BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2021

Jim Flanery

Temi Carda

Creighton Bluejays

Mohegan Sun Arena

Postgame Media Conference

Creighton - 83, Seton Hall - 76

COACH FLANERY: I think Temi's on my left, on your right, but just really proud of her and the way she's led this team, because I think we're so young. Except for her, we're inexperienced. And to get the kind of effort that it took to win tonight is certainly a testament to what she's provided all year from a leadership standpoint.

So, I think it helped us that we were down 14 in the third quarter the last time we played them. I talked about that at halftime. Believe it or not, I was more calm than normal in a situation where we trailed the first two and a half quarters.

But I thought our belief was -- continued to stay where it needed to be. And Seton Hall is a great team. They're really explosive and Elmore was white hot at the beginning. And we kind of weathered the storm.

And just our two freshmen were incredible, obviously, in the second half, too. It's a great win for us and we're excited to get an opportunity to play a really, really good team tomorrow night.

Q. You mentioned it right there with your two freshmen, but the two of them, Emma and Morgan combining for eight of your team's 12 made 3-pointers. We talked earlier this week about the growth that they had. How did they really step up big time when their names were called tonight?

COACH FLANERY: I think a little bit of it is just a progression from -- Emma got to play quite a bit from game 1, whereas Morgan has kind of worked her way into more and more minutes and a greater role than she had at the beginning of the year. But you can see -- it's a combination of their confidence and the confidence of their teammates in them -- and coaching staff, because we can't always run plays for Temi because she even though she's in great shape she might get tired. And she always gets a great defender.

So I think we figured out some ways to get them shots. But, I mean, they just have a great mentality for freshmen.

I mean, that step-off 3 that Emma hit late was really good. But Morgan, we don't start her -- we can put her in at whatever point and run a play for her the first time down and she'll squeeze a shot if she's open.

And I think that's hard to do when you're a freshman. So really just they both have good mindsets and some toughness about them for freshmen.

Q. Temi, I think you've sat for 30 seconds the last two games. What do you think about playing substitution patterns? I'm just kidding.

TEMI CARDA: I don't have much time left. So as much as I can be out on the court and doing what I can to help my team, that's what I want to be doing. Obviously now the TV timeouts are a little more help for me, too, get a little bit of an extra break there.

Q. The real question is, I guess, for a game like this when you guys are so shorthanded and they're obviously playing for a lot and they got off to a good start, when did you notice that your level of belief was where it needed to be as a team in order to pull this one off tonight?

TEMI CARDA: I mean, I think from the beginning we had a level -- some sort of belief in ourselves. I would say, third quarter, when that kicked in and we kind of got rolling things like that, people made big plays, like Flan mentioned, Emma and Morgan had hit some big shots all throughout the game. But to see Dee Dee Pryor come in and have that confidence to make plays, like that 3 she hit and a couple of drives she had, and made a lot of stops on defense, too.

I would say it really kicked into gear in that third quarter when we kind of got going on runs. And from there I think everyone's confidence kind of shot up a little bit and we just kept it rolling.

Q. You talked about that third quarter. Coach said last night's game Georgetown made their run, but here tonight you were able to flip the script. Wanted to ask you about that third quarter. And then the fourth, being able to maintain your composure there being able to hit your shots down the stretch.

COACH FLANERY: We can be streaky. We've been streaky on offense, because we've had so many different lineups and we're playing young kids. And so our execution isn't always, and our shot-making isn't always what we would want it to be.

But I still felt like Seton Hall plays at a fast enough pace. What was it, 40-32 at half? When you play a team that's faster pace, eight points isn't as intimidating because they like to get up and down and shoot it fairly quick and get the game kind of opened up.

So, yeah, I think being down eight at half was okay, based on how well they played early. And we had too many turnovers early. But we also did some good things. And had we not rebounded in the first half and done a few good things, we might have been out of touch. But just I thought kind of hanging in there through the first part of the third quarter and then kind of making that run toward the end of that quarter was great.

And I think Temi really got going in that second half and kind of stayed going.

Q. Temi, I feel we've asked you this many different ways during the season, but how are you guys doing this? You've dealt with so much adversity this year but yet you still are kind of playing and playing well. I don't know, what's been the key to sticking together through a tough year?

TEMI CARDA: I think, you know, it goes to show how well knit, the amount of trust and confidence we have in each other as a team.

I mean, it has definitely been a year like no other, I think. Around this time last year when we found out we weren't going to play anymore games, I for sure didn't think it was going to be this way a year from now.

And so I think what we've all tried to do is buy into the fact of taking each game one by one. And I think that's been our biggest strength. And just not taking things for granted, whether you're a senior all the way down to freshman. And I'm just really proud of the way our team has persevered through this time and stuck together and things like that.

I just really think having that confidence and trust in each other to -- both on and off the court -- to go out there and perform and be there for one another has definitely been that force for us.