ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 4, 2023

Kara Lawson

Kennedy Brown

Shayeann Day-Wilson

Duke Blue Devils

Postgame Press Conference

Virginia Tech 58, Duke 37

KARA LAWSON: Disappointing afternoon for us. I thought Virginia Tech played really well. Really beat us in all phases. When you look at the rebounding, almost plus 20 on the boards for them. Certainly the three-point line. Most of that damage which was done in the first half. We were not as disciplined as we needed to be defensively in that first half, and as a result, they got open looks. When you give them open looks, they're probably the best team in the league at making you pay for it.

Disappointing to have our run end, but really proud of my group and how they played here and how they fought. Now we look forward, obviously, to our faith in the tournament, and we'll use these two weeks to just keep getting better.

Q. Kara, what about Virginia Tech's defense made it a tough shooting day for you?

KARA LAWSON: I think they're just very disciplined in their scheme. We didn't do a good job of moving the ball and got into some isolation stuff, and they did a good job of challenging those shots.

Q. Amoore had stretches where she seemingly was making every shot she was taking. What made her so tough to defend tonight?

KARA LAWSON: I think when she's making her three-point shot like that, it's really hard to guard her because she's obviously quick and can get downhill and so you're having to guard both things at the same time. So I thought her ability to make shots tonight was really the difference maker. To go 6 for 8 from three was -- she was the only double-figure scorer on her team, so she really led them to the victory.

Q. I wanted to ask you about that 19-0 run that Tech had. It seemed like there were a lot of transition threes. That's not something Duke has allowed often this year. What do you think was going on during that stretch?

KARA LAWSON: Yeah, we just were not disciplined in our scheme. And you're right, we gave them clean looks at threes, which was not the game plan. They made us pay. That was it in that stretch. You're right, just losing people, not having an awareness, not being in airspace when they catch it. And they're too good to give them those shots that are open.

The lion's share of those happened before the break, before halftime, and it's unfortunate because we dug ourselves quite a hole there at half because of not being disciplined guarding the three.

Q. Kennedy, Elizabeth Kitley is usually a pretty big scorer for Virginia Tech but she only had eight today. What were you able to do defensively to contain her in the paint?

KENNEDY BROWN: Just making every catch hard, pushing her off her spots, not letting her get deep position, making them throw tough passes. And then just really forcing her to put the ball on the floor, I think, and not letting her get some of those easy turnaround jumpers.

Q. Kara, you guys are the last ones to beat them back in late January at your place. What are you noticing about their play now versus when you beat them in late January, because they haven't lost since?

KARA LAWSON: Well, I didn't know that. I think they've been good the whole time. They're difficult to play because all five players are able to score on the court. I don't know if this is true or not, but my guess would be that all five of those players have probably led the team in scoring at some point in a game. So they can be very balanced in terms of they have a lot of threats out there, so that makes them really difficult to guard.

They have such great experience. I think that's another factor for them. To have the experiences -- not just experience, experience together. They have players that have played three, four years together in a system, and I think that's a great advantage.

Honestly I hadn't watched them since we played them the second time, so I can't speak to kind of their growth through the season, but they're a very good team, and definitely, definitely a team that is very balanced and makes it hard for you to win.

Q. You guys forced a lot of turnovers early on. What sort of changed for you defensively throughout the game?

KARA LAWSON: Well, I wasn't really pleased with our defense in the first half, as I spoke to earlier. I thought we gave them too many open looks. So what changed for us through the second half was we were trying to eliminate those open looks and force them to take challenged shots. We were a little bit better defensively, but the deficit was kind of too great for us to be able to come back.

I don't know that we changed anything with what we were doing. I think we just did what we were supposed to be doing better.

Q. It seemed in the first half that there were a couple times where there was some missed switches by the guards on defense. Was that something you kind of worked on throughout the first half or noticed that left some shooters open?

KARA LAWSON: Yeah, kind of like I talked about with the threes, we did have -- I'd have to go back and look to say, but we did have some times where we weren't disciplined following the game plan, and they made us pay for it.

Q. Of course you're a shoe-in for the NCAA Tournament. What would you like to take offensively to try and translate into that after two low-scoring performances?

KARA LAWSON: Yeah, I think we're just going to keep working on what we do and work on being confident players. We've been a good offensive team at times this year, and obviously here lately the last few weeks, we've been inconsistent. The only way I know how to change the inconsistency to consistency is to work on it. If you know another way, let me know. If you're inconsistent at something, whatever it is, you have to work at it to get better, and the reps give you confidence, and hopefully make you more consistent.

We're fortunate, I think, that there's a two-week break and we can really dig in and get better. We have a lot of talented offensive players on this team, and I think we'll improve and be better on offense when the tournament comes.