NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - IONA VS DUKE

March 18, 2023

Billi Chambers

Ketsia Athias

Juana Camilion

Kate Mager

Cameron Indoor Stadium

Iona Gaels

Media Conference

Duke, 89 - Iona, 49.

THE MODERATOR: Good evening. Joining us from Iona is head coach Billi Chambers, student athletes, Ketsia Athias, Juana Camilion, Kate Mager. We will start with a short opening statement from Coach Chambers, and questions for the student athletes only, please.

BILLI CHAMBERS: Obviously, not the way we wanted to end our season. Obviously, Duke is an incredible basketball team. They have great talent and we are not going to allow one game to take away from what this group has done this season. Sometimes it is easy to catch fire and win three games in a row. This team has had sustained success because of the leaders that are sitting here next to me. They set the tone for this program. The stage was a little bit big today. What they have done is prepared the group that is after them to get back to this stage and fight for a different result. I am incredibly proud of this group.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for student athletes, please.

Q. You had a bit of a good run there in the first quarter after they got off to that hot start. What got away from you after that, when they extended the lead?

THE MODERATOR: Kate, you want to answer that first?

KATE MAGER: Sure, I think it was we gave up a lot of second chance points to them. They were crashing the boards hard. I think we kind of left a little bit of opening. Usually, we had a sink down. They were quicker to get in the spot than us getting the easy layups. But that is not to take away from the great season that we have had. Duke is a really good program, and we should be proud of ourselves. I am proud of this group.

THE MODERATOR: Juana, do you have anything to add?

JUANA CAMILION: Like what she said. We kept each other, having each other's backs, keeping our head up and everything. As we said, Duke is a great team. We tried. We tried our best, and it didn't work.

THE MODERATOR: Other questions?

Q. This is for Juana. How difficult was it to get into an offensive flow when you got the two fouls early?

JUANA CAMILION: Duke is a great defensive team so, they knew what they were doing when they scouted us. They were playing us tight and everything. It took me a little bit to get going, and as soon as I got my two fouls, coach was like, I trust you. You are going to go back out there. I know she trusted me. I trust myself. I went back there and gave my best.

THE MODERATOR: Other questions for the student athletes? Thank you, ladies, congratulations on a great season. You are free to go back to the locker room if you want. You are welcome to stay -- either.

Open to questions for Coach Chambers, please.

Q. Duke hadn't been scoring at a good clip the last few games. Is there something there you were hoping to keep it close by limiting them? Why do you think they were able to kind of explode there?

BILLI CHAMBERS: They are playing an ACC schedule. Playing incredible athletes who were helping to keep them out of a rhythm offensively.

I think, you know, they were quicker to the ball. Like Juana said, they are quicker to the ball. More athletic, more explosive. They were a lot more explosive. They were getting some of the looks that maybe they were getting in the non-conference, because they had us in that regard.

I think they went out and tried their best. They were a bit shell shocked at first. Obviously, their run startled them a little bit. We gave everything that we had on that court. I don't think we played our best today.

Obviously, I don't think we got into a great offensive rhythm but that is a credit to them. They are a phenomenal defensive team. They obviously scouted very well. They kept us off the three-point line and made it difficult for us to score the ball. It is just not our day. We have to look forward to taking a break, and rebuilding to get it back to where we want it to be.

Q. You are talking about you fell behind 10-0, key players in foul trouble. How did that affect your game plan? Any chance you had to stay competitive?

BILLI CHAMBERS: Sure, I mean, even that early, we wanted to get ourselves settled pretty quickly, even Juana picking up a second foul. Like she said, we trust her. We knew we would continue. We were going to put her back in in the first half to continue to keep us settled, to help us break the pressure.

It is tough when you have your best player in foul trouble, and players off the bench, a little bit behind in their development at that moment and are going to scramble to get themselves together as well. Even without that, like I said, Duke was awesome today. On the offensive side of the ball. On the defensive side of the ball. They just really took away what we wanted to do, and were able to put the ball in the basket at a high clip.

They played a great game. We are definitely cheering for them going forward.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for Coach Chambers?

Q. Coach, the players are grabbing their name things suggesting that this is a memory that they will keep with them for a long time. They want to keep it with them. What does it mean for you as a coach to help these young ladies get to this point, and have their last game be in the NCAA Tournament, when Iona hasn't been here very much?

BILLI CHAMBERS: That is what we want for them. We walked in yesterday, we walked them and wanted them to take a moment. You are in a historic building take the pictures, capture the moment. Enjoy this with your team. Like you said, we haven't been here for a little while. You want them to cherish this moment. They worked incredibly hard to get to this stage today. We are proud of them. We want them to have special memories about it. We obviously wanted it to go a different way on the court. But it is so much bigger than basketball. You look at these young women, Kate working with students with autism, going out to be a teacher. Ketsia and Juana hoping to have an opportunity to continue their careers professionally, because that is where their desires are. Izzy Lipinski, one of our other seniors, who already has a job offer to move into the city. It is so much bigger than what they do on the court. I am proud to have had the opportunity to share this moment with them, so they can take it with them for the rest of their lives.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for coach? Thanks, coach, congratulations on a great season.

BILLI CHAMBERS: Thank you.