ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 6, 2021

Nell Fortner

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Postgame Press Conference

NC State 66, Georgia Tech 61

NELL FORTNER: Yeah, I'm really proud of this team and what we've accomplished in these two days. I thought we grew up a lot in this setting. This is a team that's never been in this position before, so I thought they left it all on the floor today. We just couldn't -- that last four minutes we just couldn't quite find enough points, and we let a couple of players get loose on us and score. But really proud of how we fought really hard today and gave ourselves a chance to win.

You know, we'll keep growing from this, and one day this experience will pay off for us. But I thought that this team came out and played really, really hard and did everything they could to give themselves an opportunity to win.

Q. As you mentioned, this program has made a lot of strides this season. How do you learn from this run of the ACC Tournament and continue to build for the NCAA Tournament as well as the future?

NELL FORTNER: Yeah, we just have to use this experience to continue to be hungry, to win at the next level, to get this program where we're in contention to win an ACC title, where we're in contention to win a national title. We'll use this experience to keep working on our game and become a better team so we can keep playing at the highest level and winning.

Q. Just want to see if you could talk a little bit about Cunane. The way she finished is kind of what everybody is afraid of. Did you think for 37 minutes you probably did as well as could be expected against her defensively?

NELL FORTNER: Yeah, she's a really tough player to guard because she's so skilled offensively. You really need another -- at least another half a person to help with her. That's hard with NC State because they've got great shooters surrounding her and other players that you have to be guarding.

Yeah, she's really good. She takes advantage of all of her opportunities, and then she's a really good free-throw shooter, so she's drawing fouls and getting to the line, so she gets to add those points to her total, also.

Q. On the previous question you were discussing what you had to do going forward in the NCAAs and looking ahead. Looking over the last two nights, the way you played overall and also the fact that you had contributions from a lot of different players, different people stepping up, do you feel like you're in a good spot going forward?

NELL FORTNER: I feel good. I feel like our kids, they're hungry. They're excited about having an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament, something that they've never done before. It's just another one of those stepping-stones for this program, to consistently play at a level where they're in contention for ACC titles. We'll use this opportunity in the next week and a half to clean some things up so we can get to that NCAA Tournament and see what kind of run we can make.