MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2024

Jaime White

Mia Jacobs

Deajanae Harvey

Thomas & Mack Center

Fresno State Bulldogs

Postgame Press Conference

UNLV 83, Fresno State 35

THE MODERATOR: For Fresno State we have Mia Jacobs, Deajanae Harvey, Coach Jaime White. Thoughts on today's game, Coach?

JAIME WHITE: Well, hats off to UNLV. Obviously they have won a lot of games for real good reason. I thought they came out and were ready to play. I thought they shot the three really well tonight, in our absence of guarding it a little bit.

Our focus was to stop their transition. Obviously with Desi you have to have a focus on their post play. We just couldn't be everywhere at once. Kudos to them.

Our kids, they played hard. I think we've had a good season. We have a lot of young kids that are getting better with every game. Grateful for these two that really lead in offense more times than not and are able to step up.

So, you know, that's a wrap. It's hard in this last moment, this last game, but proud of our kids. Proud of our staff and the people that work with us. Just grateful for all the hard work that they've put in. Hoping that we learn from this game, and we can move on in the future.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Just what makes it so difficult about UNLV's pace of play, and how they're able to just grind out bucket after bucket?

DEAJANAE HARVEY: I think what makes it difficult for the opposing team is being able to guard the post as well as guarding the guards alongside the perimeter. I think we were in position a lot of times worried about the post, getting the ball, and being in help side early, but we kind of lacked perimeter play by the guards. And they did that well and kind of capitalized on our mistakes defensively. I think that's what makes UNLV a pretty good team.

Q. Obviously you guys are a young team. What makes you excited about this season and also moving forward as you kind of grow up?

MIA JACOBS: Yeah, I'm excited. Obviously we only have two seniors that could be back next year, so possibly having nobody leave. So it's exciting to see how much we've grown since the start of the season to now and then obviously we have all of offseason. So just being able to grow as a team.

We had seven new girls this year, so proud of how the girls did this year, and I'm excited to see how next year goes.

THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student-athletes at this time. Questions for Coach.

Q. Coach, from your perspective, what was UNLV able to do well defensively to kind of limit you guys, hold you to single digits the last three quarters?

JAIME WHITE: Well, it feels like single digits the whole game, but I did think defensively they did a good job on some of our on-ball stuff. Every time we got past one person, they had good help rotation.

Desi does a good job and Brown both of just being in there and being able to take that second level of defense. I thought they did a good job, chased through screens, had some energy.

I felt like we were a little tired from our win yesterday, and we had to break the press for 40 minutes yesterday and then coming into it and a very different team. But I did think the difference between playing them the first time and then this second time, their defense is much better.

Q. What do you like about your team's attitude and their refusal to quit despite what the scoreboard said?

JAIME WHITE: Well, you either choose to -- I mean, you really can't quit. That's number one. Number two, you choose to get better in that moment, and we just challenged them at halftime to keep playing.

We always say the score is 0-0, and if you have that mentality and you try to work on the moment and what you can do better, and I think we got some young kids in that got some good minutes and good experience.

This is a good tournament to have experience in, especially coming back and having that feeling of being able to play and get the nerves out. So I was proud of some of those kids.

Some of our upperclassmen, our starters, I just think you saw it, they gave everything they had. So proud of those kids. There's just times when it doesn't fall your way, but there's never, our entire year, been a moment that they've quit. So I'm really proud of that.

Q. What about that makes you excited for the offseason given that you are a young team and a lot of your players are coming back, and what makes you excited to get better?

JAIME WHITE: Yeah, well, that's the speech in the locker room after you lose. You know that. It's, hey, we don't like this feeling. Let's get back to work and raise the bar.

So maybe this year it was, like, okay, we have a lot of new kids. Here's the bar. Let's see how we do. I thought we did a good job against the teams that we matched or were better than, and now we've got to turn around and say, okay, how are we going to beat the UNLVs, how are we going to beat some of these teams that we struggled with a little bit?

That means working in the offseason, both with the team and on their own, and that's our job to motivate them. The great news is they love each other, and they work so hard together. We have a great staff at Fresno State that works with them and takes time.

Also, I'm proud of the fact that for the most part we ended healthy. You're seeing that a lot of kids these days and in programs all over, they're having these injuries, and especially late in the season. Kudos to our training staff and our sports med for taking care of these kids and getting them through the season because I always believe when you have a healthy team, you have a chance to win.

Q. You touched on it a little, but when you are preparing for UNLV, when you are scouting them, what stands out, I guess, on film? What do you think the ceiling is? You've seen a lot of teams here. What is their ceiling for this year going forward?

JAIME WHITE: What do I think UNLV's ceiling is?

Q. How good can they be, I guess?

JAIME WHITE: Obviously Desi has been here for a minute, and she has consistently not only -- I think she's grown her game. She's gotten better over each year. For a really good, even her freshman year, to continue to get better, that's impressive.

I think they've added some really good parts. Brown is solid. Not that they've added her, but she's playing well. Frescas obviously is being able to shoot. Then a couple of parts here and there have just made them a little bit more well-rounded, harder to guard. Jackson has gotten better.

And then the addition of -- I never say her name right, Kimpson. The addition of Kimpson has really been nice too.

I hope -- obviously I like Lindy, and I'm impressed with what they've done not only in our conference, but in the preseason. I thought they did a good job.

I think it's time. It's time for them to get past that first round. It's time for our league to get past that first round in women's basketball. I'm going to be cheering for them.