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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 6, 2018Gordy PresnellRiley LupferLas Vegas, Nevada Boise State - 60, Air Force - 46 GORDY PRESNELL: Very impressive what Air Force has done to close out their season. They're building a program there. Those two freshmen are going to be really something special. I thought they had an emotional victory, shoot 82% in the first quarter yesterday. I thought if we could just weather the first quarter, at some point fatigue would have to catch up. I didn't think they'd shoot 82% against our defense. As it turned out, the second and third quarters, I thought we created some separation, got a lead, then kept it. Feel good about going into the next round. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Riley. Q. You set the Mountain West record today for a single-season three-pointers. Were you aware it was happening in the moment? Did your team let you know? RILEY LUPFER: I came out in the third quarter, Brittany let me know. But, I mean, we were winning. That's all that matters. Q. You were the leading scorer tonight. It seemed like the components on this team, just the little things, talk about your supporting cast, how this team has come together. RILEY LUPFER: I couldn't do it without them. Three of my threes Sha got me open. That's the reason I made them. Every three I make is mostly an assist. Obviously I couldn't do it without them, they're penetrating, driving, sucking my girl in. It's a team effort no matter who scores. Q. This program has had some key figures in previous years. Is there a sense of having to carry over the success, a responsibility to continue the winning tradition? RILEY LUPFER: We take a lot of pride in our school, so I think we have a winning tradition. We want to go out there and show them we are the best every season, every night. Doesn't matter. But we're going to bring it every night. I think that has a lot to say with the culture coach brings. Q. Last game for Riley, she was getting double-teamed all over the place. Tonight did Air Force choose to guard her differently or did you design a few things to open her tonight? GORDY PRESNELL: They just guarded her a little differently. She got some free looks out of transition, off some penetration. She was still guarded pretty carefully. She hit that big, long first one, then was kind of off to the races. Q. Braydey has come on in the last few games. She missed a few early, but then got into a rhythm. Have you been instructing her to be more aggressive? GORDY PRESNELL: More confident. We need penetration. Either we want post entry penetration or dribble-penetration. It's the only way we can really free Riley up. At this stage, we run about 60 special plays. At this stage, everyone knows their special plays. You got to create them. I think she's done a pretty good job of creating looks for others and herself. Q. You mentioned yesterday Air Force's attack, what they good in the first quarter. Today they hung right there with you. What did you tell them between periods to spark or did you tweak something to start pulling away in the second quarter? GORDY PRESNELL: We've been hitting them real hard on toughness. We knew they were going to play tough in the first quarter. We had to create some separation. I thought defensively we were really good. Our assistant coaches, Cariann and Heather and Cody does our defense, I thought was outstanding, especially our zone defense today. It's good for us to be able to win different ways. Sometimes we rely on the three ball, sometimes we can rely on defensively. Tonight was one of the things where I thought we defended really well. Hopefully we can carry it on into the rest of the tournament. Q. For you, the little things that create the opportunities for your scorers, what did you see tonight with your supporting cast? GORDY PRESNELL: First let me just say, I love the Wyoming kid. She is a great player. Riley, I think, is the MVP of this league. I don't understand how she's not. If you look at the conference season, she's had an unbelievable conference season. Over 50% from two, 50% from three. She's missed one free throw the whole conference season. I think she warranted an MVP vote. Obviously we didn't get that. She's got kids that believe in her, that are unselfish. I think Sha, Joyce and A'Shanti's length are big factors. They get tipped balls, extra rebounds, extra shots. A lot of scoring comes off of just an offensive rebound and her spotting up. Everyone is in her corner. There's no selfishness, there's no jealousy. We're all here as Boise State Broncos. We want to advance to the next game. Q. Riley mentioned the culture you created. What is it that you've tried to instill with this group, that you continue to carry over your philosophies? GORDY PRESNELL: We just want to be as competitive as we can. We want them to have a sense of chemistry, that they can work with one another. We want them to have confidence, believe in themselves. We want them to want to be first. When they take those three things in life, they'll be able to work with somebody, they'll do well in their performance, and hopefully they're better for being in our program. I know a kid like this right here, we're good for her being in our program. Q. Riley, I know you don't like to talk about yourself. This was the eighth straight win you have had. What has helped you and been key in that run? RILEY LUPFER: I think we're closing fourth quarters better than before conference. That's huge. We would be up in the fourth quarter, then we'd just give it away. We wouldn't be mentally tough and finish. These last eight games, we're finishing, stepping up, hitting shots and getting stops. We have crazy numbers, teams are shooting like 16% in the fourth quarter. That's been huge. I think that's been the big difference. THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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