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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2019

Las Vegas, Nevada

Wyoming - 64, Utah State - 41

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Utah State head coach Jerry Finkbeiner and student-athletes Shannon Dufficy and Eliza West. Coach, an opening statement.

COACH FINKBEINER: Yeah, it was a game -- obviously, by the score -- Wyoming pretty much had their way with us.

We beat them the first game we played this year at our home. They beat us the second game at their place. And I thought going into this game we were in a good place mentally and emotionally and the game plan.

But they really came out in the first quarter and just overwhelmed us fundamentally, overwhelmed us defensively. And hindsight, I probably should have called a timeout or two the first quarter. I just thought they'd miss a shot surely and we'd make a shot, surely, and stop the bleeding a little bit, but it didn't happen.

So I think Wyoming, their biggest improvement from our win at our place is defensively. They just really tightened the screws on us defensively. And we just had a hard time executing what we wanted to execute offensively. And I think at the defensive level, even though they shot the ball so well, they didn't give us a chance to get in offensively. Credit Wyoming. They were really good tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. How much did that early run from Wyoming -- I think it was a 9-0 run after it was tied 4-4 -- how much did that set the tone over the game overall?
COACH FINKBEINER: Basketball is a game of momentum. And you always hope to keep that momentum in runs of four or six points and no more. And that's where I remember thinking just so clearly, do we call a time-out? Tournament games you want three, four timeouts in the fourth quarter down the stretch to prevent unknowns, and just thinking we were going to be just equals out there, thinking it was going to be a close game, kind of had a little inner battle, so to speak. Should I call a timeout, burn a couple now, or hold on and hopefully make a couple of shots and move forward that way?

So it really hurt us. Now at halftime we're down by 16. Yeah, that's a lot of points, but we're still in a good place emotionally and thought if we could just cut it to 10 or less going into the fourth quarter.

But man we came out in the third quarter, the same thing. The same thing. Just could not stop the Cowgirls out there.

We gave it our best effort. Gave it a really good effort. Played with a lot of heart and soul but they were just really good tonight, the Wyoming Cowgirls, really good.

Q. So on that note, saying they're really good, for one of the student-athletes, what was the difference, because in the other games you held them to 52 and 42, pretty low scoring? Tonight they score 64. What was different about the Cowgirls tonight? They were scoring with pretty much ease in a lot of cases?
SHANNON DUFFICY: Clearly they shot a lot better than they did against us when we beat them. We held them the lowest percentage from the 3-point line when we played them and beat them. And tonight they shot 44 percent and 53 percent from twos. Yes, they were unstoppable tonight. We just couldn't match it.

Q. Coach, you mentioned they really put the pressure on you defensively tonight. What was challenging about the way they played?
COACH FINKBEINER: You know, I think Wyoming is maybe the best -- well, I think they are -- I think they're the best team in the conference in the half court. They execute really well offensively -- a lot of screens, a lot of cuts, a lot of back doors. We were prepared for them, but we couldn't match their execution on the offensive side.

And defensively, not the quickest group in the conference, but they're all long and they anticipate well and they're always in your face. And we just couldn't shake them tonight.

I think if the game would have started off a little differently; if they wouldn't have been as hot, we make a couple more shots, the whole reflection of the game could have been different. But they came out so hot and confidence just grew and grew and grew. And they didn't give us a chance, didn't give us a chance.

I think Wyoming is the best half-court team in our conference. And we want to go up and down a little bit more, we want to get some fastbreaks. But they got back -- when they make shots it's hard to fast break. We couldn't fast break.

Q. Looking back at the season, you surprised a lot of people. You were picked to finish eighth, and you went into the conference tournament at least two seeds above that. I think you surprised a lot of people throughout this. Eliza, looking back on this season, what are you taking from it?
ELIZA WEST: I think it's been a really big learning experience for, like, personally, my and Shannon's junior year. We've seen what we can do and when we play to our potential how good we can be. And so from this season, like, we've been able to play a lot of Pac-12 teams. We've seen where the top basketball is at and we know we're not far from it. So we need to get back in the gym and keep working because we know we can get to that level.

Q. Shannon, going into next year, having set all these records already this year, is it hard for you to find the balance between being excited about your personal achievements and wanting to help your team out in doing better next year?
SHANNON DUFFICY: Yeah, definitely I just, like I said yesterday, personal achievements, I don't really care about them. Like, if I had to play zero rebounds, zero points and we got the W, I couldn't careless. I don't really care about the personal achievements as long as we can get the win. And hopefully we can do better next year.

Q. With the seniors that are now done playing with this team, what's it like to see them finish this way?
ELIZA WEST: I wish I could have done it better for them.

SHANNON DUFFICY: Yeah, they're a big loss. We'll miss them next year. Would have been nice to send them home with a couple more wins, but ...

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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