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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 9, 2019

Greensboro, North Carolina

Notre Dame - 91, Syracuse - 66

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw and student-athletes Marina Mabrey and Jessica Shepard. Coach, an opening statement.

COACH MCGRAW: I thought we got our transition game going. I thought the second half defensively we played a little bit better. They were probably a little bit tired from the third game they had to play. But I thought we executed really well in the second half.

Really proud of Marina Mabrey and her accomplishment of being the all-time leading 3-point shooter in Notre Dame basketball history. And excited to be still playing. Looking forward to tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. You started off the game, like, with 4:45 left in the first quarter, it was 13-13. And then you guys ended with an 18-6 run at the end of the first quarter. So go ahead and talk about what made you guys go ahead and really have that dominant run.
COACH MCGRAW: We were able to get some stops, which is always key in getting the run. We got some rebounds, which is another key. And then I thought we got the break going. We got some easy shots. And then we made some pretty good jumpers. But I thought Jackie Young took the ball off their press and was able to do a really good job of getting to the rim.

Q. Coach, you kind of had, I guess, an opportunity to coach what I call the splash sisters in Notre Dame with Michaela and Marina, and Marina becoming the 3-pointers leaders today. It's not that often you see two sisters be that successful in the same program. And could you talk about that?
COACH MCGRAW: It was a blessing for me to be able to coach both of them. They're very different personalities and very different players. But it was great to have Marina as a freshman when Michaela was a senior because she was a little bit like the mom out there. And I thought she did a really good job taking care of her and showing her the way.

Marina brings a different perspective to the game in terms of how feisty she is and how competitive she is, where Michaela was someone who was always the encourager trying to keep everybody together.

They made a great combination when they were on the floor. They really knew where each other was going to be. But it's really been a joy being able to coach both of them.

Q. You said a week ago that you thought you guys were peaking at the right time. I'm curious, a week later, two more games in, playing for hardware tomorrow, where you think you're at in the big picture sense?
COACH MCGRAW: I think we're in a really good place. I like what we're doing on offense. I think that's the easy part right now. We struggled a little bit defensively in the first half of this game as well as yesterday. So I'd like to see that tighten up a little bit. But offensively we're definitely where we need to be.

Q. Marina, I was curious, did you know on the floor where you stood vis-a-vis the record and when you let that one go?
MARINA MABREY: Yeah, I knew. Just like a lot of people have been telling me from, like, our media staff and stuff. So it was really nice to have great teammates who passed me the ball in the right spots. But really I'm just worried about getting our ACC trophy back.

Q. If you could both answer this, Coach has talked about -- we know how good your offense is; that's just a consistent thing with Notre Dame. But Coach has talked about wanting defense to be better. Could you just address that? Do you feel it's progressively gotten better, and how has that happened?
MARINA MABREY: I think it starts with our focus, just sometimes coming out, thinking we're going to outscore people. I think we really need to lock in and want to defend and kind of have that competitiveness and pride in our defense. We plan to bring that tomorrow.

JESSICA SHEPARD: We talk about just giving a little more, and I think on the defensive side of things is where we need to give a little more and like Marina said, just come in focused.

Q. You have five players that scored in the double digits today. Just talk about how well-balanced your team is and how important that is moving to the NCAA Tournament.
COACH MCGRAW: It's been great for us all year to have five players average double figures. I don't think a lot of teams in the country have that kind of firepower on offense. Any one of them could have 30 on any given night.

So it's a great chemistry that we have that nobody tries to do too much. And we're sharing the ball really well. I'm interested in seeing the bench scoring improve. That's what I'm looking for, seeing one person -- I think Abby Prohaska has definitely taken a step up. She's shooting some 3s. Dani Patterson gave us really good minutes. And I know Mikayla Vaughn's capable, too. So I'd like to really see that bench come along.

Q. I was just wondering, what do you think the chance is this year that we will see rematches with the ACC in the NCAA Tournament with how strong the ACC is this year?
COACH MCGRAW: I think that the ACC is obviously the best conference RPI-wise, but we definitely think we're the best conference. We've got so many great teams, looking at taking at least eight to the NCAA Tournament, which is probably more than everybody else.

We had more teams than anyone else last year, with two teams making it to the Final Four. And I think definitely we have the ability to do that again this year. Looking forward to seeing where everybody's placed in the bracket, because so much depends on where you go. And we have so much talent in this league. I hope we show well in the NCAA Tournament.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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