ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 3, 2023

Kara Lawson

Celeste Taylor

Mia Heide

Duke Blue Devils

Postgame Press Conference

Duke 44, North Carolina 40

KARA LAWSON: We're happy to be advancing, and I'm really proud of my team. One of the things that we've done all year, which I just thought about a lot as we entered this game, is every game we've lost this year, we've won the next one. Every single one.

I just trusted in that, and it wasn't pretty, but we were able to figure out a way to get it done, which is all you need to do in tournament like this. And now to be to the semifinals is a great thing for us, and we'll get back to work and try to put our best foot forward tomorrow afternoon.

Q. This is another tight game against a really good defensive team. What do you think went differently today that didn't happen earlier in the week?

KARA LAWSON: Well, I thought in the critical moments of the game, we executed just a little bit better and were able to make one or two more plays. That's how these games go. It comes down to the end. You've seen it all across our league all year. You see it all across the country if you're sitting there watching all these games. It just comes down to the end.

We made one or two more plays. I don't remember most of them, to be honest with you. I'll watch a little bit of it, but I'm just proud how we stuck with it, and we just kept fighting. We missed a lot of easy stuff, but we didn't let that get us down. We just stayed with it.

Q. After they got that nine-point lead, they only scored 10 points the rest of the game over 18 minutes. What was your defense doing so well? Assess what you saw from your team down the stretch.

KARA LAWSON: Well, what our goal is is to have them take challenged shots every time. We felt like in the first half they got loose for some lay-ups and some open threes, and we needed to kind of get a hold of our defense that way. What went right for us down the stretch was, I can't say for sure every shot, certainly those two threes late that they missed were not challenged. But the rest of that second half we were in their face every time challenging, hand up, and then we did a pretty good job of securing the rebound one shot.

That was just foundational, basic. Even though it's basic, it's really hard to do against good teams, and I just thought they shot with a hand in their face all night.

Q. I believe you had 13 turnovers in the first half and only six in the second half. What did you do at halftime to clean that up?

KARA LAWSON: Per usual, I gave an amazing speech (smiling). No. I think we just talked about it. These guys might be able to answer it better, but we just talked about that category and just said, we have to be just more mindful on the offensive end with what we're doing.

When we see an opening, be aggressive. What I didn't want them to be is tentative. Sometimes if you say to players don't turn it over, then they're going to say I'm just going to be conservative all the time. And we didn't need conservative, we needed attacking. We just needed to be more mindful and we were attacking, and I thought we did a better job of that.

MIA HEIDE: I think settling in a little bit. The game can get kind of chaotic, so trusting in ourselves and taking a deep breath and doing something good with the ball.

CELESTE TAYLOR: We obviously struggled a little bit in the first half. But like Coach said, just being mindful of it and knowing that we trust in each other and the teammates throwing it at us. And we've just got to keep competing because we know they're going to keep attacking us, so we've got to go after those balls when our teammates pass them to us.

Q. After the two losses to them early in the season, a lot of teams could have gotten down in the dumps and come out flat today. What kept you guys engaged as a team and together and able to play at that level of physical game?

CELESTE TAYLOR: It's a new game. At the end of the day we lost, yeah, but it's a new opportunity to play a great team that we lost to twice. Like, who wouldn't want to take that opportunity? And so just going out there and just being confident in each other and ourselves and wanting to win. I think our want was really there today, especially defensively, even when our shots weren't falling. We wanted it more, I feel like.

Just competing with each other and knowing that we have that opportunity to get this win, especially for Coach, and so that's what we wanted.

MIA HEIDE: I think also, every time this year after we've come out of a loss or a negative, we always bounce back heavily into the positive, and I think that's definitely what we did today.

Q. Coach, kind of going off that, Reigan Richardson went 0 for 6 in your game on Sunday and tonight she had 10 and a bunch of other positive stats. What did you do for her, and she had that really heady play that bounced the ball off the UNC player that seemed to give you guys an extra bump with a couple minutes to play?

KARA LAWSON: I was proud of Reigan with how she played. She's one of our more talented scorers on our team, and she brings an ability to take and make tough shots. She made really a tough shot late contested to tie the game, I think, for us when it was 40-38 or something like that. I think she tied it with about two and a half left.

She just keeps growing. Honestly, it's hard to play in games like this, and it's hard to play in big games, and you want to have a team that puts themselves in this position. You don't want to be sitting at home right now. But you're constantly growing and learning in the space. It's like, nobody wakes up and is born and is like clutch and plays perfect all the time. You have to manage that for yourself.

All of our players, they give so much effort, they play so hard, and they want to be good in big games. But sometimes you're not, and just Reigan wasn't on Sunday. That's okay in the sense that we don't want it to happen again, but we want to keep teaching and talking about it and showing them where they can grow so they can get themselves to the point where they can be productive.

The difference four or five days makes for us, and she made some critical plays for us. I'm proud of her.

Q. The physicality of tonight's game was just glaring. Can you speak to how that works to your team's advantage? And also the point guard play, Wilson didn't shoot well, but she was clearly a warrior out there.

KARA LAWSON: Well, I don't -- I guess the fouls were even, so I guess it was pretty even physicality on both sides. It looked like -- I call it a playoff game, but that's what it looked like. It looked like a playoff game. That's what it was. I don't think we were shocked by it. That's how it is when it's close and you have two teams that are really competitive and fighting for something that they want.

This was one of Shayeann's best games of the season, the way she ran our team. The way she set her teammates up for open looks, the way she stayed composed. I think it might be her best game of the season, to be honest with you.

It was awesome how she just led her team to victory. The number one job as a point guard is to lead your team to wins. It's not to win assist titles or be named to certain teams. It's to win. She did that tonight. She led her team to a win.

Q. For the players, you've all talked about this ability to bounce back, to not lose two games in a row. Where does that resilience come from within the team, do you think?

CELESTE TAYLOR: I think it's a hunger. I think it's the players that Coach recruited to come here, the character that each player has and just the want, the will to win and fight. Who want to lose a game in general? To lose two back to back, it doesn't come to mind in us. Just fighting, just continuing to fight with each other and just getting after it.

Q. Kara, you were just talking about teaching players and bringing them along. Now that you're in March, I don't know if it's parity or if it's just the level of games you're playing, but there's not a lot of margin for error, but you have to grind these games out. How much of a lesson is that or teaching point for you in helping bring along a team that hasn't had a ton of tournament experience in the last couple of years?

KARA LAWSON: You know, we just talk about the next game and what we need to do to win it. We don't really talk in the big picture too much.

But we feel very confident that we're prepared because of our league and how strong it's been, how well everyone has done in our league and how hard the games are.

Every one of these games we get a little bit better at handling it, at managing it, at being with each other, and that's good. I get a little bit better, too. I never even played on Friday before. Now I get to play on Saturday. This is new for me, too. I think I only played on Thursday last year is what it was.

So it's new for all of us, at least at Duke. A lot of our players have had very successful postseason runs at other institutions. It's fun. I enjoy it. There's nothing like this. We had great support from our fans and obviously this area does a great job of hosting, so I'm just enjoying it. I think our players are enjoying it and ready for whatever comes next.

Q. When that final buzzer goes off, what's going through your mind? Can you put those emotions into words for us?

MIA HEIDE: It's a sweet feeling. This is something we fought for for a while. We all have confidence for each other and love for each other, so it was really sweet to do it with this special group, and we were just really proud, so we were sharing that.

Q. What lessons did you guys take from the way you finished the game at Duke against Carolina last Sunday, and how were they applied to tonight's finish?

CELESTE TAYLOR: Just fighting, fighting until the end. Fighting until the buzzer goes off. Definitely we had some tough fouls late in our game at home, and just being composed and just playing our defense and relying on each other, that we know we have help. So just trying to stay in front of our player and stick to the game plan.