PAC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 2, 2022

Charli Turner Thorne

Jade Loville

Taya Hanson

Arizona State Sun Devils

Postgame Press Conference

Oregon State - 59, Arizona State - 54

COACH TURNER THORNE: Well, just a tough ending for us. We just really struggled to score down the stretch of the season. Just didn't make shots. And you've got to make shots, especially in March.

I love the way we fought today and gave ourselves, put ourselves right back in a position to win. And we almost made some plays. And that was kind of the story at the end of our year almost.

But really appreciate this team and all that they gave us. And they have a lot of good lessons learned.

Q. Was there something that Oregon State did defensively especially there in the first half, or was it just more of open shots not going?

COACH TURNER THORNE: Well, it was open shots not going and us just kind of rushing. We definitely got good looks and missed. Everybody saw that. But we also kind of forced things early, got blocked a little bit. Kind of drove into some closed spaces, and we needed to be a little bit more patient.

Q. You were down 17 in the fourth quarter. What did you say to your players, Coach, at that point? And how did you get back into the game and make a game of it?

COACH TURNER THORNE: They're fighters. Really, we didn't have the energy to press all game, but we pressed the fourth quarter and that kind of showed up pretty well. And we also hit some shots; amazing.

But they believed. We've been down and we fought back and won some big games. So they knew they could cover the spread. And so I'm proud of them for that and believing. And we needed to definitely create some offense off our defense and we finally did in the fourth quarter.

Q. Taya and Jade, could you talk about the energy you had in that fourth quarter burst, looks like you might have take it over the top there.

TAYA HANSON: We wanted to win that game. And we knew what it would take our defense being aggressive on the ball and, like Coach said, hitting shots. We truly did believe, that's all it took to come together and just bring the energy that we needed to get ourselves back in that game.

JADE LOVILLE: Taya pretty much wrapped it up. We definitely did believe that we still had a lot of time on the clock. It was either fight to the best our ability or roll over. And we definitely didn't want to roll over in that game.

Q. You were down by 18 and cut the lead by two. How proud of you of your team, their fight and willingness to keep going?

COACH TURNER THORNE: I'm proud of this team even without that. It's been a tough two years with COVID and our three-week pause. You see how many players we've had injured and not in the lineup. It was nice to Izzy get to play a game today. She barely got to practice.

It's been a hard year with a lot of adversity and setbacks. And I'm proud of this team, just continuing to stay with things and grow and learn. We're a newer team, a younger team. Taya is the only player on my roster -- well, Jayde Van Hyfte, but she got hurt -- that's played on our team for more than a full season. So, there was a lot of newness. I was really proud of them, that's for sure.

Q. How would you describe this just crazy season that you've been through with all the injuries and the COVID and the plane and all that stuff?

TAYA HANSON: Crazy, to put it simple.

COACH TURNER THORNE: And it's just basketball's rhythm and rituals and routines. We didn't really have that. All the things we normally do to prepare and add wrinkles and develop players, because we're really good at developing our players -- I don't feel we really got to do that this year like the way we normally do.

And it hurt us for sure. So not to make excuses, but it was real. Until you've coached a season through a pandemic and everything else, it's challenging.

Q. Jade, you were 0-for-14 and made some shots after that. What's that mentality to keep shooting, keep looking for a good shot and knowing that your team needs you to score?

JADE LOVILLE: It happens. There's nights where the shot just doesn't fall. I knew that my coaches still believed in me, my teammates still believed in me. I still wanted to take those shots and still shoot them confidently.

I wish I could have made more some shots for my team, especially in the first half. But, yeah, shooters still gotta keep shooting. And I did what I could.

Q. Charli, these games, since the Washington trip, they've all been very similar. You're holding teams around 60. But the shooting's not good, and you can't get enough offensive consistency to win games. Can you pinpoint any of that, or is it just that's kind of what your team is right now?

COACH TURNER THORNE: That's how we finished out the season. And, I mean, I think anybody that watches us sees that we force things. We don't make teams guard us. We have very good, talented players. We're very inpatient at times, and we don't read the space on the floor.

And we knew that; we knew we had a lot of empty possessions. We really wanted to come in today and be better. I don't think we were a whole lot better the first half. But we did get good looks, too, and just missed, like Love said.

But that's been the story. And we've just been a little slow to kind of adapt to that at times.

But, you know, watching all this other basketball, and most of the teams are shooting quick. Like everybody's tired; I'm open, I'm going to shoot it. And we needed to make that adjustment a little bit better than probably we did.

Q. There's talk that the NIT might change their .500 rule. If so, do you guys want to play? Do you think you could make a run? It's been such a weird year. It seems like anything could happen in the postseason.

COACH TURNER THORNE: I don't know. Good question. I don't know. Probably have to huddle on that.

TAYA HANSON: I love basketball. I'll ride with this team for however long.

JADE LOVILLE: What she said.