MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 6, 2022

Stacie Terry-Hutson

Sophia Ramos

Asia Avinger

Mercedes Staples

Mallory Adams

Thomas & Mack Center

San Diego State Aztecs

Postgame Press Conference

San Diego State - 65, Boise State - 56

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

STACIE TERRY-HUTSON: Really just excited for our young ladies to continue to play. March is such a special month. So we're excited that we get to lace them up tomorrow.

Boise is a really good team, gave us a hard-fought battle. We struggled with them at Boise with their post play and I thought we did a really good job trying to neutralize that strength. They're so good, so much taller than us. I'm really proud of our post players.

Mallory is up here. She's just a big guard. But our other post players did a really good job of trying to help in the paint. They really hurt us in the paint. So proud of how we defended. A lot of things we can work on still, we haven't played our best basketball yet, but really proud of the effort and the fight to get this victory tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. As your coach said, you guys defended really well from the three-point line. How do you think that affected your guys' outcome?

SOPHIA RAMOS: I think it allowed our posts to relax a little bit down there. It was a little bit more pressure for us guards, but we were practicing that the last two, three, four days, getting ready for them.

I think we did a great job neutralizing them so they had to go out from the three-point line more. So we did a great job.

Q. You guys jumped out to a 12-2 lead at the beginning. How do you think that affected the outcome as well?

ASIA AVINGER: I think by us starting aggressive from the beginning it set the tone for the rest of the game and everybody followed suit, so that's what helped us pull out the W.

Q. What was said at halftime? You guys went in with six points in the second quarter and then came out with 17 in the third. What changed there?

MERCEDES STAPLES: I think we just attacked more. We just came out with more energy and we knew that we needed to come out with a hard third quarter to kind of get rolling again. So I think that strong start to that third helped us a lot.

THE MODERATOR: Okay. Well, thank you, and we'll excuse the student-athletes and take questions for coach.

Q. I want to ask the same question. Going into halftime, what was like your mindset?

STACIE TERRY-HUTSON: Well, I was really disappointed how that second quarter went. I thought we defended okay. I think we gave up, what was that, 7 points, fouled at the end, which brought it to 10.

We defended well; however, we just, we have a tendency to do a little hero ball, in my opinion. I thought we were trying to get it back individually and that's not how we have been successful. So I thought in the second half we got out. We shared the ball a little bit. We were able to get down hill, finished at the rim.

I thought we were a little off balance when we were going in for some of those shots in the second half and not playing to our strengths. So they were gently reminded of what the game plan was offensively and we were able obviously in the second half to come out and perform a little better only the offensive end.

Q. Asia has played quite well against Boise both times this season. What is it about her game that makes it so difficult for Boise State to defend.

STACIE TERRY-HUTSON: Well, just as hard as it is for us match up with them, I think it's challenging to match up with us. They play a bigger brand of basketball. So they switched out on her sometimes and she's able to get down hill. So that was beneficial for us.

But it's just two different styles of play. She's such a competitor. She can get down hill. She can finish. She's proven that she can make the extra pass and how people are guarding her now is they're just kind of sagging off and making her hit jump shots.

And I thought she came out in the first half and hit a couple to make her respect her there. But once she can start shooting the three at a high rate she's going to be really tough to guard.

Q. Continue on that string here. I know that she missed last season with an injury, so is she playing even better than would you expect for someone who is a first year?

STACIE TERRY-HUTSON: We've been anxious for her to be on the court. I have to remind myself sometimes that she's still just a freshman. There's a lot of growth that has happened from when we started obviously in November to where we are now and we're continuing to help her grow.

But she's about where I thought she would be. She's a special kid and we rely heavily on her, not only on the offensive end, but also on the defensive end. She's guarding the best player the majority of the time. So she's just going to continue to get better. She continues to be able to make reads offensively and read that help side defender. She's going to be on another level then.

Again, I want to talk about, too, the people that she is surrounded by because they're able to knock down shots. We have four kids in double figures. That's my recruiting pitch. Every time someone comes on campus we're going to share the ball. We're going to have multiple people in double figures and that's how we're going to play. And it's really fun to see that come to fruition.

Q. Were you stressed during the game?

STACIE TERRY-HUTSON: I wasn't stressed, no, thank you. But I was anxious for us to play better.

Q. Where was your best shooting spot?

STACIE TERRY-HUTSON: I thought when Mallory hit that three, I think that put us over the hump when she hit that three in the corner. So that was a good shot for us.

THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you.