NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL: OREGON VS LOUISVILLE

March 28, 2021

Erin Boley

Alamodome - Alamo

Oregon Ducks

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Louisville 60, Oregon 42

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Erin Boley. We'll take questions.

Q. Wondering about how you felt about the fight to get into rhythm offensively tonight, what that experience was like. Could you address Maddie's injury. Is there one end of the court you felt like you missed her more on?

ERIN BOLEY: Yeah, we did, like Coach said, missed some easy shots around the basket. We missed some wide-open threes to start the game. That got us -- really let them get a lead on us there that we were trying to climb uphill the rest of the game.

Yeah, not having Maddie hurts us a lot when it comes to ball handlers. All three of our primary ball handlers we've had injured at some point this year, so... That definitely hurts us a lot, especially against a team like Louisville who is all pressure, full-court man the whole game. With that kind of pressure, it definitely hurts us a little bit, and we struggled with that, especially early.

Q. I don't know if you could hear Kelly speaking about the future of the program, but obviously he's really excited with everything they've got coming back. What will that mean to you to have kind of guided all these freshmen and new players into the future during this pandemic which you've had your share of struggles getting through?

ERIN BOLEY: Yeah, that's all I could have hoped for this year, really. I think Lydia and I both, that's all we could have really hoped for was to leave behind something that show some kind of leadership or lead by an example that it kind of paves a path for them to be successful in the future.

They're all really, really talented. It's going to be great group. Like KG said, their future is really bright. I hope that we were able to help them somewhat in their journey, yeah.

Q. You look at all the adversity from the season, between postponed games, what does it say about this group that allowed you guys to persevere and make it to the Sweet 16?

ERIN BOLEY: It says a lot about this group. It says a lot about the character of these girls. I'm really proud of all the them for sticking together. We had a lot of adversity and a lot of challenges that we've had to get through together.

Just for us to be able to stick together and to not separate or get down on ourselves after the end to the season that we had, I think to be able to end the Pac-12 tournament the way that we did, to just pick ourselves up, stick together, turn it around and come back out here and play a couple really good games in the tournament out here is awesome.

I couldn't have asked for anything more. I'm super proud of the girls for that. It says a lot about each and every one of them. They're going to have a really bright future at Oregon because of it.

Q. Coach said a couple times, made a point of saying he thinks this team has a championship makeup. What is he seeing that makes him say that from your perspective?

ERIN BOLEY: Yeah, it's a few things. I think a lot of it has to do with the fight that is in us. We didn't show it all of the time this year, but a few times we showed that as a unit we had a lot of fight in us. It takes a group that wants to be a unit, that wants to work together, that wants to play hard for each other. It takes a really special group of people to really lean on each other and great that championship atmosphere.

We definitely have the girls that have that potential. So, yeah, I'm really proud of the fight that we showed coming into this tournament especially. I think that really shows that we've got some fighters here, and that they could be a championship team in the future.

Q. Speaking of fighting, obviously despite losing Maddie and Nyara, you cut it to six in the first quarter, had three or four good looks making it even tighter than that. How close do you think you were to flipping it on them?

ERIN BOLEY: Yeah, we were close. It did feel like an uphill battle. We were really trying hard to just get stops and make something offensively. We couldn't just put the two together enough to close that gap.

But it did feel like we had a fighting chance there a few times, especially in the end of the third quarter, beginning of the fourth. But, yeah, credit to Louisville for playing a great game, for never letting up at that point. They went on a couple runs there, and it just got to the point where we couldn't close that gap.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.