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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 4, 2020

Las Vegas, Nevada

Boise State - 80, Fresno State - 76 (OT)

COACH WHITE: Not our best game. I thought we kind of hung in there and we made a run in the first half and got that score where we wanted it to. And at the end of regulation I thought we had some opportunities to knock it down. I don't think we shot the best from the free-throw line. At this point we needed every single one we could get. We shot 81 percent. Can't blame it on that either. We could have shot better from the 3. But our kids gave everything they had.

Every night you're not always in control of some things. And I thought our kids battled and they did what they had to to make that game winnable. And unfortunate that we did not win.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. At the end of the game who called the timeout?
COACH WHITE: I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Still a little bit of a blur to me. So we told them in the huddle, but the game is tight. And I think we made a great play at the end. Hey, we made the first one. We missed the second one. We got the rebound. So we did everything we could do in our power. And then I guess you saw it; it was on national TV, wasn't it?

Q. What was the explanation the referees gave you at the end of the whole fiasco?
COACH WHITE: Yeah, you know, they talked about an audible and that if the official hears it then they have to call it, I think, because I don't know the rules so much. But Lacy did a good job trying to explain to me as best she could. I still don't understand it. It's really hard when there's a lot of emotions going on.

Q. Could you still just talk about the journey that it was to getting to this moment, because I imagine getting to the championship finals is not easy and you guys had a lot of success throughout this entire year.
MADDI UTTI: Yeah, we definitely had to work really hard throughout the whole season. And I think that shows with our record in the conference. And no game was easy. No game is ever easy in this conference. So it was definitely a grind. We had new players that really stepped up. And so I'm really proud of them for that.

And, yeah, coming to the tournament we were the No. 1 seed. We knew that people would want to beat us. And we knew that nobody was going to back down.

HALEY CAVINDER: Yeah, just going off what Maddi said, just fighting to the end of every game no matter how close it was or whatever the score was, we were just going to give it until the final buzzer came off. And also what she said, going off a record that shows that we're going to fight until the end and unfortunately it didn't happen today, but we'll be back.

COACH WHITE: I think this team showed a lot of grit all year long, extremely proud as a coach to see these young kids. I mean at times we had four freshmen on the floor battling five seniors. And Maddi, a junior, we didn't play our seniors.

So I'm excited about that, obviously, but they showed that grit and that hard work and that energy all year and as young freshmen and juniors that haven't been on this big of a stage, they're ready to win that thing. And that's all that a coach can ask for.

Q. Maddi, how would you describe just kind of the roller coaster of emotions from that third quarter to the fourth quarter and then overtime and then to now?
MADDI UTTI: Yeah, we knew that we could catch up. We were coming from behind. We've done it before against Boise. So we knew we could catch up, so we were pretty positive going into the third and the fourth quarter. And then Haley hit that big 3. And at that point we thought we had it.

But then overtime happened and, yeah, you guys saw it. It just didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, necessarily. But I think we just kept fighting and that shows a lot about our team.

Q. What was your impressions of the timeout call at the end and the decision that the referee made?
MADDI UTTI: I don't know. I guess you just have to go by what the official says. You don't have any control. And so --

Q. I know it's hard to think about right now but you guys will be playing on in a postseason tournament, in the WNIT for sure. In a couple of days, is it going to be at least something, some solace that you get to start working towards that a little bit, do you think? Can you talk a little bit about that?
MADDI UTTI: Yeah, we just have to look forward to the tournament. And we're really excited about that. And we still have more games ahead of us to grow as a team and look for getting a different championship.

Q. Coach, could you still talk about some of the successes that you guys had tonight, being able to get 40 points in the paint and also being able to win the rebound margin to get those extra possessions?
COACH WHITE: Yeah, I mean, so one of our -- we met almost all of our numbers. We want to get 40 rebounds. We want to stay under 12 turnovers. We didn't quite get that. We have been scoring over 40 points or 30 to 40 points in the paint, so that was good. We won on second-chance points, I think.

When we're maybe -- I don't want to say outmatched -- but when we're not as tall as everybody else, we have to do different things, and we've been doing that all year. Our speed and toughness and athleticism has overcome a lot of those areas. So I was proud of our girls.

I mean, this is one you're going to go back over and you're going to say, oh, we could have done that there; oh, we could have done that there. And, again, we kept battling. That's all a coach can ask for -- put your players in a position that they believe in it and they did that.

Our first quarter was pretty good. We wanted our third quarter to be like that. It wasn't as bad -- and now that I'm looking at it it wasn't as bad. I think our second quarter was the biggest deficit. So if we can correct that, we would probably have had a lead going into the last little bit.

Q. You mentioned earlier how at times during the season you had five freshmen going against five seniors. How could you say about like the foundation that you guys have and just the future being bright with this program?
COACH WHITE: It's exciting. Anytime you have young kids, and I think we've done that consistently, we've had young kids come in and be able to play right away and get that experience. I think this year's been more special than some of the others in that we have so many.

Clearly we have Haley and Hanna, who have added scoring and defense and rebounding and so many things that have helped us to be successful. And the young group is so competitive. They've made everybody around them better because you know when those freshmen come in and they're pushing, those upperclassmen don't want to lose their territory so they work a little bit harder. And that's been fun to see.

As a coach, it's nice because I felt we were talented and very capable and I was able to be able to -- Maddi can play any position, so we're able to move people in different areas. And that's been fun this year for me.

Q. Could you just speak on the range of emotions there in those final few seconds because it looked like you tie the game up, you do everything the right way. And then it's waved off and there's the technical call. Just the range of emotions right there on the floor at that moment.
COACH WHITE: 1 to 10.

HALEY CAVINDER: I think we just did everything right, like Coach White was saying. We missed the free throw that we needed, get the tip back in. At that point it wasn't in our control. And that's what's hard about it is that play kind of decided the game. And the emotions were high. Clearly we wanted to win it.

MADDI UTTI: I agree with Haley. When the shot went in we were all obviously on a high. We thought we tied the game again. And so when it was waved off, it was a little bit disappointing. Yeah, we wanted to win, for sure.

Q. Game planning-wise, you knocked out Boise State's two best players in Coleman and Hodges. What do you think was the shortcoming, once you knocked out the two best players going into overtime, what prevented you from getting over the hump at that point?
COACH WHITE: You know, I just think that -- okay, so Mallory comes in and then Mallory gives you a bigger post inside. And so it wasn't like we were going against their nonstarters. And I thought we did a good job attacking them and really trying to get to the rim.

I think at that point we continued to try to attack and weren't getting as much as what we thought we would get from that. So that's probably the best way I can say it.

I think we were excited when they did go out. We felt like we could adjust and turn some things around. I do think on the defensive end -- so we switched up our defense a little bit, which was very effective. It stopped them from hitting 3s.

And then their No. 30 made some big plays. I thought she made some big plays. And I'm not taking anything away from Boise. Boise was a preseason number one pick for good reason, obviously. I think they had a lot of parts that were good, and I don't want to take anything away from their championship either.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 4, 2020

Jaime White

Maddi Utti

Haley Cavinder