SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 1, 2023

Joni Taylor

Sydney Bowles

Aaliyah Patty

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Texas A&M Aggies

Postgame Press Conference

Texas A&M 77, Vanderbilt 70

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the post-game press conference for Texas A&M. We are joined by Joni Taylor and student athletes Sydney Bowles and Aaliyah Patty.

We will begin with questions for our student athletes.

Q. Sydney, can you talk about tonight, how you played, what felt good and in particular you had such an incredible offensive night. What felt different today?

SYDNEY BOWLES: For me, I would say it felt pretty much the same. I would say the continued trust that my teammates and my coaches have had in me has been really great.

It just kind of shined today. But it was just really the trust and my teammates finding me in open spots and making the extra pass that allowed me to have that type of game tonight.

I'm appreciative of them and how they supported me throughout the whole season not even just today.

Q. Aaliyah, you had a double-double tonight. Talk about what that means particularly on a big stage such as this.

AALIYAH PATTY: It means a lot. To be able to go out there and do what I needed to do for the team and for the win and for Joni, it means a lot to be able to have that impact on the game tonight. I'm grateful to be able to do that and be put in positions where I can be effective on the floor.

Yeah, I would say the same as Sydney, just having that trust that my teammates and Joni and all the other coaches have in me helped me shine tonight as well.

Q. Can you talk about the intensity? You seemed so locked in for the game, the whole team. Can you talk more about that, particularly on such a big stage such as this.

AALIYAH PATTY: Yeah, I think the entire season we've been trying to focus on coming out and just kinda making an impact in the beginning and not waiting until the third and fourth quarter to make a run.

That's something we as teammates in the warm-up are talking about so heavily, trying to come out and make a run in the beginning and having that type of fire and trust and support and togetherness on the floor.

We really talked about that. I think it showed very well tonight, so it's going to continue to be something we continue to enforce just on a daily basis.

Q. Y'all just shot incredible tonight, well above average. What do you attribute that to?

SYDNEY BOWLES: I will take this one. We've just been putting in the work I would just say. Once again, it all leads back to trust. I mean, trust in each other, trust that our coaches have in us. That's all I can really say.

The shots were falling. Even when the shots aren't falling we still have trust in each other, but I think it was just one of those games. But, yeah, it all comes down to trust. No matter whether we are hitting it or not, we know we have faith in each other and we know that our coaches believe in us, so we're just going to take the shots.

And whether or not it goes in, we trust that the next one is. That's all I have to say about that. Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies.

Questions for Coach?

Q. Coach Taylor, similar question. Shots fell tonight, great shooting percentages, what do you attribute that to?

COACH TAYLOR: We shared the basketball really well. Great shooting percentage. We have been talking about taking our shots in rhythm, and I think today that really showed. There have been some games where we shot it, same shots, and hadn't gone in.

So we have continued to grow up. We still have a lot of growth today, but today we were clicking on all cylinders offensively.

Q. Can you speak on the intensity? How do you feel like your team did on that from front to end?

COACH TAYLOR: Our motto for the year is becoming, and part of our becoming was becoming consistent in how we show up every single day. And not only in games, but in practice.

As the season has gone on we have become more consistent with putting together a full practice, putting together a full game. As we approached the end of February we said, listen, we keep doing what we are supposed to, which is showing up and being better today than we were yesterday, then we are going to be better at putting four quarters together.

That's been our maturation process all year. If you have watched us, we have really grown. We put a quarter and then we put two quarters together, and we had two bad quarters and then we would have three quarters, and sometimes we came out and started well, and then we had a bad second quarter, or we started well and played the first half well and didn't come out of the locker room at halftime.

So we would have three quarters, and today we put four our quarters together. I will stop and say let's give Vanderbilt a ton of credit. What Shea is building there is going to be really, really special and fun to watch.

We knew that no matter if we got a lead or if we were down, they were going to keep competing and playing hard. It's what they do. So we knew the fourth quarter was going to be really, really tough. They weren't going to just give it to us.

We had some growing pains, but we are the second youngest team in the league and none of us have experienced players, so we had to fight our way through that.

Q. Speaking to that, obviously you've been in this tournament many times, but this is the first time with this team. What's it like coming in with a young team and one that you are new to yourself in a big stage like this?

COACH TAYLOR: It's exciting. It's a lot of fun. They're like babies. They're our babies. It's a lot of teaching, a lot of education of, listen, this is how it's going to go, this is what we're going to do, and if this happens, this is where we want to be.

Again, a lot of our players were on the team last year but they were not on the floor. We always say there is a difference in riding in a car and driving the car, and they're driving the car now.

When you have never done that, this has been a year of learning from nonconference to conference play. We literally -- it's been, you know, going through the fire. We knew that there were going to be some nerves. Had a few players who said they didn't sleep well last night because they were so nervous.

I like that. I like the fact that they're nervous and feel that anticipation. We're going to grow up this week while we're in Greenville and competing in the SEC Tournament.

Q. Y'all did a great job of scoring off turnovers. Talk about that.

COACH TAYLOR: We have turned people over this year but we be haven't capitalized on that. Vice versa, teams have turned us over and been capitalizing on it. So one of the thing we talked about was let's flip the script there. We have done a good job of turning people over, but we haven't converted those to points. If we can convert the turnovers we get into points, that's going to really help us.

Likewise, if we don't allow people to turn us over or they're not lob ball turnovers that turn into points for the other team points, we're going to be in a good position. So it's talking to them about what it looks like, and it's them knowing when to make the right play, and they're starting to figure that out.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.