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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 2, 2020Jamie CraigheadFieme'a HafokaAyzhiana BasalloLas Vegas, Nevada San Jose State - 67, UNLV - 48 COACH CRAIGHEAD: I thought an excellent defensive effort by our group, maybe not as good offensively. But it's nice we get to play tomorrow and maybe fix that. But great effort by our kids. I thought we showed up when we needed to. We hit shots when we needed to, got rebounds when we needed to. It's tough to beat a UNLV team. I've got a lot of respect for R.J. Wade over on that side. She's a tremendous player. And we're excited to be moving on. Q. You were pretty tight first and second quarter but started to pull away third and fourth quarter. What adjustments did you make at halftime to allow yourselves to get that separation? AYZHIANA BASALLO: We had to play harder and play our game. Defensively we were kind of missing something, so we just adjusted to that. FIEME'A HAFOKA: I think also we just limited, like, their offensive rebounds. I think we just played, like she said, harder on defense. And we just played together and locked down when we needed to. COACH CRAIGHEAD: We shot it well enough, obviously, too. And we were a little bit more aggressive in the second half. We looked a little bit tight in the first quarter, like you said. And that's just tournament time. It's March; everybody knows what's on the line. They settled in and played their game and got a little bit more people involved. Megan Anderson hits some big shots, and when she hits shots it takes the pressure off everybody else. Q. You had four players score in double digits. Could you talk on how huge it was to have balanced scoring in this game? AYZHIANA BASALLO: It's nothing new for us. All of us can score the ball pretty well. So we're just playing together and getting everybody shots and everyone just doing what they've got to do. FIEME'A HAFOKA: Also just hitting, like, the shooter who is on fire. For example, Megan, when she's wide open, give the ball to her, or whoever is on fire, give them the ball; they'll hit it. COACH CRAIGHEAD: We talked about ball movement and getting everybody involved. I thought in the second half we did a better job of that. Ayzhiana got going a little bit. I think obviously Ty can play better than that, and she was frustrated. But she had some big baskets in the second half for us as well. Q. Looking ahead, a little over 24 hours from now you guys will be back on the court playing again. How do you prepare mentally and physically to have that quick turnaround? And then it's going to be your third meeting with Fresno State. How do you guys prepare for that third meeting as well? COACH CRAIGHEAD: I mean, we've been mentally and physically preparing for this all year. And we're excited for the chance to play Fresno State. They're our rival. They're our in-state rival. They're not far from us. But we've had two heck of good games against them and it's been just both teams battling. We're excited to get them again. I know these guys will be ready. There's no time to be tired. No time to be injured. They play a lot of minutes. Their kids do. They're going to gut it out; we're going to gut it out. I think it's going to be a great basketball game. Q. Going back to the defense in the second half, it was a 25-3 run over ten minutes in the second half. How does it feel to put together a good defensive performance like that against a newly awarded Defensive Player of the Year on the same court? AYZHIANA BASALLO: I think we are one of the best defensive teams in the Mountain West. I'm not sure how the voting goes, but I know that Tyra Whitehead is a great defensive player. I think we have the best one in the conference. FIEME'A HAFOKA: I think the same thing, what she said. Numbers don't lie. If you look back, you see the numbers, compare them, I mean that's all I can say for it. But I think just defensively, if we lock down together as a team, play together, I think we can do big things. COACH CRAIGHEAD: Our game goal was to hold them under 50. So as a coach, I'm really proud of their defensive effort. We know that R.J. is going to score, and we kind of try and take everybody else away. But Ty put up some terrific numbers this year. Kudos for to Bailey Thomas for getting that award. But we think our defense is good and we think we can play with anybody. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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