NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - HOLY CROSS VS MARYLAND

March 17, 2023

Maureen Magarity

Addisyn Cross

Simone Foreman

XFINITY Center

Holy Cross Crusaders

Media Conference

Maryland - 93, Holy Cross - 61

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us for Holy Cross' press conference. We're joined by head coach Maureen Magarity, Addisyn Cross, and Simone Foreman.

Coach, if you could please start us off with an opening statement.

MAUREEN MAGARITY: Yeah, I'm real proud of my team today. Obviously it was a tough beginning of the game. Maryland just did a great job with their pressure, which we have been preparing for, but it's hard to prepare and simulate what they do. I'm really proud of how we responded and kind of figured it out in that second quarter and were able to score.

But credit to Maryland, obviously. They're an incredible team. So well coached. So deep. They're so long. I really wish them so much luck throughout the rest of the season and the tournament.

But I'm just so proud of this group. It's been a really fun year. Just such a great family feel. Anybody can step up. Every single game we've had different people step up and really take over.

It's just a really special group. Obviously I'm really sad that it's over because it's just one of those years that you just never want it to end.

Q. Addisyn, the accumulation of the turnovers early in the game, was that attributed to just Maryland reading the passing lanes or bad passes on your guys' end, bad or poor communication? Just curious of your assessment.

ADDISYN CROSS: I think in the first half their press and their pressure really got to us. I think in the Patriot League we're not used to seeing that and that type of athleticism.

I think for us they really just sped us up, and that led to careless turnovers on our part. Yeah, that was definitely hard to prepare for. So I think it is what it is.

Q. For Simone, you guys were really able to kind of hit Maryland hard in the third quarter, tying them with 20 points each. What did you see going into the half that you were able to either exploit from their defense or just kind of getting used to how they played?

SIMONE FOREMAN: I think 100 percent driving on them. I think in the second quarter when we were able to get off the dribble and get into the paint, especially like a pump fake or just using our speed or just using like our first step to get ahead of them, I feel like we could really exploit them on that and try to draw in a foul or trying to draw them in and get a kick out.

I felt like, especially in the third and fourth quarter, we were really good at doing that. That really showed with tying them in the points. But I think that was definitely one thing trying to get into the paint and trying to drive in instead of just taking really quick shots.

THE MODERATOR: If you have a question for Coach, please raise your hand.

Q. I wanted to ask also about their defense. Like you said, hard to prepare for, but trying to read where to move the ball, especially kind of against that press and some of that early pressure, I'm just curious what would you have liked to have done a little bit better? I don't know if it was just them being so long that they were in passing lanes or if you guys could have made some better decisions on where to move the ball.

MAUREEN MAGARITY: I think once we adjusted to our press break, by the time we got it over half-court, we just were holding the ball too long. I thought we just needed to reverse the ball, get more movement, especially on our weak side. Then obviously in the second half they switched to a lot of zone too. So just the changing of the defenses, they did a great job.

And their length, I think on the perimeter especially, you look at the size difference between our guards and their guards, it's just hard for our guards to just see the passing lanes and just to be able to -- they're just shorter than them. They just did a really nice job, I thought, of kind of taking us out of any sort of a flow or tempo we wanted to.

Our offense has helped and has really picked up the last week or so in the Patriot League Tournament just moving and our movement and our back cuts, especially out of those switches. We were ready for it and prepared for it, but again, it's hard to simulate that.

Q. Third quarter you guys evened them out at 20. Fourth quarter they outscored you guys by one. Obviously your offense was clicking there even though you were in a heavy deficit at that point. What do you think changed for your offense to allow it to just pick up the pace and really, I guess, replicate what you've seen in the Patriot League Tournament?

MAUREEN MAGARITY: I think we just were starting to play with more confidence, weren't playing as tight. Hey, it's the NCAA Tournament. It's our first time here. We have a really young group, playing a lot of freshmen especially.

I could just tell they were just starting to ease into it a little bit more. We're finally making some shots. I mean, those first couple minutes we were getting decent looks, they just weren't falling for us. You know how that goes. It just kind of gets into your head and starting to play too tight.

Then I just think with the changing defenses too, I think we've seen some zone. I thought that we were pretty comfortable with that, and I thought we moved the ball pretty well against the zone.