night, really face guard her, almost like camp defense. Just don't let her touch the ball, because every time she touches it, she can elevate over some of our smaller guards. She'll run you off a ball screen. So we were really, really really trying our hardest not let her touch the ball. And maybe she just got worn out a little bit at the end. You know, she's a fantastic player, so for us to have to really just take a man out of help side and completely face guard, it says a lot about her game. But we're fortunate. You know, she's a great player, but I felt like we try to keep some pressure bodies on her and just try to wear her down a little bit. Q. You took the big charge with seven seconds to go. How did that play, and you had some big baskets in the closing minutes. What was your mindset there in terms of trying to be assertive inside? LAUREN MOSES: You know, my MO going into the postseason is this is my last year. Just leave it all out there on the court. So in the last couple seconds of the game, I just knew that kind of taking charge is kind of my thing. So I just saw her driving and I knew to get my feet planted because I didn't get a call earlier in the game because I wasn't set. So just making sure I was set and I stood straight up and just, you know, fall -- fell. Q. You guys were very efficient in the fourth quarter at the end of the shot clock. In a tight game like that, how were you able to run the clock down and still get a good shot at the end like that? ALIYAH HULAND EL: That comes with practice, you know. More than anything, we practice a lot of special situations, end of shot clock, down three, down five, down one, even with a few seconds to go. So that comes with just reps in practice and then being disciplined, being focused in the moment. Q. What did you like about how you executed your defense in those closing eight minutes? It seemed like you were forcing them to take a time on the shot clock and take late shots there. JOANNE BOYLE: I mean, that's all about the team. I heard them, every time we came out of a huddle, we were encouraging them, and they were talking to each other about just getting stops, getting stops, getting stops. I felt like when we got screened off, people made up for each other and switched on to Pan and just had really good communication, and I just felt we held our ground a little bit better. Q. Did you feel you did certain things better on offense? JOANNE BOYLE: Us? For sure. Yeah, again, the ball bounces your way every now and then, and we tried to score there. Lauren got the rebound, had a put-back. That was huge for us. But everybody, throughout the game, I just felt like we were just a little bit calmer and a little bit more confident down the stretch the last eight minutes and I thought we were screening better, we were taking balls into screens better. We just didn't panic and I thought the ball went side to side a little bit better those last eight minutes. Q. When you're down eight with eight minutes to go, what do you think at that point? Because they had been in control of the game and they had had the lead on you for so much of the game. Are you starting to think: Geez, maybe this isn't our game, they have our number today? What's going through your minds at that point? LAUREN MOSES: Not at one second like Coach said, every time we were coming out of a huddle, it was like, hey, one stop at a time, one stop at a time. Like Aliyah said, we practice these situations; Down five with a minute left, things like that. So we knew going into this game that it was going to be a hard, physical tough game and that we were going to have to fight for everything we got. In the last eight minutes like you said, we made sure we were sharp and we executed well on both ends of the floor, and then we came out with a win, so it worked. Q. I assume you felt win or lose, you're a safe bet at this point for the NCAAs. What was the keys to keeping the guys motivated for this game knowing it wasn't like you were playing for your lives here? JOANNE BOYLE: It's tournament time. Everybody's trying to win games. We're fighting whether to get in or get a better seed, whatever it might be. This isn't a team that's ever going to just rest on their laurels. Like that's just not who they are and you can tell that by just kind of how the game unfolded, just down most of the game and just fighting to get back. They want to keep playing and they want to keep winning, so it's not about what we've already accomplished. It's what's in front of us. Q. Do you think you can hang in with Notre Dame tomorrow? JOANNE BOYLE: They are a great team. So for us, our motto has been our effort, our defense, and our rebounding; our effort, our defense, and our rebounding, and we've just got to stay -- don't give them too much. Just stay focused on those three things and we'll take our chances. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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