NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL 2 SEMIFINAL - MIAMI (FL) VS VILLANOVA

March 24, 2023

Denise Dillon

Bella Runyeon

Maddy Siegrist

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Villanova Wildcats

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Miami 70, Villanova 65

DENISE DILLON: Well, it was certainly a tough finish for us, but congratulations to Miami, who came in ready to go, battled through, and they're advancing, so good luck to them.

Q. You're down 21 points at one point, you come all the way back, take a one-point lead. I think it was a 14-0 run at one point. What was the key during that stretch, and what worked in that stretch that didn't in the first half?

BELLA RUNYAN: I think we started dictating on defense and we were saying we were letting them get whatever they wanted. We have to dictate defensively. And we did just that. We came up with steals, we came up with rebounds, one-and-done, strung together stops, and that's -- what helped us get back in the game was heart.

Q. Maddy, Bella just mentioned the heart. How special was it playing with this team this season?

MADDY SIEGRIST: Yeah, I mean, Coach was just saying what a special group we had. As a senior I couldn't be more happy to play with these guys.

Q. Bella, what has it been like to play with Maddy and what has she meant to the team this year?

BELLA RUNYAN: She's just been like an amazing roll model, not just as a player, as a person off the court. Anyone that knows her knows that she's just an amazing person. She comes from an amazing family. She puts all of us first as friends. She doesn't just see us as teammates. She puts us first as best friends. And I'm just so honored I've been able to play on the same team as her, learn from her. Sometimes I forget that one of my friends is like an All-American.

Or sometimes when I'm getting so mad at myself at practice, she's going on me, I forget she's All-American. I'm going to miss her so much.

Q. Maddy, obviously you wanted the ball at the end. Did you get the shots you wanted at the end?

MADDY SIEGRIST: Yeah, we did.

Q. Did you at the end?

MADDY SIEGRIST: I mean, honestly, I wasn't really looking at how they were defending me. I knew once I got the ball, just turn, shoot over the top, and I thought both -- besides the Hail Mary at the end, both shots I thought were in. Like I totally back rimmed. I thought they were good. I would take them 100 times over.

Q. You thought about your future in the last five seconds and five minutes and all the rest, but have you already made a decision that this was your senior year? What do you say right now?

MADDY SIEGRIST: I've got to talk to my parents and stuff like that after. But I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to have played here. So many good people, and it's really about the people. Take the basketball part out of it, like the memories and the people are something that I'm going to cherish forever.

Q. Obviously a 22-point swing over the run of the game, to go up one from down 21. When you were down at the half, what was the message to the team, and how did you -- you called a time-out early in the third quarter after they went on, I think, a 7-0 run. What was the message to the team in that time-out, and how did you feel that you guys responded after the half?

DENISE DILLON: Well, the message, and it's been our message from day one, is you're going to battle until the end no matter what the outcome is. You're going to fight. This team has always responded to that. And I say it because that's what they bring every day at practice. They compete, they battle, and they've gotten to this point because of that mentality.

It was just another reminder.

My mistake, we should have in the first half shown some more of the pressure, the press, but you think just a team that's quick like that can take advantage. But again, just waited a little too late to make that run.

Q. Those last couple shots, Maddy said that she liked them, you liked them?

DENISE DILLON: Yeah, I did. I'll tell you, we've won a lot of games with similar looks. She likes the left block, I was surprised she was able to turn over her right shoulder and get that shot with a little bit of one-on-one coverage. I think we all know, she makes that shot nine out of ten times. Actually she's made it ten out of ten times, she just didn't make it tonight, so 10 out of 11.

I said it to her walking up here, there were a couple looks. I mean, even Lucy off the ball screen, I thought that was a great shot for her, getting her to the foul line. And then the last with Mad on the back door. I was surprised she came up with the ball, to be honest. It was crowded in the paint so there was no chance she could see the basket, but she still got the shot off.

Again, she wants the ball. Everybody knows who we're looking for, so yeah, she would always take those shots, and we wouldn't question those calls at all.

Q. Surprised at all to see her that emotional right there?

DENISE DILLON: Yeah, sure. No announcement has been made, but I think we are aware of what's going on. I think emotion is just the sense of -- like I said to the team, you got that close. You gave yourselves a chance. You got back. It's just more the sting of not finishing the job today and advancing.

This team, any opportunity I get to talk about them I'll take because they're so special. They're extremely special.

The end, it's so quick, and I think that's just the feeling we all have right now. And Maddy especially, because yeah, some big decisions need to be made at this point. You want the season to keep going so you don't have to make those big decisions.

Q. If this is it for Maddy, you've been around this program a long time. What was her legacy?

DENISE DILLON: Yeah. Well, you can talk -- everyone is going to see the numbers. The numbers are going to be there forever, which is so special, and what she has accomplished.

I'll tell you, when you leave your mark on people as Maddy did, there's nothing greater. It's a question you can ask all student-athletes, I think you ask yourself as a coach, just as a person in general: How do you want to be remembered?

When her teammates are going to say, like she's just a great friend, she was a lot of fun. That's better. They're going to always start with that, and then they're going to be like, yeah, you know what, she was a really good basketball player.

I think that is by far the greatest accomplishment as a student-athlete where you can be recognized just as being an authentic person as opposed to just a great athlete. She'll continue to impact the world in whatever she does.

Q. Back to a basketball question, when Miami built that big lead in those second and third quarters, what kind of problems were they presenting to you?

DENISE DILLON: Well, it was just the isolation, the one-on-one attacks. We weren't doing a good job containing the basketball, and I thought we were doing a worse job of being in help position. So making some adjustments to sag. Everyone got so caught up in who I have as opposed to what has -- again, our strength is playing as a group, as a team on both ends of the floor.

Games like this certainly you can get overwhelmed with that, like I've got to get a stop, I have to make something happen. They took full advantage of some of the one-on-one coverage. And just pace, forcing some help and dumping it off, mismatches.

Q. Perhaps a decision is made, the way you're talking, but I can think back to Ionescu several years ago and the way that game went, nobody knew for sure, coming out, not coming out. The bulk of the team was coming back, and she decided unfinished business off of that. You've pretty much got everybody back, so just as you're talking here, do you think there's a chance that even if she was going that she might think twice?

DENISE DILLON: Oh, yes, obviously she's thinking about it. But we'll just keep telling her, I wouldn't mind running it back, another go with her here. She knows she has our support, whatever decision is made.