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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: WACO

March 22, 2019

Julie Goodenough

Waco, Texas

COACH JULIE GOODENOUGH: We're just so excited to be here. It's a privilege to represent Abilene Christian University in the NCAA Tournament, and we're excited that we're playing Baylor. We're excited that we're playing at a location where our fans can come and play at our first experience in the NCAA Tournament.

Q. You guys do well with things most people try to do against Baylor, shoot from the perimeter, because it's hard to take anything against Brown and Cox. Do you think that strength is going to maybe give you a chance come?
COACH JULIE GOODENOUGH: We sure hope so. We do have some really good shooters, and definitely the big post presence in the paint is a deterrent for most teams and it will be for our because of the discrepancies in the sizes of our players.

But we do have really good shooters and you know, we like for them to be shot ready and they all have a green light to shoot when they are open.

Q. Tell us about the Southland Conference, how you had some close games and came away with that victory?
COACH JULIE GOODENOUGH: Gosh, started with our semifinal game. We were behind well in the fourth quarter, staying along trying to stay in the ballgame. Our players in the fourth quarter had a grit, no quit. We weren't going to let up and play hard together as a team. Their toughness really rose to the occasion. They showed a lot of perseverance and played great team basketball. We were urging them, emphasizing them during our time outs, we have to get defensive stops. We felt like we could score in transition and that's what it came down to when the tide turned and went our direction, our players did a great job with defensive rebounds, forced some turnovers and our players scored in transition. They never got their heads down in the game. Always felt like if they stayed gritty we would have a chance to win at the end. I've been asked a lot of questions about the Lamar game and I felt Sarah was the voice of our team throughout the game. She gave hope to our teammates that hey, we're in this and we're going to be fine and her leadership gave us hope in the fourth quarter that we can win if we play together as a team.

Going into the championship, it was a smooth ride in the first half. Every shot we took went in. We were reading them very well and then we changed ends and figured it was that one end that all the shots were going to fall in because everything fell for them in the second half. We struggled to score a little bit. They did a tremendous job of rebounding but in the fourth quarter when we felt it slipping away, I thought that Lexie Ducat, Sara Williamson, their voices during time-outs were voices of confidence. We felt like we had been in control the whole game even though we let it get really, really close. They convinced their teammates, this is our ballgame to win.

We never lost our lead throughout the course of the game. Our team really persevered and kept their poise when the game could have gone south in a hurry.

Q. In a matchup like this, what is your message to your team, and does it come down to just making shots?
COACH JULIE GOODENOUGH: It's a daunting task. I saw on ESPN a couple days ago that the 15- and 16-seeds records in the last 29 years are 1-231 losses. It's a really tough matchup for us.

So the thing we've been talking to our players about is we're just going to control what we can control. We have no control over the Baylor offensive game plan, what they are going to do on defense. All we can control is to work hard and practice every day, focus on the things that we do well. You do need shots to fall for sure. You need some rebounds to bounce your way, as well, and our team just needs to come in and be scrappy. We have nothing to lose at all. Just come in and play with reckless abandon.

Q. When you watch Baylor on film, there's obvious things about them, their size and the way they play defense. Is there anything subtle you see that doesn't get talked about a lot.
COACH JULIE GOODENOUGH: When we compare their team to our team and the styles of play, I think the significant size is the biggest factor. Obviously their post players will tower over our post players. Their guards are about the size of our post players.

You know, we've got to do what we can to try to slow down the post play and try to really protect the paint. I think the length they have, even on the perimeter, is a real defensive weapon for them. I think the thing we are talking to our players about is they are long, physical. They are going to take up a lot of space.

The big key for us is to really read the defense and make sure that we are reading the defense correctly before we make decisions with the basketball. We can't afford live ball turnovers. It will be very difficult to defend in transition, so we have to take care of the basketball and every be shot-ready, and be ready to execute when you have a chance to.

Q. When you guys made the transition to D1 knowing that last year was the first year you would be able to participate in something like this, did you see you guys getting here in only two years?
COACH JULIE GOODENOUGH: We have very high expectations for our program. We talked last year about getting here, actually, in our first year that we were eligible. We were pretty young. We were the sixth-youngest team in America last year, and so we got kicked in the teeth several times last year and just didn't really know how to respond. I think the experiences we went through last year made our team a lot tougher this year. Had a great group of returners that came back that understood work ethic and practice every day. They understood how gritty we would have to be to be in this position.

We lost a couple of games in the regular season that prevented us from wing the out right regular season championship. I think the players saw a glimmer of hope that if we just put three good games together, we can win the conference tournament championship. Really, we've been talking about this since June. It's almost ten months ago that our players set a goal to be here where we are right now.

Really just crediting our players with being salty and having a lot of faith in our system, having a lot of belief in themselves and in their teammates.

Q. Is there anything about having coached against Baylor before in conference, some familiarity that helps you game plan in getting ready for this game?
COACH JULIE GOODENOUGH: I think this is my eighth time coaches against Coach Mulkey. I have so much respect for her. Her teams are so well-coached. Her staff does such an excellent job recruiting players for her style of play and players that will respond to her coaching. They are tough to beat. They are tough to beat, year-in and year-out. They have dominated the Big 12 for a decade. There's no one even close to Baylor right now in the Big 12. I've been on the USA Today pole. I'm a voter this year. Baylor's been my No. 1 every week. I think they are a force to be reckoned with for sure.

I don't know that my experience coaching against Coach Mulkey will help us tomorrow, except that I know they are going to be super tough and they are going to be well prepared and they are going to come out and try to put on a show for the sellout crowd we are probably looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. We were talking on Wednesday that everyone was so excited. Do you feel like now that you've been here and about to have practice, do you think the focus is there?
COACH JULIE GOODENOUGH: I think so. They have done a good job probably the last month of just focusing on the important things and trying to eliminate all the distractions, so they are in the locker room right now preparing for practice. We had a good meeting this morning. Watched video. Went back over the games. They are getting their focus on now. I'm sure when they step out on the court, they will feel this is a real, game like atmosphere.

I'm quite disappointed yet, no one's asked me if I have a hole in my pants. I really thought that was coming. (Laughter).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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