PAC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2021

Brynna Maxwell

Utah Utes

Postgame Press Conference

Washington State 57, Utah 48

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Brynna.

Q. I know this is still fresh, but coming off of the season, what you have had to go through as student-athletes, how hard was it to be able to focus on school, basketball and dealing with this pandemic?

BRYNNA MAXWELL: Yeah, it's no joke. When you hear about student-athletes having to deal with this stuff, it's not dramatized. It's for real.

I don't know one team or person on a team that wasn't affected by this pandemic. I mean, I think just everyone since March is mentally drained, emotionally drained. You have the constant fear of the unknown. Can we practice today? Are we working today? You're worrying about all these classes you're studying for after practice. It sounds kind of not bad, but when you have to do it consistently day in, day out, it definitely takes a toll on you mentally and physically.

Q. Walk me through how you're feeling right now.

BRYNNA MAXWELL: There's a lot of emotions. It hurts because the seniors go out this way. Just proud of our team. They battled. There was a rough year, like I said earlier.

I'm going to tell the team, I don't want to feel like this ever again. I'm going to remember this and take this feeling into the off-season and use it as motivation and drive. We don't want to repeat this year. Utah basketball is too good of a program to finish 10th.

We took a step back this year, we need to take two steps forward, three steps forward next year.

Q. As you were reflecting on all of the challenges you experienced this season, is there something that you're most proud of your team for still accomplishing?

BRYNNA MAXWELL: Yeah, I think our team kept showing up. I think a lot of the time a lot of teams would have folded after losing a couple games down the stretch. Our team every game, every practice we showed up and thought we were going to win, we knew we were going to win. That never changed, never wavered.

It got tough towards January, February. The team mindset never changed. Everyone was ready to go, locked in. I think that just shows -- just takes incredible character for our team to do that. I'm really proud of them for that especially.

Q. The team went 1-for-12 from the field in the third quarter. You were able to come back and pull within three in the fourth. What do you attribute that to, that you were able to stick with them despite not having the best shooting night?

BRYNNA MAXWELL: Yeah, I think part of it is we're kind of used to coming back from being down, just having that toughness built up. Coach Rob talked a lot about this year, that when you get punched, don't fall down, get back up and punch back. We kept throwing punches and hoping some of them hit. It wasn't the outcome we wanted. That's what I said earlier, I'm proud of our team, we never gave up, we just kept fighting.

Q. What do you attribute those shooting issues the team has dealt with all year?

BRYNNA MAXWELL: I don't know really. I think it's just, again, it has to do with all the other mental things we're thinking about. Not like just pandemic stuff. It's definitely not we can't shoot. Our team is probably one of the best shooting teams I've ever been a part of. It shows in practice.

I don't know. It's something we have to work on. Just carry it over into a game. I think maybe we've had a habit of rushing. I have especially, too. Just kind of slowing down, taking that breath, kind of transferring that shooting ability to games from practice.

I think confidence, too. That's another thing. I think just having that confidence to shoot it, make it, know it's going in.

Q. How bright is the future of Utah women's basketball?

BRYNNA MAXWELL: It's very bright. This is a very talented team. We barely, like, were touching it this season. There's some practices, some moments in games where you're stepping back, it's like, Wow, this is what we can do. I think this off-season, like, we just got to use the season, like I said, as motivation, to carry it forward.

There's so much talent on this team. The sky's the limit for this team. It's just buckling down and doing the work, building that confidence up, transferring it into games.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.