NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - SOUTH DAKOTA VS BAYLOR

March 20, 2022

Dawn Plitzuweit

Hannah Sjerven

Liv Korngable

South Dakota Coyotes

Media Conference

South Dakota 61, Baylor 47

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: First of all, I thought it was just a great atmosphere for women's basketball. So to all the fans, you know, our Coyote fans and the Baylor fans, I thought you made this a really special environment for the student-athletes to play in, so thank you for that.

What a great opponent that we faced and had certainly so many challenges, but I thought our young ladies played with an incredible amount of toughness.

Hannah started the game off with another three. I think we kind of smiled and relaxed because that was not necessarily the game plan, but it certainly worked out pretty well for us.

I thought our kids played really hard, played fearless, and made a lot of good things happen. So they have earned this, and now they have a chance to enjoy it.

Q. Liv, you came here with the goal to get one win and see what happened after that. Now you're going to the Sweet 16. I imagine it's going to take some time to set in, but right now the emotions you're feeling?

LIV KORNGABLE: Besides exhaustion, it's been a tough three days, but it's a joy. It was a great experience to play in this atmosphere.

And, yes, it's settling in that there is only 16 teams left playing in the tournament, so it's very cool.

Q. Hannah, clearly you guys came back hoping for this opportunity to be right where you are. Not just to get here, but to win like you are. Talk about the emotions and the feeling now, and just talk about that start you guys got off to, not only your three, but the 11-0 start.

HANNAH SJERVEN: I think that's just a testament to our preparation, whether that be for our starters or our bench players or the people that run scout for us, everyone came here with the mentality to prepare for each and every game one game at a time.

I think we did a really good job of that.

Q. Liv, you guys just always had an answer, never let them make a run. Is that characteristic of you guys? Is that something you just were able to do today?

LIV KORNGABLE: I think that's something that has taken us some time throughout the season to gain that chemistry and finding who has the hot hand or who has the mismatch.

I think that's something that as the season has gone on that we've been able to accomplish.

Q. Hannah, Dawn mentioned it, but identical as the other day, so when you guys got off to that run, what was going through your mind?

HANNAH SJERVEN: Just that this is fun and the game of basketball is as simple as five players going at another set of five players, and not to overthink it too much.

It was a fun game.

Q. For both of you, you guys have relied on your defense all season. It's been a strength of yours. But to come out tonight in the second round of the tournament and do what you do to one of the best offensive teams in the country, how did you do that? What was it that you put together?

LIV KORNGABLE: Baylor didn't make it easy for us. They made us squeeze out everything we had left and they were a great with offensive team.

I think just staying together and adapting throughout the tournament I think has been crucial for us, from our coaches giving us cues to work off, and then just kind of doing everything at a very high 100% level, not doing anything half-heartedly.

That's helped us defensively.

Q. Liv, there were stretches particularly in the second half you guys couldn't really get a basket to fall. You talked about that throughout the season, sometimes the energy spent on the defensive end. Was that the case tonight?

LIV KORNGABLE: In the fourth quarter it sure was. Maddie Krull had a huge and-one bucket for us around that midway point through the fourth quarter.

But, yeah, as long as we stuck to our defense, we took care of the ball, we put ourselves in a good position there, even though we weren't scoring.

Q. Hannah, NaLyssa Smith had ten points. Never got on a roll. What was the key slowing her down?

HANNAH SJERVEN: Just not letting her go one-on-one. When she goes one-on-one she's probably going to score and it's hard to defend her.

When we can help each other to guard her it's a lot easier.

Q. Liv, kind of building off that, in particular to single one player out the, Kyah's effort offensively was pretty incredible in this game and she was on Smith a lot of the night. Can you speak to what she brings to the floor when she's locked in like that?

LIV KORNGABLE: Kyah, she's very special defensively. I think this surprises people at times what she's capable of. She's really grown into her own expectations for herself and what she's capable of.

The past success she's had against great players, I think that -- those past successes really help her to gain confidence, instill in her that she can guard anyone.

Q. Congratulations on the win. For both Liv and Hannah, I wondered, you're the second 10 seed to make it to the Sweet 16, and you both mentioned this incredible atmosphere. Would we see even more upsets, and more mid-majors dancing deeper, if we played everything on neutral courts instead of at home?

HANNAH SJERVEN: You know, they had a lot of fans here tonight. Baylor's fans really showed out for them. I think I our fans traveling from South Dakota or Texas or wherever they came from really showed you up for us, too.

So to us, I don't know that it really felt like they had that many more fans than we did. They might have, but our fans were loud and that helped us.

LIV KORNGABLE: Yeah, I think as mid-majors, especially in South Dakota where there is no professional sports, we travel very well and we're very grateful for that.

Q. For both Hannah and Liv, for Baylor, this was their first home nonconference loss since 2014 when No. 1 UConn came in and beat them. Just curious, again with the game plan you prepared and then seeing it all the way through, what that means to both of you.

LIV KORNGABLE: Just a very special moment. You know, to grow up watching Baylor play at a high level and have continued to do so, and then to find some confidence in yourself of our abilities and what we can accomplish is very cool.

HANNAH SJERVEN: I would agree. As a post player, Baylor is known for having really talented and athletic girls inside, and for us to get this win means a lot.

Q. For both Liv and Hannah, your coach said that you all played with a fearlessness tonight. I thought that was pretty apparent from the jump. Where would you say that came from?

LIV KORNGABLE: I would say a lot of that comes from our coaching staff, and I would say our teammates as well.

But at the top of our tier, our coaching staff has instilled that fearlessness and to want the ball and to not do anything half-heartedly. I think that also comes from past players. Kyra Duffy was someone who I looked to who and was so fearless and didn't care if she made a mistake and just ran back on defense, got a stop, and cam back and threw up the next shot.

Just kind of pulling from coaches and players and each other, that's a big, big part of our fearlessness and confidence.

Q. Hi, ladies. This is for either one of you. You consider this game an upset, this win an upset?

LIV KORNGABLE: Well, yeah, 10 and a 2 seed, I would consider it an upset. But I think our nonconference schedule, we didn't see the success that we wanted, and those games really helped to prepare us for this moment and to realize how hard and how tough you have to be to play against Power 5 teams.

Q. Can you talk about your super seniors, the girls that came back? This is obviously what that he came back for.

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Well, it's so special to have the young ladies that we do, and for them to come back I think certainly speaks volumes of what they wanted to accomplish, and they obviously knew they needed all three of them together.

It's kind of tough for us because Monica Arens and Claudia Kunzer were kind in this class, too, but didn't have the opportunity to really come back with their nursing schedule in year five.

For them to get us, help us get to that point, it's certainly very special for those two as well.

I remember Liv talking to me at the beginning of the year and saying you meet with your team and you talk about -- or individual players, what you want to see, and Liv said, You know, I don't want to just play against good teams that are nonconference. We would like to get some wins in our nonconference.

Then when we were didn't get many wins early on in our nonconference, I just kept thinking, We just got to kind of hang tight. Thought now -- been thinking about it a lot the last couple days with the draw that we have to two Power 5s and for Liv to now be able to see, Okay, maybe it didn't come right away, but now we have a chance to do something really special.

Q. Dawn, Sweet 16; second Summit League team ever to do that. Has that part of it sunk in? Have you allowed yourself to think how special that part is?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Well, it's really tough, but it's really tough to get to that point. Obviously it's tough to win games at any point in time, but certainly I think our -- this group of young ladies, this is where we struggled early in this the season, our calling card has been our defense.

And, yes, we can score points at times; we didn't score very efficiently, but again, we used a lot of energy defensively.

And so for them to really stay the course is really, really special. And it's a great opportunity. I laughed, because when we were -- the second to last practice at our home arena Hannah said, Okay, this might be our last practice here or this is our last practice here. I said, No, Hannah, we come back, you know, and then we get to practice again.

She goes, Oh, really? I thought we stayed on the road, because that's what we did last year. She was like, Coach, we don't know.

So we laughed after the game, I said, Hannah, we get to go home and practice again. She said, See, I just didn't know. We didn't talk about those things.

So just a fun moment for these young ladies. Their leadership and toughness has been really special.

Q. Obviously Liv, Chloe, and Hannah have been premier summit league players for a while, but does a run like this prove that these are three of the best players in the country?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Well, they're incredibly talented, skilled, athletic; they can defend multiple positions. There were some possessions in the game where we had to switch some things up and kids were flying around and Chloe is guarding inside and Hannah is on the perimeter.

I'm thinking, They just kind of understand the big picture and they're athletic enough and tough enough to just try to find a way to make it difficult. So I think they are elite players. They're really special young ladies.

Q. What was the game plan against NaLyssa, and did it sort of work beyond your wildest imagination?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Well, our goal was obviously to make touches difficult for her, but you can't take them away from her because we can't front her and not give her opportunities, because they can just throw it over the top of us.

They kind of did that in the fourth quarter. Pretty much said, We're going to put three bigs out here and just get the ball inside and offensive rebound, and then they were running ball screens big to big. I'm thinking, This is unbelievable. They're so special.

And then they were locking us down at the same time. So not only size out there, but we couldn't get by them at times. And so I just think our goal with NaLyssa was to make it difficult for her to get scoring opportunities.

But that takes a lot of energy and we couldn't do it by fronting her, so we would have to find ways from different spots on the floor during the course of the game.

Q. You obviously give a lot of credit to your players, but what does this moment mean for you and your career?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Well, I think it means a lot for our program. I think it means a lot for our university. I think it means a lot for our women's basketball program and all the student-athletes -- now they're old ladies or older ladies that have built this.

It started in the Division II ear, and the great thing our alumni have been really, really special in terms of supporting us into the Division I era. And so it's just been -- it's a big moment for all of our -- everyone that's involved in our program. It's been really special.

Our daughter is playing in the Elite 8. She's she redshirted and doesn't get to play, but don't have a chance to see her play tomorrow, and I think she'll be okay with that. She'll understand that.

Got to find a way anyway. It's been a certainly very special moment for everyone involved in our program.

Q. Dawn, you guys became the eighth, record eighth double digit seed to win on the weekend to the women's NCAA tournament. What does it say to have so many double digit upsets in the first rounds of the women's tournament?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Well, I think certainly on this end we were very experienced. No doubt about that. We have super seniors. I don't know if they're called super freshman, redshirt, or COVID freshman, we but we have a very experienced group, and certainly that definitely helps at this point in time.

We had a very special team in 2020 that didn't have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament until -- I think all -- and that's young ladies were on that team at that point in time.

So for them to have the opportunity, it has been something that they've wanted and they've relished and they've certainly taken advantage of being in the moment for two games.

Q. Could you address Kyah's performance defensively tonight and just what a high-level player she is on that end of the floor.

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Yeah. Kyah is someone who obviously came out of Rapid City, Stevens, and I didn't understand what one of our fans was chanting when she was the free throw line at the end of the game saying, Let's go, Raiders. I kept looking back and I'm thinking, We're not the Raiders. Then I figured that was her high school mascot, so I thought that was pretty funny.

Okay, move on. We're in college now. Kyah is someone who I think is -- was someone we recruited with a lot of potential, and she has proven to have an awful a lot of toughness at the same time.

She has continued -- I think in this tournament, I really believe that Maddie Krull and Kyah Watson heading into the tournament really got better and were challenged because we needed them to get better. Grace Larkins, Allison Peplowski, those young ladies got some really valuable minutes.

Kyah has taken advantage of it. They all have, but Kyah has taken advantage of on both ends of the court.

Q. I saw you give Jason a big hug at the end of the game. Obviously this coaching staff has been building this for a while. What was at that moment like and what was going lieu your mind?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Well, it's pretty special. Our coaches put certainly a lot of time and effort into finding a way. We don't play defense like we have in the last two games typically. We do different things.

So we had to find ways and we had to come up with new words for new defensive looks, because, I don't know, we didn't know what we were doing. So just tried to look at different ways.

I think our coaches have done a tremendous job. Our coaches have been together for the most part for a while. Ariel joined us this year. She's someone I recruited many years -- not that many years ago, and she went to Notre Dame instead of the school I was at at the time.

It is fun to re-recruit her and actually have her say yes this time. So our staff did a great job of finding ways to maximize what we could do.

Q. Dawn, after not only playing in this matchup against that opponent, but being successful, how does that prepare you for what's next and any opponent you might see?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: I think it's kind of funny, because the players said we're in the Wichita region and I said, I don't know what's going on at this point in time. I know we get to go home and then figure it out at that point.

But I think it certainly should give us some confidence. Certainly. I think our players have done some really special things during this last weekend here.

So I don't know. I'm not really sure. I haven't looked at anyone else in our bracket. I saw Ole Miss and thought, Oh, boy, and then we were found out after our game that we were playing against, either Hawaii or Baylor, and I think we probably figured who we were playing at that point, and we told our players, We don't know anything really about them.

We've seen them play a little bit but haven't studied them. So it was a long night of kind of getting ready, and our kids certainly executed at a very high level.

Q. Congratulations on the win.

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Thank you.

Q. Curious, you bring up a point that your kids have played together a long time; we've seen more and more mid-major upsets. Just in general the women's game is so much better across the board than it was five to ten years ago. Do you think we need to be playing at neutral sites? Your fans traveled. Don't you think they would travel to a neutral site also?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Our fans would travel to a neutral site, absolutely. And to our fans, pep band, spirit squad, one of our pep band members brought me bread pudding last night because she thought it would bring us good luck. I had to eat it. It was pretty good.

I don't know where it came from. I think our fans are very special and they would certainly travel to a neutral site for us.

Q. Do you think we need to go to a neutral site?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: I think it would be great. I really do. But at the same time, we have to still be able to draw fans, and certainly playing in this environment is really special for our young ladies.

So I think it would be advantageous and ideal to get to that point.

Q. I wanted to ask you the same question I posed to your players. Just about from your perspective where that fearlessness that they showed today came from, and as a coach, how do you foster that throughout the year since they credited you for helping build that?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: I think we really adhere to the belief that every moment matters and everything adds up and becomes a cumulative effect of a lot of small moments.

I really believe that our players do a great job of understanding that and carrying that out, and if we're in a walk-through, Hannah is talking to Allison Peplowski when she's not in and telling her where she should go, or Chloe is talking to Grace or whatever the case is.

Our players understand on the basketball court every moment matters, but they also understand that their relationships really, really are important and our chemistry is absolutely incredible.

And so I think it's a combination of a lot of different things that add up together during the course of not only a season, but years. Some of these young ladies have been with us for five years. During timeouts, you know, I told our players at time timeout, you're probably not going to hear anything I say. Not because you can't hear, but your minds will be in a different -- bunch of different places.

When we say something in a time out, why don't you just go out on the court and tell each other what we're these supposed to be doing.

They pretty much coach other and do a tremendous job with that.

Q. You mentioned that your calling card all year is your confidence, and then the fourth quarter specifically you guys didn't score until there was just under three minutes to play. Just kind of curious what was going through your mind during the entire fourth quarter trying to make sure you guys pull off the upset, and what did you do on the court schematically to make sure NaLyssa Smith and Queen Egbo couldn't used their size to their advantage?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: Well, at that point in time all I was thinking is, Boy, I hope possessions are really long for both of us because then we have a chance to hold onto this lead. I think our players, we made some adjustments on what matchups were and kind of moved Hannah and Kyah back and forth to try and make life a little bit different -- give her some different looks.

I thought our players understood some ways that Baylor likes to score in quicker scenarios to attack. The three post lineup is not something we've seen a lot out of them, and so when they came to that, we kind of had a flashback to when that happened to us at the Pentagon early in the season against South Carolina.

That didn't really work out very well for us, so really tried to get our players to understand what changes we had to make, do some switching, and help from different spots.

Q. Kind of like what I asked after Friday's game, how important was it to just make Baylor be a one-and-done possession type team tonight?

DAWN PLITZUWEIT: I don't know how well we did with that that. I don't know what the numbers are. I thought the effort and the understanding was very, very solid. We gave up a lot of size. We're not the bigger team. Not the more athletic team.

So we just had to do things that were very basic and simple and fundamental to try to put ourselves in a position to box out and finish plays.