ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2022

Jen Hoover

Olivia Summiel

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Postgame Press Conference

Georgia Tech 45, Wake Forest 40

JEN HOOVER: This is a night I do not like, but I still can't say enough about what this team has been through just in the last week. It seemed like every day we got up, I got a text from our trainer, such-and-such is out, such-and-such has got this. I'm getting to where -- we think we may have a blood clot, we need an MRI, to Christina Morra throwing up all night long. It didn't matter, these kids still came out and fought and gave me absolutely everything they had.

I love these kids. They just stepped up. Look at Malaya Cowles and Demeara Hinds came in and Demeara who came in on a crutch yesterday. Played her heart out for me.

Super disappointed in the outcome. I thought it was a game -- we came in, and obviously struggled in the first half to score the basketball and really struggled throughout the game to shoot the ball, but I thought we got some good looks, and I thought we really battled and we really fought.

Q. Jen, what's the status of Jewel Spear? She definitely didn't seem like herself. She missed a lot of the second quarter. What percentage is she right now?

JEN HOOVER: Well, I could say that about a lot of them. Now that we're not playing anymore, this one has got a broken wrist and has been playing with a broken wrist. Jewel, we don't know the status. There was no X-rays taken yet. I would imagine tomorrow morning there probably will be. She's got a problem with something in her foot. It's been aggravating her for a few days. Really, really did not feel well with it at all today, and just -- there's no quit in any of these kids.

This kid, they told her it would be four to six weeks in a cast, it happened in the Virginia game, and she told them, I'm not doing that. She got them down to a week. I wasn't even involved other than to tell her it's up to her, and she's been playing with it and getting it hit and falling on it, and shooting a three like she does with it, and Jewel is the same way.

Christina tried today. They took her and gave her IVs, took her back to campus. She came back to the hotel, laid down to try to take a nap, was all I'm going to play, and when she woke up, that just was not going to happen.

It's just one of those -- we're a little banged up. I just told them, you think about postseason, we want to play. We want to play as long as we can, but I don't know how many healthy kids I have if I get the opportunity to, but I also want to give them that opportunity.

Q. Jen, despite all the physical problems, shooting like 18 percent from the field at one point, you found yourself like tied in this game. Did it ever seem like you were right there, right there, and just couldn't quite get over the hump?

JEN HOOVER: Yeah, I really thought when we were able to tie it up and even get close, I was like, we're going to do this. We got out-rebounded by them by 18 at home on Sunday and lost the game in what was really a one-possession game until we had to foul and put them on the free-throw line. We really felt if we'd only got out-rebounded by 12 in that game, we'd have won it.

We came in thinking we know what we've got to do, we know the challenges they present. Obviously they're huge and they're one of the most experienced teams in our league, and we are one of the youngest teams in our league.

But we came in, and I thought we came in and we were getting after them a little bit. Some easy shots just didn't fall early, and I think you get a little anxious there, and I think that hurt us.

We couldn't get to the free-throw line early. That really hurt us, because when you're not making shots, you've got to see the ball go through the rim. So if you can get to the free-throw line and you can see it go through the rim, you get a little confidence back.

I just think that was a tough thing for us to overcome in the end.

But we really locked it down. I told them we put a glove on them in the second quarter and held them to four points in the second quarter, and we did what it took to put us in a position to win the game.

I thought we tried and we got some good looks even in the late game execution, and the ball just didn't bounce our way tonight.

Q. Olivia, can you walk me through what it's like playing in the middle with all that size you're playing against and also knowing you don't have Christina there with you, too? What was going through your mind and how were you able to put together the performance you did tonight?

OLIVIA SUMMIEL: Yeah, it was tough when we found out when weren't going to have Christina. She's been playing so well, been a double-double machine for us, so that was definitely tough to hear. But definitely confident in my teammates coming off the bench. Demeara, she's been a big presence for down in the post. She's so physical, and a lot of post players don't love that, so we were really excited to have her match up.

And then Malaya came off the bench. I love feeding her the ball because she has such sweet feet. We call her Sweet Feet. She's so quick on her feet. But yeah, really just confident in our teammates coming off the bench.

I thought we handled ourselves. We were proud of the work we were doing on the boards in the first half.

Obviously it's tough when you lose your starting five player, but they also lost their starting five player, so it's kind of a next-man-up mentality. We talked about that in the locker room. Tough one, but I thought we responded.

Q. Coach, your zone seemed to give Georgia Tech fits and really forcing all those turnovers kept you all in the game. What did you like about what you were able to get out of that zone look and what it created for you?

JEN HOOVER: Yeah, we came in thinking we were going to have to play it really, to be honest, because we played last night and they didn't. And we felt like energy-wise, we weren't sure we were going to be able to chase them around for as long as we needed to. So we came in with a plan to play it.

I will tell you when Cubaj is on the floor, it's really hard to play zone because she is a phenomenal passer. And so we were able to play it even more with what happened to her, and I hope she'll be fine and be able to play again before this tournament is over, play again tomorrow, whatever.

We came in and we really -- I think the shot that just kind of almost -- it didn't sink us, but was Lahtinen's three. The three she hit -- I don't know if the game was tied or we were down one, and we went under a screen which we were doing. And a senior, and I think she may be a COVID senior stepped up -- no, I think she's regular. Hit a big shot.

It's a stage where you expect your upperclassmen to step up and do that, and she didn't want to go home. They had a fallen teammate, too. Give her a lot of credit for hitting that. I thought we hit some big shots along the way too, but the zone I thought was -- we were very active in it. I thought we gave up a few too many open looks, but it's something we kind of came in thinking we were going to have to do to save our legs a little bit.

Q. Obviously you guys' defensive effort was phenomenal tonight. Obviously the absence of Spear, had to do something when you guys lost her. The hindrance of Spear, did it do something to you guys offensively. Can you speak to what they were doing offensively to make it tough on you guys on the offensive end?

JEN HOOVER: Well, one of the things, their defense is tough and gritty. They really -- they hang their hats on it. It's one of the top in the country, and it has been all year.

I think one of the things that's hard is when you're able to get to some downhill penetration, you're running into 6'5" Hermosa even when Cubaj wasn't out there. I thought our guards were trying to get to the rim and ran -- and even Digna Strautmane, I thought she played well defensively. She's long. So they're really long and they present some problems with their ability to switch.

I think they were able to switch 1 through 4. I know they switch a lot. A lot of people do that to keep this one here from getting open looks from the three. So I think they kind of force you to take some shots that you don't necessarily want to take, and I think on a night when we were a little bit fresher, maybe we make some of those shots.

I thought we dribbled the ball a little too much tonight. We didn't quite get the ball moving on the pass as well. And again, you've got to give them some credit for that. I'm sure they sat and watched our game last night, and that was a tough game. Like Virginia was uber physical with us, and that's a wear and tear on your body and your mind.

I thought they came out and also kind of really tried to stay between us and the basket, and then ball screens, they kind of mixed up some coverages and tried to keep your guards from going downhill.

I just didn't think we had enough creating of easy shots. We didn't get a lot of easy shots. You really kind of -- against Georgia Tech you've got to earn every shot you get, and I think usually on a good night we're going to knock down more of those shots when you look at some of our shooting percentages.

It's a tough one. It's a tough one to take. This team believed in getting another opportunity at Notre Dame because we did not play well against them the first time, and we're not going to get it.