MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 6, 2023

Gordy Presnell

Natalie Pasco

Abby Muse

Thomas & Mack Center

Boise State Broncos

Postgame Press Conference

Colorado State 59, Boise State 52

THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with Boise State with cope Gordy Presnell. We have Natalie Pasco and Abby Muse. We'll go ahead and have an opening remark from the coach.

GORDY PRESNELL: I thought it was a good game. We played hard. They played hard. We had a tough quarter. Bad time to have a tough quarter in the fourth quarter.

Really struggled scoring the ball, but I was really proud of our players' efforts. Yeah, that was a great game. They're a good team.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Abby, you guys were able to out-rebound them 52-39 tonight. Besides obviously the loss, but what went well for you on the boards and being able to stay in that game?

ABBY MUSE: I think just being able to use our bodies and our positioning to work hard because we knew we had an advantage on that front, and we knew we would be able to use that, like you said, to get that rebounding margin.

Q. Natalie, in the first half specifically you were really slinging it from both behind the arc and then also some floaters. What was going well for you tonight? Was it just confidence?

NATALIE PASCO: Yeah, I think I knew we needed to come out strong tonight and feeding the ball into the post, and them getting us wide-open shots definitely helped, but just to stay confident throughout the entire game.

Q. 18 turnovers tonight. Was there something that Colorado State was doing specifically in order to force those turnovers, or what was it?

NATALIE PASCO: I think we know they're an aggressive team. Sometimes we just made a bad play, but they were a strong team and it was just a good game overall.

Q. This being your first year in the tournament, what were your thoughts on how things went and also moving forward just ahead in your career?

NATALIE PASCO: Yeah, I think we came out really strong tonight. We fought the entire game, so I'm really proud of our team.

We'll definitely be ready next year, and we'll be back.

Q. Abby, you're a veteran on a very young team. What was, I guess, your thoughts on how the freshmen performed both in this tournament and throughout the whole season?

ABBY MUSE: I think they've been awesome this whole year. They've been such great additions to our program, and they're only going to keep growing from here.

And I thought they did great for their first tournament as well, because it is daunting to come in here and have it be different and to play in Vegas at this tournament.

Q. For both of you guys: Throughout the season you guys started off slow and eventually really caught on as you started to mesh. What were your thoughts on how the season did progress and how much better you guys got throughout?

NATALIE PASCO: I think we kind of just grew as a team. Like Coach says, we focus a lot on energy and having enthusiasm through every game, and we kind of just came together and everything clicked and we just started playing better together and just pushing forward to the next game.

ABBY MUSE: You could definitely see our chemistry get better and improve throughout the season, and that's just a testament to all of our hard work and our dedication to each other and our program and our coaches.

THE MODERATOR: Ladies, thank you. We'll go ahead and take questions for Coach.

Q. Gordy, you said last night that the first two meetings between you guys, I think the word was thumped. How impressed were you with how they were able to fight tonight and keep things competitive the whole time?

GORDY PRESNELL: I thought we were really committed defensively to trying to corral their guards; their three guards are terrific. They're all three transfers that they got off the portal, and they've done a nice job with them.

Then I thought we rebounded the ball. We only let them have one shot, so those have been two things we've kind of hung our hats on all year, and so that's probably why we were in the game.

I thought going into the fourth quarter I thought we were going to really have a good quarter, and we just really struggled scoring the ball.

Q. The turnover margin was pretty big between the two teams. Was there something that they were doing on the defensive side of the ball that flustered you guys?

GORDY PRESNELL: No. As I said yesterday, we throw it to the other team as well as anyone and we're going to make a lot of mistakes. We're really young, and in regard to them, they have one of the best ball handlers in the whole country. She's a phenomenal player, most valuable player in our league.

But we have got to correct that. If we can score the ball a little bit more and turn the ball over a little bit less, we're really crushing it on the boards, and I think we've improved defensively a lot.

But we have to do those other two things: take care of the ball and shoot the ball when we need to to be really a good team, and I think we have that chance.

Q. You guys obviously progressed so much throughout the season. What are your thoughts on how the team did progress, and moving forward in into next season, how good you guys can really be?

GORDY PRESNELL: That's a great question, actually. I have a lot of optimism about the future of our program. Once again, you know, this is a group of kids that is No. 7 in the country in GPA at 3.71, and they just won 8 out of their last 11 or something like that.

They're all back if they want to all be back for two more years. We have a chance to do some things. We have to go to work. We'll give them a couple of weeks off and then we have to get after it and get better.

But I really care about them, I love them, and I'm going to miss them, you know, seeing them every day.

I think our future is really bright, and I'm really proud of them.

Q. I already mentioned the turnovers, but in terms of I think throughout the three games it was 50, 51, and 52 points. What was it that, I guess, Colorado State had your number on that defensive side of the ball throughout the season?

GORDY PRESNELL: They did a great job of sagging in on our post play, and we had a hard time establishing post play on the block. We're traditional compared to most teams. They're not. You know, they spread you out and attack with those quick guards.

So, you know, we've got to do a better job of hitting critical shots at the right time, and we didn't do that. So it's something we have to work on and get better at and execute better. Hopefully we'll get better at it and be good next year. Hopefully be in a good mood next year at this time.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.