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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 2, 2018Kaila CharlesBrenda FreseChannise LewisIndianapolis, Indiana Maryland - 67, Indiana - 54 COACH FRESE: Yeah, you know, I think obviously, first and foremost, you can say just how competitive this league is, and when you look at all the games that have been taking place, and obviously Indiana tonight coming in after four overtimes last night, just from top to bottom, it's just an extremely competitive league. Obviously tonight was a game of runs. Proud of the fact that we were able to kind of sustain through that. I thought we took great pride in wanting to advance and move on, for our seniors, for each other. I thought we had a tremendous collection of working for each other. Kaila Charles was sensational, how she continues to put the team on her back, defensively, defending Buss and taking the best player and trying to take them out, and obviously for Channise, her first tournament, I thought she was flawless with how she ran the team tonight. Q. Kaila, it seemed like early on not much was working for you guys on offense and you were able to get points up early, especially at the end of the first quarter. What was working well for you that maybe you were getting some open shots? What were you seeing? KAILA CHARLES: I think it's definitely my teammates finding me when I'm open and they're encouraging me to take shots. But in the beginning we were looking for the foul call, and then we just told each other we're just going to have to play through, it's going to be very physical, and once we got that mindset, we started getting to the baskets and getting shots, and it started opening up for us at the rim. Q. In the fourth quarter after IU made that five-point play, you and Stephanie really were able to turn the momentum back to your favor. How were you able to do that? KAILA CHARLES: I mean, it's basketball. It's a game of runs, so we just knew that we still have a lot of time and we can come back from this five-point play, so we just kept our head down and stayed positive and stayed in the present and not really worried about the past. Q. Channise, your first postseason game and you knocked down those two threes. How much confidence did that give you? CHANNISE LEWIS: It gave me a lot of confidence actually. I was just reading the defender. She was going up on the screen, and I just took my shot, and it went in, and the second three, my teammates found my open, and I just shot it again with the same confidence. It brought the fire to our team, and we just went on from there. Q. Kaila, you talked about wanting to stay out of foul trouble and kind of working on that. When you do pick up that fourth foul late, what's going through your mind? Are you just saying, calm down, try to manage it? KAILA CHARLES: Definitely because I don't want to get that fifth, but I tried not to worry about it. I can't get it back. I just stayed focused on what's ahead and just keep playing and then making sure I don't get that foul, that fifth foul by just being less aggressive, by being smart. Q. You played a ton for Maryland. Last night these players, some of them, played 60 minutes. How much respect do you have for them? KAILA CHARLES: A lot of respect. That's a lot. Playing almost three hours of basketball and able to come back tonight and play very hard, I really respect the team and the coaches and everything. Q. Coach, I don't know if the tempo of the game was probably to your liking; how would you describe your satisfaction of winning a game that would be considered more of at times a grinder compared to what people think of Maryland basketball? COACH FRESE: Yeah, you know, I think always that first game when you come in, obviously the beautiful thing is to be able to secure that double bye, but that team has an advantage that's been on the court one game ahead of you. It sometimes takes a while, I think, to get into a kind of rhythm. I think when you look at these scores right now across the board in tournament play, they're a lot of low scoring games right now. It's a lot more physical. They're allowing you to play, so I think a lot of games and scores are going to look like this in March. Proud of the fact that we grinded it out and had to make plays down the stretch. Q. Bri Fraser off the bench, 10 points, eight rebounds, four blocks. She was a monster down low. How big was that for you guys? COACH FRESE: She was a monster. She was huge. That's the growth. When you look at a junior that's been here, done that, her energy was sensational. She had a huge presence for us, and that's what you've got to be able to have, especially when you're having difficult times being able to score. I thought our postgame really just gave us so much between her, Stephanie and Kaila all game long. Q. You guys kind of went into half-court press, then into a full-court press. It kind of seemed like it extended most of the game because they had played 60 minutes, some of their players, to try and tire them out? COACH FRESE: Yeah, we certainly wanted to keep them having to -- we wanted to wear them out even more. We hoped the fatigue would buy in mentally as well as physically on their shot. I thought their game plan, they were sensational driving the basketball, especially the first half, because they had little to no legs. I thought they had a tremendous game plan against us. Q. Being your first game in the tournament, what do you guys look to improve on for the rest of it? COACH FRESE: You know, our guard play has to improve if we want to go far. I mean, Channise is a freshman and stepped up and was big, but our vets from our guard position have to be able to bring more to what we're looking for. Just being aggressive, being able to allow us to be able to knock down some shots, which makes it easier from inside out. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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