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

March 18, 2022

Shauna Green

Jenna Giacone

Makira Cook

Dayton Flyers

Media Conference

Georgia 70, Dayton 54

SHAUNA GREEN: Just credit Georgia. They came out and I thought their size, the physicality, you know, disrupted a lot of what we were trying to do. You know, they out-rebounded us by 17 which we knew was key coming in. We had to be able to not beat them on the boards but at least be with them on the boards because their size cross the board was a concern. They are big and they did their job with 48.

We did a good job, really, taking care of the basketball. We won that battle. We lost the paint battle which is important to us. But you know, with that being aside, just so proud of our players, and for the season we've had, for the seniors and their career that they have had, with Jenna being here six years, we have a couple who have been here five years; the commitment and the investment to the program, I said it, I think in our first press conference.

With their COVID year, the seniors could have went anywhere in the country because they are really good players and they decided to come back and represent Dayton and play with their team, and I think that says a lot about Dayton and our culture, and more importantly, what these kids are made of. They came back and they had a goal to get to the NCAA Tournament and they got here.

This whole team, I told them in the locker room, obviously by the looks of my eyes, it was not a fun conversations, but just how proud I am, and it's about the journey, and this is a special, special group that we have been through so much. This entire team, they fought, they fought till the end and that's just who they are. So could not be more proud of this entire group and there just is, for me, they are going to hold a special place in my heart because they are an unbelievable group and I'm going to miss them, miss the seniors like crazy.

Q. I can see it in your eyes, but you guys had an amazing year. Can you take me through the emotions right now?

JENNA GIACONE: Yeah, I mean, obviously not the way we wanted today to go but kind of to reiterate everything that Coach Green said, I obviously made the choice to come back for my sixth year and had a whole list of goals. But making it to the tournament was one of them, getting a win, two, three was the next goal. We were able to prove ourselves the other night against a very good Big East school and then came up short tonight. Couldn't be more proud of the whole entire team for fighting and battling every single day this entire season.

I'll be able to reflect on the memories hopefully that couple days here, but just like I said, it's just couldn't be more proud of this entire team to be able to come out, battle, make it to the NCAA Tournament, respond from last year. It was just a great, fun senior official year for me. No regrets in terms of coming back or any decision I made with that.

Q. You had a huge offensive night but can you speak on how Georgia made things difficult for you guys both in the paint, and then also, scoring and penetration?

MAKIRA COOK: I feel like Georgia they were pretty handsy. They mucked it up a little bit on certain things. I feel like we just kind of had a -- ball didn't really fall to our favor tonight.

Q. Obviously with having Gassa out, it was huge for you guys. You had some issues inside the paint. How did you guys come into this game and knowing what you had to come out to win here?

JENNA GIACONE: Obviously losing T., not what we wanted to happen. We have the utmost confidence in the rest of our bigs. Mariah and Brynn, they came in and they battled. Very proud of both of them. They are both going to be coming back. That was huge minutes for them as players just to experience guarding Georgia bigs, and hopefully will just motivate them going to this off-season to season to work and get stronger so when they are in this position, because they will be a year from now, it's going to be a different result.

But yeah, like I said, obviously no one wants to lose T. and prayers to her for a quick recovery but I'm very proud of all the bigs and how they responded with that quick turnaround loss.

Q. Can you kind of take me into your emotions, getting yourself to this point and having the run that y'all had, and just being able to experience the NCAA Tournament?

MAKIRA COOK: Well, firstly, this has just been amazing. This was our goal as a team. It's been great to be able to play in this tournament and to win a game in it and to dominate in the game that we did play in it but mostly like my emotions right now, I'm just really happy that I got to play under the super seniors and the regular seniors that we had. It was just a really good time overall. They took us under their wing.

Coming in my class, it was five freshmen and we are all completely different girls, so like they had a lot on their plate. I feel like it was a great experience. I wouldn't have wanted to learn under anybody else.

Q. Six years, obviously a lot of experiences, but do you have a message to your coaches and your teammates, the support staff in just your time at Dayton?

JENNA GIACONE: Yeah, I can't say thank you enough obviously to my coaches and Coach Green and the support staff and Dayton administration and entire University of Dayton, City of Dayton, just being a girl from New York, didn't know what Dayton was when I was recruited from high school but fell in love with the place as soon as I set foot on campus.

Obviously the six years was ups and downs, battles, different battles every single day, year, six different teams, six different results. But looking back and reflecting, could not be more thankful to my decision to not only commit at Dayton but stay here all six years with the coaching staff that I had, Coach Green as my head coach, multiple assistant coaches all year and obviously tens of teammates, I don't even know how many there was.

But friendships and relationships with every single person that I crossed paths with at the University of Dayton and forever blessed and thankful for that.

Q. How does this serve as a launching point and how proud are you of how you guys got here to the tournament?

SHAUNA GREEN: Yeah, I told them, I could have sat in there for probably two hours and in a million different ways tell them how much I love them, how proud I am of them, how much I'm going to miss them but they don't want to hear that and I would have been crying the whole time. I said I've been coaching them almost 20 years, every year is a journey, every year is different coaches, support staff, players, and this is just a special group. I think it's because of all the stuff we've been through.

So when you've been through a lot together and a lot of adversity and a lot of people may not know a lot of stuff we've been through and they just believed it. They believed and they were committed and never wavered in anything. I said this year, really we had no drama. It was just fun. They are a fun group to be around, and they were so focused on the goal and the task at hand. Every time that we had a rough game and we lost, we would bounce back and go on a streak. We only lost six. So just incredibly proud to have coached them and what they have done on this journey, this team together.

Q. In the third, you had a chance to cut it to six; how crucial was that?

SHAUNA GREEN: We went on a little run there, and you're right, that was big. We missed the layup and then they ran out. We went a little too early on the play. But again, that's -- the ball was in a sophomore's hand and she's going to learn from that. It was in Makira's hand and she did everything she was supposed to do, and the ball happened to land to Georgia and they got a runout and that's part of the game. The ball bounces your ways some days and some days it doesn't.

They kept fighting and came out strong. It was back and forth. Really it came down to, they shoot 30 free throws, they shot four. They only made one more field goal than us, and you know, free throws, and rebounds were the name of the game in this. We fouled too much and we didn't do a good enough job boxing out which we've hung our hat on all year.

Q. With gas out, everything she did for you guys the other night, huge, what was the timetable that she would be able to go and how did Georgia's advantage on the inside change with her out?

SHAUNA GREEN: The great thing about this team is we had multiple bigs. It wasn't like we lost T. and had to go with a 6-1 or 6-0. We had a freshman because she's playing behind T. And Mariah. And I thought Brynn, she played very well and she got shots that she makes every day in practice.

So it will be good minutes for those two but obviously without T. in the floor it's a huge difference and especially when you're going up against a team that's playing 6-5 and then are another 6-4, 6-5, probably couldn't have been a worse game to not have T. but that's life, right. Like I told our team, that's life. Is it fair, is it -- is it disappointing? Is it unfortunate? It's everything. It's everything. But it is life.

And I'm proud of Mariah and Brynn and they gave everything they could give and you know if we had T., yeah, it would have been a little nicer to have a 6-6 body out there. Again, nothing -- you can't do anything about it.

Q. How did Georgia's defense take you guys make it hard offensively?

SHAUNA GREEN: Yeah, I think just like I said, they get up and press you, and the physicality of their length, it's little bit different. But I also thought we had some clean looks and we didn't make some of those and the other night we made them. When the ball goes in it's a little bit different. Some of them were tough shots but then some of them, we had clean looks and we didn't hit. So you know, I just think the physicality and the length did bother us some.

Q. Hollingshead, how did she make it difficult back there?

SHAUNA GREEN: You're right on that because she hasn't played. Scout, she hasn't played, we don't know if she'll be available. Again it's one of those just unfortunate things. Our T. was not available and then she gets healthy.

And now you have two big kids when we are a little bit undersized and not as experienced. And I mean, give her credit because I don't know what was wrong with her or injury or whatever but she came in and she played extremely well, 15 points, seven of 13 shooting in 14 minutes. She was very efficient in her minutes.

Q. As these seniors move into the next chapter of their careers what is your message to them and what do you hope they take away from their time at Dayton?

SHAUNA GREEN: I told them in there, I want them to take away just everything that we preach every day and that's to do things the right way, work as hard as you possibly can work, treat people the right way. It's very simple. If you work hard, you treat people right. You look in the mirror when you make mistakes and you just keep working and get better every single day.

You know, usually you're going to have success and that's what this group has done. I don't have -- I never had to worry about them. I knew they were committed. I knew they were workers. They are just good people.

And when you have those characteristics, they are going to be so successful, and I think they have learned how to deal with adversity. They have learned how to bounce back when things don't go their way. They have learned how to work together and be leaders because they have all grown in their leadership. There's so many things that they have grown in and just who they are that whatever any of those seniors do, all five of them, they are going to have just an extreme amount success. There's no doubt in my mind.