NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - SOUTH DAKOTA VS MICHIGAN

March 26, 2022

Dawn Plitzuweit

Chloe Lamb

Hannah Sjerven

Intrust Bank Arena

South Dakota Coyotes

Sweet 16 Media Conference

Michigan 52, South Dakota 49

THE MODERATOR: We are happy to be joined by South Dakota, Chloe Lamb and Hannah Sjerven. Coach, opening statement?

COACH PLITZUWEIT: Congratulations to Michigan. To all our fans, to Coyote Nation who came, a very special thank you. It was an incredible, incredible crowd that we had and incredible support. Not only to our fans, I think we recruited quite a few fans from the region who came and cheered for us as well, the state of South Dakota who really supported us. That was certainly a special, special time for our young ladies.

To our players and to our staff I have to thank them, because what they did in getting to this point is really, really hard to do and it took absolutely everything that we had in our tank to get to this point in time. It was an incredible run for us and it took a lot of preparation and toughness and that takes years of preparation to get to this point.

And to our super seniors and to our four seniors in total, they read a book this summer and the book was "Legacy" and they left a legacy at the University of South Dakota that is second to none. They did something that was incredibly, incredibly special. And to all their accomplishments, that's great. They're great basketball players. But the bottom line is they're incredible human beings. As a coach I treat them I think act as if sometimes I feel as if though they're our own daughters. And I am incredibly proud of how they have handled themselves in everything they have been through, they have represented our team with a lot of class and humility and the way they represent our university and the athletics department is really, really special. They have done a tremendous job.

So I'm really proud of what our young ladies have done. It's hard to lose. You always want one more. But it certainly wasn't from a lack of effort, lack of anything. We just needed to make one more play in all reality. Sometimes in the game of basketball things go your way and we probably didn't get enough of those things either to go our way, so that makes it tough.

To go on the road and to beat Ole Miss was a challenge for us physically to be able to do that, and then to turn around and take on Baylor was physically a challenge for us, and today obviously with Michigan another major challenge for us. I think we were probably outsized in every position and maybe out-athletisized in all positions, and to our ladies' credit they kept fighting and competing and found a way to be in that game and have an opportunity. I'm proud of our young lady for what they did.

Q. Hannah, Chloe, Coach talked about legacy. I know it's early and fresh but how do you want people to remember your legacy and what you ladies have done?

CHLOE LAMB: That's a hard question. I don't know. You want people to remember, again, the type of people you are, not only the type of basketball players you are. I'm sorry, I knew this was going to happen. And not only am I proud of Hannah and myself and our group of seniors but our entire team. Our coaches do everything they can, but I hope people think that we may be good on the basketball court but we're good people, too.

HANNAH SJERVEN: I agree with Chloe and just knowing what goes into getting yourself and your team here, it's not one or two players, it's not just the coaches. It's a whole community of what we are in Vermillion and I hope people remember how we were able to create that and it wasn't just us and they keep showing up for women's basketball and keep doing that for the next generation.

Q. One of the reasons why you came back was you weren't satisfied with how last season ended. After the feeling of this loss subsides, will you be satisfied with this run?

HANNAH SJERVEN: I think right now that's hard to say. Playing that game I think Coach P is spot on, one more possession and we had it. So right now I'm not satisfied, but maybe looking back I will be happy with the accomplishments we had, but right now I'm definitely not satisfied.

CHLOE LAMB: Losing sucks for a lot of reasons. I think one of those being you forget all the good stuff that happened, right? So, yeah, you said it's hard to think about that right now, but I think looking at any point in that game, looking out into the crowd and seeing the sea of red, I think we did a pretty good job.

Q. Chloe, you mentioned it, but there is not a lot of great things to take away from a loss but when you had a crowd like that supporting you at the Sweet 16, that's pretty special to have that from what South Dakota gave you today.

HANNAH SJERVEN: Yeah, when we play a home game we usually at least halfway fill the SCSC and I think more than that SCSC had to have shown up to this game, and we felt it from the second we stepped on to the court to the second we left, this they never wavered.

Q. It looked like it was a very physical contest, a lot of physical play on both ends of the floor. Did the game play out the way that you hoped it would and thought it would, just from the standpoint of the way it went on the floor?

CHLOE LAMB: I think people would say that we're a fairly physical team. I think that is something that lots of people have said throughout the year. I don't think that was going to be something we were going to change playing in this game. That's something that has gotten us this far.

But I thought Michigan was very aggressive, kind of gave back to us what we were giving to them with the physicality, just one play. I thought it was a tough game throughout on both sides.

Q. Ladies, like Coach P mentioned she mentioned the book y'all read in the summer. What do you remember from reading that book?

HANNAH SJERVEN: The "Legacy" book. It's about the New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, and I think when we read it I didn't understand the weight of how that would help carry us through the season as seniors and as a team. I think we did a great job of trying to replicate what they have, which is not possible to truly replicate but if you know, they talk about it being more than a sport.

I think through our community and Coach P's Pack and what we have done with the younger girls in Vermillion, I think we did as good of a job as we could have with that.

Q. Chloe, Kyah had a big bucket and Grace Larkins a few, what can you say about the younger players playing on the sports biggest stage?

CHLOE LAMB: I thought young kids, what people would call "role players" had a huge tournament, not only this game but the two previous to this. You would think that the bright lights and the significance that comes with these games would bring some fear or overwhelming to them, you would think so. Being in foul trouble personally I thought they stepped up huge and not only kept us in the game but elevated our game as well.

More than proud of what they did and what they're capable of doing in the future.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you to our student-athletes. Congratulations. Questions for Coach.

Q. In the last ten seconds was Krull trying to miss that free throw? And the challenge of trying to get a play together and get that last shot off with one of your key players out.

COACH PLITZUWEIT: It wasn't the game plan to miss it and I think Michigan is really good based on out-of-bounds defense, they're very good. So to try to create something was going to be a challenge, in retrospect probably would have gone back and gotten it in and then called a timeout and ran a sideline out-of-bounds, probably a better strategy in hindsight.

I think they're a great defensive team. It was challenging. We had a shot, we were down 2, we had a three that was in and out and sometimes in the course of the game maybe get a better look against -- to get a shot. We took a shot a little earlier because we wanted to get a shot, and against Michigan with their defense you don't know you're guaranteed to get one. So we were just playing to get a good shot and unfortunately it didn't go in and then we had to foul.

Q. Dawn, Coach Barnes Arico said they wanted to give you a different look defensively. Can you explain what you saw?

COACH PLITZUWEIT: At the end of the game?

Q. No, just in general the way they defended you.

COACH PLITZUWEIT: Well, I thought their one-on-one defense was really good, I thought their ball-screen defense made it challenging. We were able to get the ball inside to Hannah, and Hannah did a great job in the first half; had zero fouls and then three quick ones and some tough stuff for us at that point in time because we were able to get the ball inside to Hannah, but having her on the bench quite a bit of the second half really hurt us.

Q. How do you want people to remember that legacy?

COACH PLITZUWEIT: Well, I think the seniors that we have and we include Regan in with the three super seniors. They were hungry to do something that's really hard to do. What I told them is they had a chance and qualified for four NCAA Tournaments in a row. That's almost unheard of at the mid-major level and to do that, that's hard. That's really, really hard and then to get to the tournament and to win a first-round game is really hard to do. And then to win a second game. So I think it's -- what they have done has been nothing short of compete at a very, very high level. And they did it again.

Finding a way to kind of neutralize size, athleticism, speed, and then, you know, put yourself in a position. I thought our ladies did that. Outside of that, I think they've done a tremendous job. The fact that our Coyote Nation traveled the way they did to support our young ladies doesn't mean they're just good basketball players. They have made an impact in our community in terms of doing the right thing over and over again, every moment matters. They're the type of young ladies that when COVID hit and we couldn't do community service the way we normally did and they couldn't visit with the residents at the nursing home, they got their names and handwrote them all letters, and this Christmas they sent them Christmas cards. Wrote letters to them.

They spent time with the little girls. We had a little girl from Coach P's Pack give me a scouting report that Maddie Nolan was a good three-point shooter and we had to guard her on the arc. So there are little girls in our community that look up to these young ladies because they spend time with them. They really are invested in them.

They do the right things, and they have built something that is really special.

Q. Hannah and Chloe mentioned that you guys have the reputation of playing physical games. Playing these grinders of games, were you okay with the pace of the game, how it unfolded and being one play away, were you comfortable with how the game was unfolding from that standpoint?

COACH PLITZUWEIT: I thought Michigan was incredibly physical. I think we were able to try to handle that to the best of our ability. Honestly, if one shot goes in toward the end, it's a different game. So were we happy with it? Our goal was to compete and see what happens. You're not satisfied, but at the same time, it wasn't from a lack of effort or want. Maybe we missed an assignment here or there but our kids had to make plays. They couldn't hear what was going on. I think they did a great job of putting themselves in a position and trusting their training and trusting the process and got themselves to a spot where they were for an opportunity to play one more game.

Q. Losing the big three players of that magnitude is going to be tough but how do you go about convincing some of the younger players on the team that this level of success is embedded in the program and possible to achieve again?

COACH PLITZUWEIT: Being here is something they certainly don't take for granted, and I think it's something that when the time is right, and the time is not right right now, they will come back at it and now they've tasted it and they know what it feels like to be here and they know what it feels like to face defeat and I think they will be very hungry. We have very competitive young ladies, so I think they will learn from it and grow from it.

Q. Coach, congratulations to you and your program. We were very close to the first time ever having two double-digit seeds in the Elite Eight, Creighton winning last night and you guys coming so close. How important do you think this tournament was from that standpoint, the continued growth and how important is it to you that South Dakota has been a big part of that?

COACH PLITZUWEIT: It's special in all reality that our young ladies had an opportunity to go on the road and compete against Power Five programs and be in the mix. I think it's great for players, for teams, for programs at our level to be able to say, you know, anything is possible, to some extent. You have to find a way to neutralize a lot of stuff and I thought we were able to do that to some extent today but there were other times that we just couldn't make that last play.

I think we are really thankful for the opportunity to be in the Tournament, we're thankful for the opportunity to advance in the Tournament. And to be a part of that history is something that's really fun for us.

Q. Dawn, your young players, Grace, Kyah, defensive minutes they didn't seem like this stage was too big. What do you think of their performance?

COACH PLITZUWEIT: That's really hard to do. None of us have been in this moment before but to be here and hit open shots or get a big rebound, an offensive rebound like Pep did, and even for Maddie and Kyah who play a lot of minutes for us but to keep facing the competition the way they did, I thought our kids played without fear. I thought they tried to put themselves in a position and they did that and sometimes the game of basketball is a little bit unfair because of the way that we were competing, you would hope that one last shot would fall, one more free throw would fall, maybe one of theirs doesn't fall, you hope that something goes our way and unfortunately that didn't happen.

Q. Dawn, what did you learn in this moment? From being on this stage the Sweet 16 the first time?

COACH PLITZUWEIT: What was fun to see was how our community united about this and really tried to propel our young ladies to do everything that they could to find a way, and certainly in that third quarter when things weren't going our way, I thought our fans really gave us a huge boost at that point in time.

I think it's been really neat to see how our university has united. We had so many students that came down, we had our pep band, our spirit squad and they have been so into it, they're playing in the hotel lobby, they have that pop-a-shot, like they're getting ready for the game. Maybe they feel like they're going to make a shot for us, but they're all in, they're really invested. It been great to see our community unit around this special team and this special opportunity.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.