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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2019

Las Vegas, Nevada

Fresno State - 66, UNLV - 55

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by UNLV head coach Kathy Olivier and student-athletes Katie Powell and Nikki Wheatley. Coach, an opening statement.

COACH OLIVIER: Well, I mean, for us, it's hard. We have six seniors on this team, and they've been great. We had a great run with them. The last three years we won over 20 games each year, each season. We were super proud of that. Just to finish like this it's just a downer.

We had a lot of expectations this season and we just had a lot of injuries that kind of held us back, but they never stopped fighting. They always came in to practice very eager to get better. They were constantly helping the returners and just, I don't know, it was good times even though we weren't as successful as we wanted to be.

And I'm super proud of this group of six. I think we have a good group coming back and don't count the Lady Rebels out for next year.

You've got to give it up for Fresno. They played a good game, very good game today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Nikki, their press defense, how much pressure did that put on the offense taking the seconds off the play clock and then they're settling into the zone?
NIKKI WHEATLEY: I think in the first half, from the start of the game we might have had a little trouble with it. I felt we adjusted to it. It definitely takes some seconds off the shot clock. But I feel we did adjust to it as the game went on. We expected it, we knew it was coming. But I knew we could have been a little more aggressive towards it.

Q. When you're constantly in catch-up mode, how difficult is that?
NIKKI WHEATLEY: That's what hurt us. I think getting down, it kind of puts a downer mood on everything. And having to constantly catch up, catch up definitely makes it hard. But I do think we made a run at the end so that was good.

Q. Katie, they would go on a run. You would chip away, make it a game again. Just how frustrating was it, though, when every time you got closer they'd go on another run?
KATIE POWELL: Yeah, it's frustrating, but in a game you've got to keep your head up wait for the next play, next play. I feel like we did that and we just fell a little short.

Q. Katie, you touched on it, but could you talk about your first half, 14 points; second half, held to three points? What was the difference there? Obviously they clamped down on you in the second half.
KATIE POWELL: Yeah, I think they were more in their zone; they were sucking kind of in a bit more. We need to have a little bit better ball movement. But, yeah, they were obviously trying to stop me that second half.

COACH OLIVIER: She's not 100 percent. Not that she's going to say this, but yesterday she practiced for about 15 minutes. And then today she was at shootaround. But Katie's not 100 percent. She said I want to go. This is it for me, I want to go and do all I can for the team. So you've got to give it up for her.

Q. Nikki, can you touch on turnovers? You've talked about it in your first answer, but just specific to that, 20 through three quarters, and then you guys figured out in the fourth quarter.
NIKKI WHEATLEY: Coming off the Colorado State game we did well on the turnovers and controlling them and having low turnovers. So it was kind of upsetting to come in this game, we felt like we were prepared coming in for the press. We definitely know they do it. They do it every game. We felt we made some lazy passes, and we weren't just executing like we should have.

Q. Obviously your last game as a Rebel, just kind of -- I know it's still fresh and raw after the loss today, but can you try to sum up your experience here at UNLV?
KATIE POWELL: My experience was great. After I transferred I was welcomed by the coaches. They're great people and the people that you meet are the people that are coaching. They're great people. And I'm just happy to play for them.

I mean, UNLV is an awesome school. I'm happy to have gotten my education here. And playing as well, I was happy I could make an impact last year and this year. I wish the best for them next year.

NIKKI WHEATLEY: Same thing. I think that Katie was telling us in the locker room, this is kind of a bad note to end on, but we're going to look at everything we accomplished. We're not going to take this game and say this is what I'm going to look at every time I look back on my experience.

So we're just going to look at everything we've accomplished and we think that we have brought this program up. And we're now handing it off to the underclassmen and handing it off better than when we got here. That's the goal and we're just going to take that.

Q. Was this game representative of what's plagued the team, missed free throws and turnovers, but you're still competitive?
COACH OLIVIER: I'm looking at it. We lose by 11. We had, what, about a C-minus game. We had way too many turnovers; we all touched on that. And we missed our free throws. But this team, they're fighters. They're fighters in the sense that they're going to give their all on the defensive end. We're going to continue to challenge people and play aggressive D and just things didn't go our way.

And sometimes that gets to you. It's been a season -- it kind of summed up our season, this game, it kind of summed it where up/down, up/down. We couldn't get it going.

Gotta give it up for Fresno State. I thought they played well. When we went on a run they answered and that's what good teams do. I thought Jaime did a great job with her group. They didn't start off the season well, but they've come on really, really strong. And I wish them the best.

Q. You've always squeezed the most out of your teams. Was this particularly frustrating given the experience that came back and just always seemed like it was running in place a little bit?
COACH OLIVIER: They're a really good group. They're great to be around. And everyone probably saw our shirts. It said "family." And like we're all family. Like we are. We do a lot together on and off the court. They're hard workers. I like what Nikki said when she said that she knows that they're leaving the program better than when they got here. And that's true. They've just made us better.

Katie, her redshirt year was in the gym nonstop. She would always text, can you open the gym? I'm thinking, gosh, I just need to give her a key. She's constantly wanting to get better, get better.

Nikki is in there all the time working on her free throws, doing whatever she can to make us better. So she's showing -- all these seniors were showing the returners how to improve and how to make this program better. We're super proud of that. The alumni, I had alumni texting, wishing us luck.

We're Rebels for life and they all know that. We're all disappointed that it ended like this. But, again, like Nikki said, there's a lot of positives that we can draw from this season and from the last four years that they've been here.

Q. They basically owned the inside. Is that just something that Fresno State, you anticipated that they would be tough to defend being able to get to the basket like they did?
COACH OLIVIER: They played a lot of zone. And I think someone said that Katie was doing a great job early. So they kind of took her away the second half. I mean, they're smart with that. And I thought we attacked the basket and got some good looks.

But we just never could get on a roll. Never got any rhythm on the offensive end. You can't miss your free throws and then get these offensive rebounds and not do anything with the offensive rebounds. And for us, it just doesn't work like that.

Defensively we're going to get after it. And defensively we did a good job, but we saw zones all year. We just have to get more effective against the zones for next year.

Q. The end of the first half you cut it, I think, to four. Looked like you were taking momentum at halftime. Then they come down and hit that shot. How tough was that for you?
COACH OLIVIER: To be quite honest, that's what happened to us last year, the same exact thing at halftime someone hit a shot. And we were -- chipped away. I thought we did a really good job at the end of the second quarter.

But when they hit that shot, you know, I got deflated. I know I can't do that because I have a group of people that they're looking up to us coaches. And we had a good talk. We made some adjustments at halftime. And the team just, you know, they did all they can. We just never got really any rhythm offensively today.

Q. I wanted to talk about Rodjanae's award, the sixth player of the year. Can you touch on that how special?
COACH OLIVIER: We were really excited for her. R.J., when she came in this program, if you would have saw what we were working with, she's a great, great girl. She's a hard worker.

But Coach Collier really developed her. Our coaches do a great job of skill development. I'm super, super proud of her. I said earlier in the year you're playing behind Paris. You're playing behind Katie, two really talented post players. You've learned a lot. When you get in there do some damage.

And I thought all season she did a great job. She just made things happen immediately when she came in the game. She's got to do a little better job of not turning the ball over as much. But otherwise, you've got to give it up for R.J. We're really excited how much better she's gotten in our program.

And Bailey, you've got to ask about Bailey, defensive player, Bailey Thomas deserves that hard worker and determined lady those two coming back and incoming freshmen, I think it's a bright future for the Lady Rebels.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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