PAC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2021

Taylor Jones

Oregon State Beavers

Postgame Press Conference

California - 63, Oregon State - 71

THE MODERATOR: Open up to questions for Taylor.

Q. You guys got out to a big lead. They made a push to come back. What did it show about your team and ability to fend them off, make the plays down the stretch?

TAYLOR JONES: Today, like Scott said, we didn't really come out and shoot the best we could, especially from the three-point line. We're an amazing three-point shooting team. We always have high field-goal percentage. Today's shots just weren't falling.

Towards the end of the game, we needed to get stops. Scott or someone called a timeout, I don't know which team it was. He kind of told us, We need to get stops on defense and we need to finish our shots. That's what we did. We knew what we needed to do in crunch time. We executed. I think that just shows the growth in this team, what we've done in the last few weeks.

Q. How big was Sasha's three-pointer to put you back up 9? Everybody breathed a sigh of relief a little bit. How big was that shot, her first three attempt of the game?

TAYLOR JONES: Yeah, so, I mean, like Scott said, we think that shot probably tied the game off. I mean, it was kind of like the bow on the present. She hadn't shot a three yet that game, and we needed it. She came through. I think that's honestly what her and all the freshmen have done this year. Whenever we need it, they've come through and played good defense, good offense, just been what we needed.

Q. I think it was a four-point game when you have a timeout, five minutes or something left, went right into you. You got the bucket and the foul to go back. Was that a play coming out of that timeout that you were looking to get the ball to you and score down low?

TAYLOR JONES: Yeah, I mean, I don't remember what play we ran. I think it was like a screen and roll or something. I mean, I knew I needed to score. The last two I missed, whenever we tried to run it into me. I knew she had four fouls. I kind of wanted to foul her out (smiling). I went into her and luckily they called it.

Q. A chance to play Oregon again. You played them on Sunday. You're in the quarterfinals, looking to get to the semis for the first time in a while. What's the thought about going up against them again so quickly?

TAYLOR JONES: Any time we get to play them, it's a show. It's a brawl. We just played them four days ago. That's similar to how it was last year when we played them on the Friday-Sunday.

We didn't get to do that this year, the back-to-back game. I'm actually really excited. I'm excited to see how we do. Hopefully we'll come out with another win.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, everybody.

TAYLOR JONES: Go Beaves.