NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL FINAL: TEXAS VS SOUTH CAROLINA

March 30, 2021

Kyra Lambert

Alamodome - Hemisfair

Texas Longhorns

Elite 8 Postgame Media Conference

South Carolina 62, Texas 34

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Kyra Lambert. We will open it up for questions.

Q. What was the mindset, what was the mood of the team after that first quarter? How hard was it to fall into that hole against a team like South Carolina?

KYRA LAMBERT: We haven't started well for the past two games. After the first quarter, we were just trying to regroup, get it together on the defensive end. Credit to South Carolina, I mean, they played a great ballgame, they guarded us like we like to guard. It just wasn't our night.

Q. I know this has to be disappointing for you, but you guys are kind of the foundation of Vic's whole program and what's to come. In that light, how satisfying is that? How long do you think it's going to take this program to get where they want to go?

KYRA LAMBERT: It won't take long at all. This is one of the biggest reasons I chose to come to Texas and play for Coach Schaefer and his staff. The one thing he told me that just stood out so much in my recruiting process was we're not going to wait to win. It's a new program, new culture, new everything, new players. We're exactly where we wanted to be.

Nobody picked us, nobody chose us, nobody thought we were going to be in this position; here we are in an Elite 8. New program, new coaching staff, new team, everything. So, no, it won't take this program long. This feeling that I'm feeling right now, this feeling that my team is feeling, the coaching staff, we'll remember this feeling.

I'm going to support them as I move on, but they'll remember this feeling, they're going to build off this, be better for it. Texas is being talked about right now.

Q. Because you guys are such a special group, can you share anything from the locker room? What did he tell you? What was his message?

KYRA LAMBERT: I mean, it wasn't our night. Credit to South Carolina. But also that this team is so special. We've done incredible things. If you saw us from when we started in July and August to now, it's night and day, completely night and day. We've grown a tremendous amount. Literally it's astronomical how much we've grown. We planted seeds early on, saw the results of those seeds here in March. We made it to March 30th. We made it to March 30th.

Again, it's such a privilege to be part of this program, this team, to have "Texas" across my chest. Such a privilege. Also God is so good, He's faithful. The season is tangible evidence of that. It's tangible evidence, so...

Q. Obviously it's a lot to process right now, but could you just kind of put into words the emotions of not just the last couple weeks but the year, going through COVID, the winter storm that we had, just everything that it took for y'all to get to this point.

KYRA LAMBERT: Absolutely. This year was challenging, to say the least, with COVID to, like you said, the ice storm, to not having fans at games. It was challenging.

But, I mean, it just shows the resilience of our team, the perseverance of our team, the ability to adapt and to change on the go. I mean, like I said earlier, this is a special team with a lot of people coming back. Again, this feeling that we're feeling right now, yeah, it's really tough. This is not how I pictured this to end. But at the same time we're so grateful, so grateful to be here, to be a part of this Texas program, so...

Q. Yes, God is good all the time.

KYRA LAMBERT: All the time God is good.

Q. That's exactly right. What were your conversations like in the locker room after the game? You guys had some special moments this season. It kind of ended on a little bit of a downer. What were your conversations like with Coach Schaefer and the girls that you're going to be leaving?

KYRA LAMBERT: Yeah, we just got done, so I haven't gotten to talk to my teammates individually yet. I came straight to media.

Coach Schaefer said he's extremely proud of me, proud of this team. Again, I'm so grateful to have been coached by him and his staff, to have grown so much. Like he forced me to grow. He forced me to change. That just shows how much he loved me because he didn't let me stay the same.

I'm forever grateful. I'm getting emotional. I'm forever grateful. Sorry. But, yeah, I mean, it's a lot of emotions processing right now. I'm so proud of this team. He's so proud of this team. I mean, we did special things.

Q. You can be emotional, it's okay. We get it. Is it even tough right now to put into words these last two weeks? Getting to do this in San Antonio has to be just amazing for you to finish off your career this way.

KYRA LAMBERT: I couldn't have written a better story. Like God is truly the greatest Author. To be able to do this not only with this special team, but to do it in my city, in my hometown, to play in front of actual fans, but not just fans but familiar faces, people that have been in my village since I started playing basketball. To be able to look up to them and see those faces, see the support, just the outpouring of love, it's indescribable. I'm so grateful, so thankful for it. I wouldn't be here without it.

Yeah, I love my city. I love my people. I love this team.

Q. As you and your teammates have said over the past couple weeks, y'all definitely did prove some people wrong. Did you prove yourselves wrong? Did this surprise any of you or is this what you expected the entire time?

KYRA LAMBERT: Yeah, like I said earlier, I couldn't have wrote this story. In August, if you would have told me this is where we would be, I'd have been like, Man, that's going to take a lot of work. We put in a lot of work to get here, and we're here.

I mean, this team worked extremely hard, extremely hard. The coaching staff has worked extremely hard to put us in this position. So much credit goes to them, just how great they are, how great they are to get us to this point, so...

Q. Thank you for being you and kind of being the spokesperson for this team. Really enjoyed talking with you throughout the season. But for the athletes that are staying back, what is your message to them? What is your message to them about carrying this torch forward, leading this program into the next stage?

KYRA LAMBERT: Yeah, well, first of all thank you. Thank you, all of y'all, for giving a voice to us, women's basketball. We really appreciate it.

My message to them is to remember this feeling. Let it drive you. I mean, I'm going to be there to support them 100%. But let this feeling drive you. Then also, you know, don't take any situation, any moment, any person for granted.

Great example, people that don't get a lot of credit but do everything for our credit, the managers, the support staff, the graduate assistants. Like there's so many. The student volunteers, the people who work our games. There's so many people have that a hand in our success. People see us on the court, but we wouldn't be there without them. They're here first and they leave last. I'm sorry. They're here first, they leave last. When I want to get in the gym at 8:00 at night, I call them up and they're there before I even get there.

But this program has so many special people. We don't take them for granted. I would just say any time you get a chance to tell somebody you love them, that you appreciate them, give them their flowers, give them their flowers and say it because that might just be that encouragement they need. They definitely deserve it. But we definitely wouldn't be where we are without them.

Q. Your former SID told me you were such a special person. I see why. What is next for Kyra Lambert right now?

KYRA LAMBERT: Tell Lindy I said thank you (smiling).

What's next? Honestly I haven't even thought that far. I told myself once this tournament started that I wasn't going to think about the next chapter until everything was over. I haven't processed it all yet. As y'all know, as y'all might know, I want to be a coach, but I also want to continue to play.

Honestly, I'm just praying about it, going to see where God takes me. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. If y'all have any suggestions, I'm all ears (laughter).

Thank you, everybody. I appreciate y'all.