NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - GEORGIA TECH VS KANSAS

March 18, 2022

Nell Fortner

Digna Strautmane

Lotta-Maj Lahtinen

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Media Conference

Kansas 77, Georgia Tech 58

NELL FORTNER: Yeah, it's a really -- it's a disappointing loss. There's no question. It's a tough way to end your season.

You know, we just didn't have our best night. I think Kansas played -- I think they played really well, and they did what they wanted to do, and we couldn't stop it. We knew they were going to get paint points and they got a lot of them and we knew they were going to work hard to get to the free-throw line, and they did. It was just a tough night for us, and we wish them the best.

Q. Digna, you hit some really big buckets and for a while they were going to you in the second half. It's hard trying to come back, but it looks like you flourished pretty good there. Give me a general statement on that.

DIGNA STRAUTMANE: Yeah, I mean, I was trying to do the best I could offensively. Obviously there were so many things that I could have done better, but I think we were fighting. Our defense wasn't really working for us. I don't know what was going on. But we definitely didn't show our best performance. But yeah, I think -- yeah, it's really hard because these kind of losses, especially like the last game, yeah, I don't know really what else to say.

NELL FORTNER: I thought Digna played an extremely good game, competed hard, and I think what she's trying to say is normally we're a really good defensive team, we just weren't tonight. I thought she did really well and just competed really hard tonight.

DIGNA STRAUTMANE: Thank you, Coach.

Q. Maj, you got hurt there at the end, and Lo went down, too. Can you describe that moment, kind of crazy almost?

LOTTA-MAJ LAHTINEN: Yeah, I didn't even notice Lo go down. I was shooting a three and then I just stepped on someone's foot. Yeah, at that point I was just trying to win. I'm not really sure what happened in all that little moment right there. But yeah, I think -- I don't know, it was like a hustle moment, and I guess two players went down, but that was at the end of the game. We should have played better the 38 minutes before that, too.

Q. I know you have four people who are seniors or above, including the two of you. Can you tell us about your senior class and what it was like playing with that group of four?

LOTTA-MAJ LAHTINEN: Yeah. I mean, one of the best teams I've ever played in chemistry-wise. My best friends are in this team. We all have like a really big will to win, every single one in this team, especially -- from the freshmen to the seniors to the super seniors. I think this season has been different for us in many ways, but I mean, I'm really proud of every one of my teammates. And obviously with this group of girls, I would have wanted it to end differently this season, but it ended like this, and looking at the whole picture, I'm just super proud of everyone in this team.

So yeah, it's emotional.

DIGNA STRAUTMANE: Yeah, like obviously this is my first year here and last, but the girls and Coach, everybody is just very accepting and understanding for everything. Obviously I had to learn a lot and stuff, and everybody was just coming and pushing me to be the best version of myself. I just say thank you to everybody, all the staff members, everybody on this team, because it was just a really good experience. Thank you, Georgia Tech fans, everybody.

Q. It went a few different ways there, you got 10-0 at the start and then you went on a 12-0 run and then you couldn't get that big run and you couldn't get the key stops. Is that what you saw?

NELL FORTNER: Yeah, our defense really let us down tonight. Like I said earlier, it's one of the things we've really been able to rely on and it's been our calling card pretty much. Somewhere in the middle of the season it kind of got away from us, and we just couldn't quite get it back defensively, which is where we got our energy and our mojo and all that kind of stuff on the offensive end. Again tonight, I thought that first quarter was -- we did pretty good. We were up 22-13, so up nine going into the second quarter, but Maj got in foul trouble. So she's off the floor, what, six, seven minutes in the second quarter and that was really costly for us because we just don't have anybody that really leads us the way that she does on the court. So we had to go with some different people running that, and it didn't work out well for us tonight. We've done it before, and it's maybe a different outcome, but not tonight. It starts there for us on the defensive end. It just wasn't a good one for us.

Q. It looked like their quickness was a little factor, too. Was it a factor, their quickness?

NELL FORTNER: Yeah, we were concerned about it going into the game because they like to really get downhill and get to the paint. Yeah, it was definitely a concern. I thought we were okay with it early on and then it just got away from us because they were really -- they ended up with 46 points in the paint, so that was -- perimeter players and post players, we just didn't defend well. We just weren't tough enough really in there tonight in that way. Yeah, can't win ballgames like that. We can't, giving up that many points. Normally we're used to keeping it in the 50s, and we just didn't do that tonight.

Q. Would you say you are a blend of youth and experience on this club?

NELL FORTNER: We had some good experienced players with Lorela Cubaj and Strautmane and Lotta-Maj, but we were a little -- I'm not up here to make excuses at all. That's not it. But the season took a toll on us with injuries and we played with them and through them, but at some point in time it just kind of caught up with us. But man, these kids fought hard. They worked hard, they fought hard. They wanted to win and all that. We just didn't have enough in the tank tonight.

Q. What will be your memories of this team and this group?

NELL FORTNER: Oh, man, they're great kids. Just a bunch of really great kids that you enjoy to be around every day. The ones that we're losing, Cubaj, Lahtinen, Strautmane -- even though we just had her for a year, there might not be a nicer person on the planet, just a super nice kid, very competitive. They'll be playing pro ball whether it's overseas in the European league or maybe a couple of them will get an opportunity in the WNBA. But just really a pleasure to coach. I wish we could have gone a little bit farther with them for them to be able to have that experience like we did last year.