ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 4, 2022

Nell Fortner

Digna Strautmane

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Postgame Press Conference

Notre Dame 71, Georgia Tech 53

NELL FORTNER: Just a disappointing loss for us. We just really struggled tonight defensively, and we're normally a pretty good defensive team, but tonight we just weren't mentally locked in, and it just hurt us, to go along with not shooting the ball very well.

It was a double whammy in that regard.

I thought Digna here really shot the ball well from the three, and I wish we could have got her a few more looks.

Yeah, just a tough night, and congratulations to Notre Dame. I thought they played really well. They shot the ball really well, so they got them a good win.

Q. Coach, it seemed like a game where you had a punch and Notre Dame always had an answer. Is there something that you can kind of pinpoint as to what led to that, and how can you work on that?

NELL FORTNER: Well, if you have an answer, tell me.

I'm just playing.

Look, Notre Dame played really well. I mean, anytime you shoot the ball over 50 percent, everybody is just feeding off of everybody, and we just didn't do a good enough job defensively to make a difference. Gave them too many wide-open looks, too many easy looks at the basket, and we had a lot of missed defensive assignments.

We just weren't mentally locked in, and that's something that we just can't afford to have happen.

We'll go back and work on that as we continue on.

Q. Coach, it seemed like Miles kind of controlled the game for them from the point guard position. What makes her so challenging for an opposing defense?

NELL FORTNER: Yeah, Miles is a competitive, gritty kid and really -- she's just tough. She's a tough kid. The hard thing for Maj this year is she's been playing out of position. She's a 2 guard having to play the point. It's just really appreciated by us as a staff because we need her there this year, but it has taken away from her ability to really be available to score more, and so that's taken a toll on her a little bit at this point in the season.

She on the whole has had a pretty good year playing out of position.

Q. I was wondering if Lorela is 100 percent after yesterday, and for both of you, how did the disjointed game yesterday affect today if it did?

NELL FORTNER: Yeah, I think Lo was ready to play tonight. The size of Notre Dame is tough to deal with. Dodson is a phenomenal athlete with great length, so she can be five feet behind a play and still affect your shot. So you have to -- she's just hard to deal with.

Lo is a tough player, but anytime you take a hit like she did and what the result of it, I think she did her best to come back and help this team tonight.

But I think that we saw some of the effects of that with her game tonight.

Q. I was wondering what went into her being able to play today and at what point did you know she'd be available and could start?

NELL FORTNER: Yeah, we pretty much knew last night. All the protocols and everything made her available. Again, she's just a tough kid. It's like you tweak something and you can still play. She's just tough.

Q. Digna, from a player's perspective, obviously the last few weeks have been tough for you guys here and there, but it seems like you guys are continuing to figure things out. Where can you guys go from here with you guys still having some basketball ahead of you?

DIGNA STRAUTMANE: I mean, yeah, the season is not over for us. We're going to work hard in practices, and nobody is relaxing or starting to rest now. We are thinking about the next games. We're going to prepare and we're going to be more ready to go.

I mean, yeah, this is just -- it really is, like Coach said, disappointing to lose a game like this, especially when you know you didn't put everything that we got out there.

We will get better and come -- like just play harder next games.

Q. What's going to be the focus for you guys these next 10 days or so heading into Selection Sunday?

NELL FORTNER: Yeah, we've got to get back to our fundamentals of -- first of all, we need rest, so there will be some rest in there. But we've got to get back to being the team that we were at the beginning of the season, and that is really locked in defensively.

We were always able to stay in ballgames until the end because of our defense.

I mean, it is what it is. The season takes a toll on you, and we've had to play kids a lot of minutes, and it takes a toll not only physically but mentally.

I think we're seeing a little bit of some effects of that, so we'll get some rest, but then we'll get back to really zeroing back in on who we are as a defensive team and really trying to pinpoint areas where we can score better and more consistently.