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PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2020Tara VanDerveerLexie HullNadia FingallLas Vegas, Nevada Stanford - 67, UCLA - 51 TARA VANDERVEER: First of all, we are thrilled to be playing for the championship of Pac-12 Conference. I think tonight was a battle of two really talented teams. UCLA is a great team, they'll be -- they're going to do extremely well in the NCAA Tournament. They're very well-coached team, and they have a terrific talent on their team. We just -- we had Lexie. She really was the engine of this train today. She really scored for us really well. You know, got to the basket, rebounded almost a double-double there. Just willed our team I think to win. We came out in the second half, ran a play for her, she knocked it down, she got steals, getting lay-ups. I thought Anna Wilson's defense and ability to run our team was special for us. She stepped up, had a great game also. Fran was big for us. I love that full court pass that Nadia threw to her, showed a lot of confidence throwing that to a freshman. And Kiana, she's steady. You know, there are probably things that we could do better, but that's a credit to their defense. We turned it over a little more than I wanted to. Maybe we could have rebounded a little bit better. Again, they're a great team. I'm really proud of our team. These two women up here tonight. Q. Tournament Tara is what they like to call you. Have you ever been in a situation in the post season in the first half, maybe you're not playing well, and you're panicking a little internally? Are you sitting there thinking we're going to make great halftime adjustments? TARA VANDERVEER: I don't think panic would help me or our team at all. I think it is a puzzle to figure out. You know, I hate to say this, my mother, we were talking today, my mother was like don't ever -- I never worry about the first half, because the second half is the ballgame. That's how -- that's what I think too. You know, we came out in the second -- we can make adjustments but it is not the adjustments, people just settling in, playing hard. I mean, we were up after the first quarter -- no, we were down. We came out, we played -- we were up at halftime. We came out. Our third quarter was really strong. I thought people just maybe were a little tired and, you know, we didn't maybe sub as much as maybe I should have in the fourth quarter. I don't -- you know, we're a team that we have confidence, and I have a lot of confidence in our players. Q. For the players, not to look past what happened tonight, because it was a big win for you guys, you're playing Oregon tomorrow. We know how the first two games this season went against Oregon, they'll be super motivated to avoid the same situation they faced with you last year. What do you expect, what has to be different tomorrow? LEXIE HULL: I mean, I think as a team we're excited to play them for the third time. We know it will be competitive, and we know we'll have to really lock in and follow our scouting report. Just give it everything we have. I mean, I look forward to tomorrow. I know that's what we're going to do is give 100% effort. NADIA FINGALL: We're excited to play with them, excited to be in the championship game. Excited to -- if it was anyone else, we would be excited to play them too. You know, we're looking forward to it. You know, the game is earlier in the season, definitely want to take things from it and learn from it. Just focus on tomorrow. Q. Lexie, you came out aggressive and almost set a new career high. What was the mindset tonight? Was being aggressive something you and Coach discussed? LEXIE HULL: Every single game is a new game, and I think that's definitely something one of our focuses, every game, is to be more aggressive than the other team. I think just coming out with that mindset that helped tonight, especially against a team like UCLA that's really intense and a lot of pressure. Just focusing on staying more aggressive than them. Q. For both Tara and Anna, Anna has been playing really well lately, not just tonight, last couple of weeks she's done a lot on both end of the court. Do either of you attribute that to anything? TARA VANDERVEER: I mean, Anna has been playing well all season. She is -- she's the consummate team player. She comes off the bench for us and she gives us a great spark. She can play the one or the two. She always -- she plays -- she's a two-way player, playing defense and offense. I think what she's been doing that's helped our team the most is that she's being more aggressive offensively. You know, she's looking for her own shot more. And she knocked down a big shot for us. She had big steals, she had a big steal last night and steals tonight. She rebounds as a guard. She's in there scrapping. You know, I think Anna understands the big picture. She has a sense of urgency and plays hard and works hard in practice every day and plays against Kiana or Lacie or Lexie. She's a great team player, I love coaching her, love having her on our team. ANNA WILSON: I get to play against two of the best guards in the Pac-12 every day in practice, Kia and Lexie. You know, my focus is to make them better as much as I possibly can defensively, like playing defense on them as much as I can in practice. You know, and they help me become a better defensive player. But really, for me, I think it is just like trying to get better and just having a bigger picture focus. Q. Playing Oregon again tomorrow, there are good things certainly that you can take from those first two match-ups, obviously that first half of the first game you were right with them, and you played really well in the second half of that second game. What are the things you need to do tomorrow? TARA VANDERVEER: Well, first of all, I think Oregon is the number one team in the country. They're the number one team in the country because they execute extremely well offensively. They have, you know, tremendous three-point shooters with, you know -- whether it is their starting lineup or off their bench. They have arguably -- they have an All-American post player. They don't have any weaknesses. They have the number one player in the country, they have first, fourth draft picks. Honestly, you know, our team is I think a lot younger, not as experienced, and we just -- we're going to have to figure out something to do that will really help our team be successful. We didn't figure it out the first few times. I think we're just going to have to really figure out what will give our team the best chance of being successful. Number one, taking care of the ball, taking good shots. What I say is when we have the ball, they're not scoring, and they have an extremely potent offense, we have to work extremely hard defensively and we have to rebound. It is not -- I don't think it's rocket science. They're a tough match-up because they are so skilled and so good at every position. Q. What happened to your hand, Tara? TARA VANDERVEER: I break blood vessels in my hand when I'm clapping, and I had a lot to clap about tonight. Thank you very much. We'll see you tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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