MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 5, 2023

Amanda Levens

Alyssa Jimenez

Megan Ormiston

Thomas & Mack Center

Nevada Wolf Pack

Postgame Press Conference

Nevada 65, Fresno State 53

THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll go ahead and get started. We'll open it up. Coach, could you please make an opening remark on tonight's game?

AMANDA LEVENS: I thought it was a great game. We had played them twice this year already and had really good battles both times.

You know, Fresno State has a lot of seniors, and this time of year I think seniors play with a lot of urgency and they just don't want to go home.

In the fourth quarter when they had the lead I was just really proud of our team's response and resiliency.

You know, at that point being down, I think it's easy to go -- to give in and focus on what happens, what could go wrong here, our season could be over, and we never focused on the wrong things. We just stayed the course and found a way to get it done.

I thought Aly and Megan were huge are for us late. Aly hits the shot to put us into overtime, and a just lot of great individual performances within the game.

THE MODERATOR: We have the student-athletes up here. Aly Jimenez and Megan Ormiston. We'll go ahead and take questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Hi, girls. Aly, I'll start with you first, but for both of you really, I mean, just what was going through your minds there down the stretch that last minute or so as everything kind of kept changing there?

ALYSSA JIMENEZ: I think we got down in the fourth quarter, and we knew, like, this is what we've been working for. We knew our preparation, our conditioning, like, was what was going to set us apart.

We just stuck to what we had been doing, got some stops, and luckily came out on top.

MEGAN ORMISTON: Yeah, I agree. Aly is clutch. I think that's pretty clear now. Yeah, she hit some great shots. We played really good defense, and then in overtime we held them, and we kept playing offense and did what we were supposed to do so...

Q. For you, Meg, I mean, in the overtime there you were able to respond with that put-back. How tough was that, I guess, maybe for you, because obviously you had the game winner there on the line, but to be able to go and make that big-time play, to be able to overcome that so quickly?

MEGAN ORMISTON: I'm a fifth year. It's been a long time since I've been playing basketball, but I wasn't ready to go home yet. Nobody was.

So the whole team, we all fought hard and everybody made great shots in overtime and everybody played good defense, and that's how we got it done.

Q. Amanda, talk about your play-calling and how important it was to kind of try as you could to stay one step ahead of them with the game going back and forth and the number of lead changes?

AMANDA LEVENS: For sure. I think matchup-wise I thought we had some advantages at certain positions. You know, looking at Aly's matchup at times and feeling like that was a strength of ours. You know, trying to get her the ball in positions where she could be successful I thought was good.

I thought we were kind of stagnant in our continuity offense and our spacing wasn't great. We were kind of just standing a lot. So going to sets late I thought was good for us because we got the ball to certain people, and they were able to get it in positions where they could be successful.

And we've really been focusing on screening the last few weeks. I thought throughout the season we haven't always been very precise, and I thought today our screening was better. Just our team's focus on who should be shooting at those times and how do we get them the ball was much improved.

Q. Then also, if you could comment on just the way the game ended in regulation. There was just some confusion about advancing the ball, not advancing the ball. I assume the tie-up came before the timeout was called, and then you kind of had to get right back in there and call another timeout. How significant was that that you had the timeouts to be able to speak to your team?

AMANDA LEVENS: Well, I was told in overtime that we should have been able to advance the ball, but I think what one of the officials thought was that we had dribbled, and so there was confusion about that.

So I just feel really fortunate that Aly hit that shot because had we had to go the length of the court, you know, without a rule being correct. That's tough at this point in the season. You want the players to have the opportunity to win the game and not be held back because something is missed.

So, yeah, having the three timeouts was fantastic. We had a lot to talk about. We had a lot of time over there.

In the second timeout I didn't even know they had started the clock. I thought they were still huddling and reviewing, and then they told us to come out. That's why I called the third, because I didn't know the second one had even started.

There was just a lot going on. Everybody can learn and grow from that situation.

Q. For you, Aly, just it's been a long season for you guys, but, you know, what do you think it was just in the fourth quarter there and in overtime that you were able to help the rest of your team to try and overcome and get the win?

ALYSSA JIMENEZ: I think a lot of what we have struggled with this season is just staying connected and, like, trusting our system.

Like Meg said, we all came together and we're not ready to go home. We trusted what Amanda was drawing up and what she wanted from us, and we were able to go out there and do it.

Q. How does this game instill the belief? You were up double digits against UNLV the other day, and now that you have some momentum going in because you're going to see them again tomorrow.

ALYSSA JIMENEZ: I think we played them really well last game, and we're excited to get another chance. They're a really good team, and for us to be able to have another opportunity to play them, as we've been playing so good, like, we're really excited.

MEGAN ORMISTON: I agree. Obviously, they're the conference champs, but we've played them most recently, and we played them well and we played them tight. I think we're all really excited to have another shot at them and see what we can do.

Q. Coach, why do you think it was so tough to try and find some sort of offensive rhythm earlier in the game there?

AMANDA LEVENS: Well, I thought we started strong and it was good, and then I think people make adjustments too. Defensively they're making some adjustments, and down the stretch -- well, offensively I was saying in the first half, again, going back to our spacing, I thought we were kind of crowding each other and taking away driving lanes and we weren't seeing when the help was coming.

We were kind of playing with a little bit of tunnel vision. That was stuff we talked about at halftime. I thought that was better in the second half. I still think we can share the ball a little better and move for each other.

Sometimes when the first option is not there we're not quick to get to that second action, and those are just things we have to keep getting better at. Obviously we have a pretty young team. We have a lot of people coming back next year, and these are all things they'll continue to learn and grow in.

Any time you can win despite some things, it's always positive, especially this time of year.

Q. How do you think that this win just shows the belief that you have seen in these girls and what they're capable of doing on any given night?

AMANDA LEVENS: Well, I always -- I think I try to pride our teams on we're really tough. All year I think we've had moments where we're not as tough as we need to be, and as a coach that's kind of driven me a little bit crazy.

I thought today the team finally understood and showed how to play in the way that I really want them to. I thought we were extremely tough and resilient today.

Again, learning opportunities for us moving forward after this year with the young team, but we've lost some games by not being tough enough and not being resilient enough, so to come out on the other side in a big moment doing those things, I think that that really helps them moving forward for sure.

Q. For the coach and the players, both of you guys, I thought you did a really good job of containing Todorova and her game. We did see Amiee Book step up when she needed to and she make some big threes and hurt you a little bit off the bounce. Can you talk about the scouting report focus that you guys will have for tomorrow knowing that you executed on Todorova? But other players, it's tournament time and win or go home, and the effort you will make to focus here in the next 24 hours on scout?

ALYSSA JIMENEZ: I think just trying not to let people do what they're good at, taking away their strengths.

There's a lot of good players. They're going to score, so just trying to make every possession hard for them. Tonight, like you said, Book made a few shots. That's what she does. You just have to live with it and just come back on the next possession and be ready to work.

MEGAN ORMISTON: I agree. I think we just played UNLV, so it's helpful that we have that whole scout down. Now we can watch the game that we just played a couple of days ago and learn from that, grow from that, and then try to make adjustments and take the game.

AMANDA LEVENS: Yeah, I thought Tory Davis did a phenomenal job on her, and she hurt us late at their place a couple of weeks ago. And Tory got to see that on film and saw herself being a little bit too soft against her. I thought she made great adjustments and really did a fantastic job defensively on her today.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student-athletes or the coach? Having none, that will do it.