NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - GONZAGA VS NEBRASKA

March 17, 2022

Lisa Fortier

Abby O'Connor

Cierra Walker

Gonzaga Bulldogs

Media Conference

Q. What have you learned about Nebraska?

ABBY O'CONNOR: They're definitely a very good team. We're super excited. They have some shooters, big-time post players, so we're definitely going to have to fly around. But I think our defense is ready and we'll get ready today, and yeah, we're excited for the matchup.

CIERRA WALKER: Yeah, they like to push in transition. They're a good rebounding team. Like Abby said, they're a good overall team. I think it'll be a good matchup, and I'm excited to play them.

Q. Kind of a clash of styles between you and the Cornhuskers. They're a really talented offensive team and I know you guys pride yourselves on defense. Does that change your approach versus maybe going against a team that also likes to play lockdown defense?

CIERRA WALKER: I don't think it really changes our approach. I think it just forces us to take care of the ball, value every possession, whether that be offensively or defensively. Defensively knowing personnel, know who you're guarding, knowing who you're rotating to. And then offensively doing what we do, each day run our stuff, get good possessions, good shots, and just go from there.

ABBY O'CONNOR: Yeah, I think we prepare every game defensively for the match-ups, so I think we'll definitely still be locked in like always on that and then do what we do on offense. Yeah, nothing really changes.

Q. For either player, they have a very talented guard, Jaz Shelley, who does a lot of everything, very versatile player. How do you control somebody and limit somebody like that who can do so many things?

ABBY O'CONNOR: Yeah, I think she is very good. She can score at multiple levels, and so just keying in on her, everyone needs to know where she is. But it takes all of us. I think that's what we've kind of done all year, guarded their best players for every team we've played together and doing it as a team, so that's definitely still our focus tomorrow. We'll stop her as a team of Zags.

CIERRA WALKER: I think Abby covered it. Just got to key in on her, know where she is at all times, whether that be in transition, in the half court, whatever it may be. Like Abby said, it's a team effort and working together as a unit to make sure that we can key in on her.

Q. Nebraska talked about how you guys are a balanced team on offense. Really don't have one player who's going to fill it up. You kind of all can score. Do you worry at all maybe under the lights of March Madness feeling a little bit of pressure and maybe someone might try and play out of their game a little bit and maybe force the issue a little bit?

ABBY O'CONNOR: No, I think that's what we do pride ourselves on. That's what we do best, playing together, sharing the ball. That's kind of the Zag way.

So I think we have a lot of veterans on our team, and I think we're all excited to just play our game.

CIERRA WALKER: Like Abby said, I do also think that we're a team that works together. I don't really think anybody is going to have the urge to really take over the game or try to do something out of their comfort zone or what they're not used to doing. I think we're going to play together, do what we do, do what we do each day in practice, in preparation, and just come together.

Q. There's a new logo behind you from last year. In the context of last year, you were both in Texas; how does this tournament feel different in terms of how you guys are being treated as human beings and female athletes?

CIERRA WALKER: Yeah, I just think it's awesome for us women to be able to see that. We work just as hard as the men do. We do the same things that the men's teams do. It's nice to be able to share the same logo and not have differences.

I think at the end of the day it comes down to the basketball piece and just going out and doing what we came here to do and play our game. But it is nice for me to be able to see the same logo and share the same thing as the men's team.

ABBY O'CONNOR: Yeah, I think, like Cierra said, it's cool to be here the first year, too, that things are changing and kind of being part of that is a cool experience. I think we're all just excited to be here. And yeah, like she said, we do the same things the guys do, so it's nice to be treated equally.

Q. Have you gotten your swag bags yet?

ABBY O'CONNOR: Not yet.

Q. When you look at your rebounding numbers, it's pretty impressive, over 10 rebounds per game as a margin, as a team. What does your coach do to make you guys such a great team rebounding unit?

CIERRA WALKER: Well, we do this thing called rebounding effort, and we get graded on it individually for each game. And I think that's really helped us take pride in taking care of business on the one-on-one check-outs, and if you have somebody who doesn't rebound, get in there and helping double whoever their big rebounder is.

I think we've prided ourselves on that every day in practice. We do drills to focus on rebounding, and then in the games, again, we just really focus on that. And if they're getting a lot of offensive rebounds, our coaches will come into time-outs or halftime and say that we've got to rebound better. That is a big focus for us.

ABBY O'CONNOR: Yeah, we do rebounding drills every day. It's a big focus of what we do. It's been an identity of our team and a lot of the teams in the past. That's kind of just what the Zags do. We rebound. Just a big focus. We love the rebounding drills, don't worry.

Q. Obviously this is a great way to end the season, especially if you can go on a deep run, but does it mean more to you guys with this being your final years?

ABBY O'CONNOR: Yeah, definitely. This is the last time for both of us, last time for me. I'm just excited to get to keep playing with these girls. It's been such a fun year, so excited to see what we do.

CIERRA WALKER: Also very excited to be here. Just excited to be able to finish out my actual last year at the NCAA Tournament, and again, like Abby had said earlier, being able to be the first year that we get to share the March Madness thing, too.

Q. Just wanted to ask you guys what you learned from the experience last year. Obviously that was just a highly emotional game afterwards. Jill was absolutely despondent on the media interviews. What did you learn from that experience and how are you taking that into this tournament?

ABBY O'CONNOR: Yeah, obviously for all the veterans, none of us forget what happened last year. We were obviously disappointed to have lost that one.

But I think for most of us, it's really just made us more focused, more ready to go. I think we will be really locked in. We're very excited about the Nebraska matchup, but I think just being super focused on the task at hand is what we're keyed in on it.

CIERRA WALKER: Yeah, I think it really shows that putting an emphasis on even the smallest things. A throw-away possession you can't have those, not in the NCAA Tournament because it's a one-and-done, and this is really crunch time and everything really matters. Missing that box-out, they get an offensive rebound, they get two points. Even just the small things show that it really matters.

LISA FORTIER: They did a good job of not saying anything that was going to get on anyone's white board, so that's good.

We're excited to be here. I listened to all the questions that you guys asked about the March Madness and what this year is like. Those guys are sixth and fifth-year seniors, so I think this is an interesting NCAA Tournament because you have a lot of people in their same situation who are getting their last ticket in or hoping for something that's more traditional and exciting experience with fans in the stands.

I think it's been an enhanced experience with what the NCAA has committed to or at least we've been told, and so far from what we've seen, it's hard to compare based on last year because last year was so different. It's not like there's weight rooms at the gyms and things like that.

But as far as the matchup goes, I think every draw is tough, and you can find the positives and the areas you can be strong and you can look at what the areas are that you're going to need to have extra focus. And that's what every year it is.

I think it's no different this year. Nebraska is a really good team who I think we have areas where we can be strong and areas where if we don't maintain focus, we're going to struggle. But we're excited to be here and looking forward to seeing how our team responds tomorrow.

Q. I asked the players this same question. Jaz Shelley is obviously an outstanding player for Nebraska. How do you deal with somebody that can drive, shoot, and do just about everything?

LISA FORTIER: Yeah, Paisley Johnson Harding, Shaylee Gonzales, those are the ones we've played most recently who have been able to do a little bit of all of it.

It's just everything that we do, and you're more familiar with this than some of the other people in the room. The only way I really know how to do it is to do it together, and that's been a recipe for success for us. Based on my coaching staff, I need their help coming up with the plans. I'm not the master mind. We do it together. We've got good defenders on our team, but none of them are probably best if they're just going one-on-one with a player.

I think that what they said is true, we do it together, so you have to make sure that you're positioned properly, you have to know where she is to start with, you have to slow her down in transition because she will not stop if you don't stop her. She's really good at change of pace and just kind of keeping the ball alive and finishing around the rim.

Obviously if you lose her, then she's a very capable three-point shooter. She's a good rebounder. She's a tough player to defend.

I think that we would be doing ourselves a disservice if we left anyone out on an island and expected them to do it alone.

Awareness, locating her early, and then positioning properly around her so that they have help if they so need it is the best way we know how to stop her, or try. Slow her down, I should say.

Q. Both the players mentioned that they didn't think anyone was going to try and play outside of themselves and put up a 30-point game, and kind of stick to what you guys have done all season. Is that something that you gave them as a message or something that was kind of understood within the team?

LISA FORTIER: Well, I don't know if I have the same confidence as they do in that one in particular. But that is certainly what we talk about a lot. We talk about that we're better when we're moving the ball. Whoever mentioned that Nebraska had said that we're balanced, and we are balanced, and we didn't have a single player of the week in our conference because we never had anybody score enough points, I guess. I don't know how they choose it.

That's because we share the ball and work together when we're at our best. I think in the times where we struggle is when we deviate from that a little bit, and that's certainly not in the game plan. I think we're definitely best when we're letting it come to us, we're finding our open teammates. If we draw help, great, if we can go one-on-one against a matchup, then great. But we're designed for team play.

I hope that they're right. I just am a coach; I'm paranoid about everybody, right?

Q. I've been trying to find a difference in your wonderful twin guards. I'm wondering how long did it take you to be able to tell the difference between this one may be a better three-point shooter in these situations or this one may handle a pass better because they just seem to both have such a tremendous skill set. Are they really that identical on the floor, or what really are the differences?

LISA FORTIER: Yeah, I mean, they're -- those suckers showed up in the same jersey yesterday and tried to convince me that one was the other one. They're juniors. I know the difference. Jill Townsend, she was a little sketchy. Payton might not know the difference, but I know the difference. When we recruited them, it was tough to tell. And we've had twins on our team before. So sometimes they -- each make two or three threes and you're like, holy smokes. They can't miss. And you're like actually they each just had two or three, right? It's nice.

Or same thing happens negatively with turnovers. If they each with two or three turnovers, you're like, gosh, whatever -- the ball is just flying everywhere. That part sometimes happens.

But they are different. Kayleigh is a little bit more physical. She's a little bit more, I would say, aggressive in traditional ways. Kaylynne is probably a little bit more of a comfortable shooter. I think they're both really good passers. 'Leigh does some things defensively that 'Lynne doesn't do. So they are different.

There are certain parts of the game where I'm like, let's put your sister in that position for that one and let's put you in your position, because there are differences. But they're talented. They're really good offensive players. They're great in ball screens. They have vision that's not easy to teach. It's something that they have either developed long before they ever were Zags and we're just trying to help put them in position, or worked hard at or just been gifted with the way they can pass the ball and see the floor. They're fun.

It's nice as they've gotten older, we've had an opportunity to have them on the floor more together. In the early years -- and this happened with Worth twins, too -- it's just they're same position kind of. So it's tough to -- whatever one shows up a little bit more or a little bit earlier in practice and improves themselves gets a little bit more time. As they get older, a little more time on the floor, I think it's an asset to our team because they certainly work well together and complement each other as well as they complement the rest of the team.

Q. Nebraska players and their coach talked a lot about how tough their conference is, and I know you've always stood up for the WCC, but playing tough games day in, day out, is that tough on you or does that wear you down a little bit?

LISA FORTIER: I mean, I think it probably can do either, depending on the circumstances. We talked about the rebounding numbers. I know someone has already commented on those and they're also a really good rebounding team.

They've done it against teams that are traditionally bigger, stronger, so I think that some of the stats, you look at in a different way and you think, okay, well, it's one thing to rebound against these players -- which again I think we have good players in our conference, I think we have good teams and good coaches. I know that they're not nationally as respected as the teams that Nebraska plays every single conference game, but I think that there is a difference.

I think that it probably, like I said, does a little of whatever your coach and your team or however your coach and your team respond. If you play Stanford a second time and by choice and it doesn't go well, you can either lose your confidence going into the rest of your conference play or you can use that as a positive.

I know that their coach is smart, and obviously they've had some adversity, as well, throughout this year, and I think they've used it as a positive for them. I think that that night in and night out thing seems to have helped, and we'll just have to see if we can come up with something that will, like I said, slow it down, stop it, counter it, in a way that's favorable to us.

Q. Everybody has talked about how balanced you are. I like watching on film. Ejim when she comes into the game, she seems to give you guys a spark. She looks to me like she could start for a lot of teams -- at Nebraska and the teams that Nebraska plays. Has she embraced the role you've asked her to do? Do you ask her to do certain things when she comes in? What do you ask her to do and how has she embraced that role?

LISA FORTIER: Yeah, well, we've had a lot of really successful interior players, and it seems like they all go through this -- we're graduating one every year or two every year. When Mel was a freshman her role was just to rebound and run. And now Vonni comes in and she's supposed to give us energy, she can really guard anybody. She can take most people off the dribble.

So she's supposed to just give us whatever spark is necessary by way of rebounding, running the floor, guarding. And she kind of gets to be -- there's a Batman and Robin kind of thing and then they move over to become Batman, it seems like the next year. So it's a nice year for her to experience more playing time. Last year she barely played for us. And so get some playing time, get her feet wet, because both an Ana and Mel are set to graduate and then it'll be Vonni's turn to fulfill that role.

I think she's embraced it well. I know it seems like the media and a lot of the fans talk about more the fact that we have her and Lynne coming off the bench than we do within our program. We haven't talked a lot about you should or shouldn't be doing whatever, it's what's best for our team.

There's been many years where we've started players who maybe averaged less points or less rebounds because it fit that group as well as we could. And I think it's a huge asset to us that we get to bring Vonni and Lynne in off the bench where they're certainly starter caliber, and we just always say we've got seven starters really on our team. One more, but those guys are decisively the sixth and seventh player.

Q. You just sparked another question for me in terms of Anamaria had a great two games in Vegas. If she's able to keep riding that wave, how much does that help your team out throughout this tournament?

LISA FORTIER: Well, I mean, it's a huge asset. The more players you can have who are playing well, the more weapons you can have out there on the floor, I think the more people you have to worry about as an opponent, that's good for our team.

Ana is playing really well right now. She's been traditionally for us more of a rebounder and a post defender, so she averages I think four or five points or something like that, so her baskets are sometimes critical in the close games, and I think this time of year they're all close, and all those points matter and all those rebounds matter.

I'm really glad that she's been playing so well. Happy for her, but also I think it makes our team better.

Q. I already asked Abby and Cierra about this and I'm assuming you heard it. Do you talk about last year's game at all with this team or do you kind of move on? What do you take from that?

LISA FORTIER: Very little. I think that there's something to be learned, but at the same time I don't want them playing scared or worried about that. We didn't talk very much about the BYU game at BYU, either, which was the season low point, honestly. It was probably our poorest -- definitely our poorest outing. We were out of sorts. We didn't look like ourselves.

I think there's some stuff to be learned from that subtly, but at the same time your mind is important, and we don't overdo it. We haven't yet. I think the players are thinking about it and talking about it more than we are, and we know that. So I think our focus is on Nebraska and not on what happened last year. It's a different team, different situation.

But I do know that they want to perform as well as we can, and I think last year in that game we didn't get to the extra. When things got rough, we didn't respond well, so hopefully if -- not if, when -- basketball is a game of runs, so when tomorrow doesn't go our way for a few possessions in a row, hopefully we'll have a better response than we did last year.