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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 2, 2018Shimmy Gray-MillerHaley BruedigamBrittany BrewerOklahoma City, Oklahoma Iowa State - 74, Texas Tech - 49 THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Texas Tech. Coach, your thoughts about tonight's game? SHIMMY GRAY-MILLER: Well, it didn't send the way I wanted it to. That's my initial thought. But, you know, Iowa State is one of the best coached teams in this country. Bill does a phenomenal job, and he puts his players in position to be successful. We had some kids that really stepped up in the absence of Grayson Bright, Haley Bruedigam being one of them, and I'm really happy for her. THE MODERATOR: Questions for our student-athletes? Q. Brittany, they obviously pressured you guys in the first half. I think you had eight first-quarter turnovers. Was it something they were doing or you guys got out of rhythm? What caused you to stumble early? BRITTANY BREWER: I think they weren't guarding Haley and Angel, and once Haley started knocking down shots I think that cleared up a lot of the pressure. Q. Y'all held Carleton to just 2 and 9 from behind the 3 line. Can you talk about your defensive strategy? SHIMMY GRAY-MILLER: I thought we did a really good job defensively on Bridget. She scored most of her points from the freethrow lines. So when we did have a defensive breakdown she was able to draw a foul, but we were intentional with our game plan in practice the last two days. We were going to switch off on her and that was different than how we guarded her the first two times. Q. Haley, I know this isn't the result you were looking for, but how do you reflect on your performance tonight knowing where you were five weeks ago? HALEY BRUEDIGAM: First, I want to thank Coach Shimmy. She probably believed in me more than anybody else besides my family. Like I said, it is one of the best experience I have ever had. She helped me, worked with me on the speed of the game and just the pace and the strength of it. This organization is incredible. I wouldn't want to play for anybody else, honestly, and I wish we would have came out with a win. But it's been an incredible experience and I can't thank the staff and this program enough. Q. Brittany, I commend you guys for fighting until the very end and I watched you guys all year and you were the same every single game. How difficult is it to continue the fight when the results at the end of the game are not in your favor? BRITTANY BREWER: It's very difficult, but our coaching staff was motivating us every single day to not take it for granted. So it was easier with them, of course. Q. Brittany, you had maybe one of your longest shots tonight! You were not afraid to fire it up but that's been something you've been doing recently just playing free in your brain and without worrying about things. Can you talk about the progress you've made over the last half of the season in that mindset? BRITTANY BREWER: Yes, it's funny that you say that because Coach Shimmy always told me play in freedom and that's something I learned to do probably too late. But I'm glad I learned to do it, so that's just been -- she knows that the weight of the world was on my shoulders and that wasn't helping me at all and ever since she said that I felt like it's been really good. SHIMMY GRAY-MILLER: It's never too late. Start where you are. It's never too late. Q. Can you talk about what Haley has meant to you and your teammates for a player who had to Uber to get to the West Virginia game from Pittsburgh and the progress she has made and the impact she has had on your team? BRITTANY BREWER: She is inspiring for real, like Ubering to West Virginia she was traveling the entire day and she played her first game and I thought she played really good her first game, and just like how she comes to work every day and she didn't know she was going to play be or not. But she stepped up and did her thing and I don't know. She is awesome and very inspiring, so we're very proud of her and thankful she came and helped us out. THE MODERATOR: Okay, ladies, thank you very much. Questions for Coach? Q. Coach, as a whole, as the team, how do you think you have grown since the last time you did play Iowa State? SHIMMY GRAY-MILLER: Believe it or not we actually were better defensively. Iowa State didn't light the world on fire with their shooting percentages by any means. We had a more intentional game plan like I alluded to earlier and I thought for the most part we stuck with it. We're missing Grayson Bright tonight. It's not an excuse, but I thought they played well against Iowa State with her energy and her pace and her absence was really missed tonight. Q. Coach, I know it's been a long season. You guys have been through a lot this year. How do you reflect on it and what do you take away from it this year? SHIMMY GRAY-MILLER: I haven't really. I haven't had a chance to reflect on it. It just ended. I'm very much about living in the present, so I haven't had a chance to reflect on anything. I will do that over the next couple of days. Q. Coach, I know before the game you emphasized wanting the players to play with effort. Can you point out anyone that stuck out? SHIMMY GRAY-MILLER: Absolutely. You can start with Lyndsey Whilby. She didn't have a great night shooting the ball by any means, but she played with great energy and intensity tonight, probably played her best defensive game of her young career. Haley Bruedigam. I challenged Dayo at halftime, and I thought the second half she played with much more effort and intensity. So several -- Ionna McKenzie, she made the most of her 10 minutes, five rebounds in 10 minutes, a block and a steal. So for a senior, I'm proud of her. That's the way you want to go out. Q. Coach, would you expand on Jada Terry a little bit and what she provided for you tonight? She was huge inside with the rebounding. SHIMMY GRAY-MILLER: You said it. She rebounded really well tonight. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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