BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 13, 2021

Celeste Taylor

Texas Longhorns

Postgame Press Conference

Baylor 66, Texas 55

Q. Celeste, I'm sure as a team you all are pretty disappointed with this, but you don't get to be disappointed for too long. You have to shift your focus to the NCAAs on Monday. How does this team go into the NCAA and how much are you looking forward to the next stage of the season?

CELESTE TAYLOR: I mean, like you said, we're pretty upset, but at the end of the day we can't hang our heads. We got to get back after it. I think we're really focused. I think after showing we can compete we're just ready to get back in the gym and go after it for the next day.

Q. Do you feel at this point this is a team that can compete against anyone? You guys have played Baylor three times; the A&M game early in the season. Do you feel like you guys can play against any team in the nation right now?

CELESTE TAYLOR: Oh, 100 percent. I mean, at the end of the day you know, coach always says it's luck and fight and seeding. But I think that each day we're getting better, and as the days go by, we working hard and keep getting after it and being there for one another and having each other's backs.

At the end of the day, I feel like we can compete with anybody in the nation.

Q. Talk about you guys getting better each day. What you do you feel like you're getting better at and can use as you head into the NCAAs?

CELESTE TAYLOR: Just our defense, hitting shots. We've all been in a gym working, being consistent, definitely helping one another, and executing a game plan. Each day is a day for us to got to better, and so that's what we're going to do.

Q. Coach talked about you putting a lot time in the gym. Are you seeing the fruits of your labor and how proud are you of yourself?

CELESTE TAYLOR: I mean, I know how good I am. I know the time and the work that I put in every day. It's been like this since last year for me. All my life I put in work.

So at the end of the day I know at some point it's going to show. So I just got to keep going at it and grinding. At the end of the day I can't do anything without my teammates, so as much work as I want to put in, I need four other people on the floor with me. Nothing is going to be done without them.

Q. Not the result you want against Baylor, but seems like in the three game you've played them you've shown improvement each time out. What do you think you learned about yourselves in those three games and where have you all matured and grown as a team in these matchups?

CELESTE TAYLOR: I definitely think from the first to the second game it was being able to compete. I feel like we started off kind of scared in a way, but we're not. We've shown that we can lock down on defense, we can defend certain things, we can come out, hit shots, and we can stay within five points.

So it's just getting after it and playing like we know how it play. But each day we're growing. Each time we play them we showed growth, and that's all we can do.

Q. And what is about the matchups that seem to frustrate Charli so much? Obviously not playing up to her standards today, but what is it that seems to throw her off in the Baylor games?

CELESTE TAYLOR: I'm not really sure. That is a question she needs to be asked. At the end of the day she knows we have her back, so she's going to get out there and work and do what she can do, and we're going to have her back. When something is not right other people have to step up. That's with any game. If I'm not playing good, somebody else has to step up.

But at the end of the day, I think that's a question she needs to be asked.

Q. Celeste, what was the mood in the locker room at halftime? Baylor had got ten and Charli went out; you guys clawed back; got within one; had a couple chances to tie or take the lead. Where was the team at halftime?

CELESTE TAYLOR: Yeah, I think we thought back the second time we played them and they came out and made a run, so we definitely didn't want that to happen again.

So it was just staying in the dogfight. It's going to be a dogfight. We had to compete, just be there for one another. Not have unforced turnovers, pressuring the ball. Just the regular game plan. It was just going out there and really just competing. We were within seven, so seven is nothing when you have 20 minutes.

So just going out there and competing and executing and just trying our hardest.