AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2024

Lindsay Edmonds

Malia Fisher

Destiny Jackson

Dickies Arena

Rice Owls

Postgame Press Conference

Rice - 71, UAB - 56

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from Coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

LINDSAY EDMONDS: Yeah, I was just really proud of our team's effort, their focus, their intensity. We had that want to win that I'm going to put my foot down, I'm going to do whatever it takes to get a win. Just really proud of our effort. We were tough, we were resilient, but we played the brand of basketball that we're used to playing and it just feels good to get back in the win column and it feels good to see how we were playing, see how we were celebrating one another. Just really proud of our efforts.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Questions?

Q. Just talk about, if you can, what was different tonight than the last game y'all had against UAB?

LINDSAY EDMONDS: Just our focus and our intensity. I think we had a lot of confidence in the game plan. I think we had great prep days. As soon as the tip started, that intensity was there, and it was there the way we needed to be there. We pushed when we needed to push, we slowed the ball down and executed our offense when we needed to execute our offense, so I think it was just the intensity, focus, and preparation was different.

MALIA FISHER: I really think the difference between this past game and the one before was that all 15 of us had the mentality that we have the capabilities to beat anybody if we set our mind to it. Everybody came out and executed to the best of their abilities and everybody did what they were supposed to do. It's hard to stop us when everybody is playing at 95 percent.

Q. Destiny?

DESTINY JACKSON: They said it all, but I'll just say we started out fast, just having that mentality, that mindset, that want to, that hunger to want to win, and not, like, play to not lose, but to play to win.

Q. The defense in the second quarter, especially seeing they put the game in a situation where you all could control it the rest of the way.

LINDSAY EDMONDS: I liked our defense the whole game, really, for the most part. I thought we were in our gaps and in our plugs the way we needed to be. They hit some tough shots, they hit some tough layups, but we defended the three-point line really, really well. Our goal was six or less for them because they shoot the three so well. They only made three, so I thought we did a great job of that.

They only went to the free-throw line 11 times. I really liked our defense from start to finish, but the second quarter was great because we held 'em to 11. But our offense also was clicking most of the quarters too, so that helped us being able to put the game out of reach or put the game in our favor where we could control it most of the time.

Q. What did you talk to 'em, talk to the team about at halftime to come back out and get a quick start?

LINDSAY EDMONDS: It's been great, but it's not enough and it's 0-0 and the exact same way we started the game, we needed to start the third quarter that way. Reminded them of what it felt like to lose and we needed to have that passion, that want to to make sure that we don't have it happen again, and we have a goal and you got to do it one game at a time and we took care of business and I'm really proud of 'em.

Q. The bench contributed a lot tonight. When you made subs just to give some folks some breaks, they kept the pace up.

LINDSAY EDMONDS: They did. Our team's deep. I've said it all year long. When we show up and we can go deep into our bench and not have a huge drop-off, but also our starters get us off to a good start, like, that's where we're at our best, starters start us off to a good start, bench doesn't have a letup and we're a deep team. Because of that, we've done it all year long and now we're going to keep showing it.

Q. Malia, Coach talked about the importance of the third quarter. How did that affect you? Because it seemed like you and Sussy kind of came over and that's when it felt like you really put the game out of reach.

MALIA FISHER: Yeah, I think, like she said, just keeping up our mentality from first half to second half is really what kept us going. I think we're all in each other's ear about keep doing what you do, keep playing your game, and no matter what missed shots you have, no matter what missed rebounds, miscues, none of that matters because everybody has the capability to be a top player in this game and a top contributor.

And specifically on Sussy, any given night she has the abilities to make every single team work to guard her and I think she really showed that tonight.

Q. For you Destiny and Malia, this has been a really deep team all year and y'all talk about that a lot. But what was it like tournament game, elimination game, for the starters to come out tonight and really set the tone, five bench points going into the fourth quarter?

DESTINY JACKSON: Could you repeat the question?

Q. You're a deep team that has a lot of people off the bench you can rely on, but how important was it, in an elimination game, for the starters to really set the tone like y'all did?

DESTINY JACKSON: That's very important, just like you said, set the tone, let the team know that, hey, we got this, just the starters letting everybody else know that, hey, we're coming out hard, y'all got to keep it up when we come out.

Q. Coach, you had the losing streak coming into this and now you get another rematch coming up with a team that beat you in that streak. Is it kind of poetic justice that you get an immediate right to kind of get a bounce back maybe coming up tomorrow against North Texas?

LINDSAY EDMONDS: Yeah, we're on a mission, and it doesn't matter who we play and what happened in the previous games, because everybody's, it's win or go home. We got a little bit of a bad taste in our mouth in the last time we played them, that should fuel us. We did a lot of good things in that game. We forced a lot of turnovers, we had a lot of steals, we had a lot of offensive rebounds, we held them to a low scoring night. But that doesn't mean anything, we got to come out and do it again and we got to do more than what we did the last time. So, whoever we're playing, we're going to be ready to face, regardless of what the outcome was the last time, because we have a mission that we're trying to accomplish.

THE MODERATOR: All right, Coach, thank you.