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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 1, 2020

Las Vegas, Nevada

Nevada - 74, New Mexico - 64

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Nevada head coach Amanda Levens and student-athletes Imani Lacy and Da'Ja Hamilton.

COACH LEVENS: We knew it was going to be a battle. Our game at their place this year, we never were really in the game. We didn't play very well and they played extremely well. And at our place it was really back and forth and we just kind of found a way to win.

And we knew today was going to be pretty similar to that. Obviously they have some really great senior players that you feel for those players when their season ends.

But I'm just really proud of our team. I thought Imani and Da'Ja did a phenomenal job stepping up today and Amaya West rebounding and Nia Alexander rebounding in the second half. I just thought a lot of different individual people stepped up and did really great things at the right time for our team, which is what you need to do at this time of year.

Q. Imani, could you take us through your performance -- 20 points, 17 rebounds? How did you feel out there?
IMANI LACY: I feel great because, one, we won; two, it was for the team. Like, yeah, my personal performance was good, but at the end of the day it all comes down to what I did for the team. And I think that that's, like, my overall energy like, I did it for the team and we're here and another night.

Q. And, Da'Ja, for you guys it was a close game throughout. You were down a little bit there throughout the third quarter. What did it take for you guys to find the will to win?
DA'JA HAMILTON: We kind of just stayed together and we found a way to win. When times got rough we stayed together. We hustled, we executed well and we kept people in front and we didn't foul.

Q. Amanda, can you talk about these two and their performances today?
COACH LEVENS: Imani's performance, I almost spit my water out -- I didn't know she had so many rebounds, just an incredible performance. And last game at San Diego State, we were really on Mar and Imani that they needed to play better for us to win. And we just challenged them. They both need to be close to a double-double for us to be competitive in games.

And Mar, she really struggled today because she was in foul trouble and never got in the flow of the game. And Imani basically goes and gets two double-double by herself.

And I just think for her to respond to that type of challenge, I know my buddy is struggling and she's not able to play a lot because of foul trouble -- for her to go and rebound like that, it was an amazing individual performance.

Like she said, she understands that she needs to do that for our team to win. And she understood how important it was to rebound against Jordan Hosey because she's one of the best rebounders in our conference. And I thought we did a good job trying to make it hard for her to get second shots.

And Da'Ja, just amazing, like, shooting the ball from 3, making free throws, making plays -- and I know she's upset about turnovers, but I thought she hustled back on those things and she tried to make it hard for them defensively, and she has her hands full guarding their really good guards. And I thought she played really well on both ends of the court.

Q. Coming into this tournament as the No. 8 seed, with such a young squad, what does it do for the team's confidence to win today's game and look forward to the quarterfinals?
COACH LEVENS: I think they definitely believe in themselves, but when you actually have results when you believe in yourself, I think it just builds on that. And we've had kind of a really -- our season has been interesting. We struggled the first half of Mountain West, only won two games, then kind of went on a terror in the second half and won four straits and five of six. And then we finished 0-3. And we have been really up and down.

And I think in all those games our team really believes they're going to win, but just having the discipline to do things consistently to help us win is another thing. But coming down here on a neutral court and just give it their all and see what happens, I'm proud of them.

We talked about, like, enjoying this opportunity. I feel like teams that have a lot of seniors, they start to get, like, a great sense of urgency when they're at this time of year. And we've talked to them about not waiting until you're a senior to have that kind of urgency because nothing is guaranteed. There's no guarantee you'll be back in Vegas and playing in another Mountain West Conference tournament, so make this one the best one you could possibly make it.

Q. Da'Ja, knowing that your performance as a team was not what you wanted the first time you played New Mexico this year, but at home you had a tough hard-fought overtime victory. Was there anything that surprised you today in the game against New Mexico or was the game plan perfect for what you did in the overtime win?
DA'JA HAMILTON: I knew that was, like, when we played them at home, it was the first time ever beating them. I knew they were going to try to play harder and compete.

So I thought this game was going to be like this is a rivalry game to an extent. We were going back and forth, just a lot of competition and playing hard.

Q. Same question for you, Imani. But also you were such a dominant force on the boards tonight. What gave you that power in the middle just to be able to take over the game?
IMANI LACY: I would say I just saw the ball, went to go get it. Saw the ball, went to go get it. So I just know that rebounding is always a pressure that is put on to me and this game I did the job.

Q. Coach Bradbury referred to how tough your defense was today and made it hard on them. Was there something different you did tonight?
COACH LEVENS: No. For us, we've been on our team to play better defense for much of the season. And even for us I feel like we can even get better at it. But again, like with our team, the discipline to do things right every single time and obviously we started that first quarter. And I thought we let them play to their strengths. And they're a good team. They have really good guards that can score one-on-one. And we did not do a good job on them. We settled in after that, did a great job.

And with our young team, we're trying to get them to understand that if you want to be a really good team, you do it start to finish; you don't have those let-ups and don't have those lapses. And for us, we need to start games stronger and that's been an emphasis for us, especially recently.

And I think against Fresno, that's a huge key if we come out, let them jump us on early, they're a team that's really explosive offensively. If we get down early, it will be hard. We'll talk a lot about our defense tonight, trying to start stronger, do a better job especially than we did the last time we played at their place.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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