NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - GREEN BAY VS TENNESSEE

March 23, 2024

Kevin Borseth

Maddy Schreiber

Natalie Andersen

Reynolds Coliseum

Green Bay Phoenix

Media Conference

Tennessee 92, Green Bay 63

KEVIN BORSETH: I'm really proud of our team. Great year, all things considered. Played against a really good Tennessee team. They're a lot better than their record indicates, in my opinion. But yeah, really proud of our crew. I thought our crew represented ourselves really well. It was a great year.

Q. Maddy, it looked like the offense was going pretty smooth in the first quarter. What kind of changed after that?

MADDY SCHREIBER: Yeah, I think the momentum kind of swung a little bit and we kind of got a little bit passive. They kind of switched into a zone, so we had to change our offensive tactic, kind of where we were going. They switched up their defense on us, so I think our momentum with how we were first going at it kind of had to switch a little bit, so yeah.

Q. Obviously you can tell you're both pretty emotional right now. Can you describe what you're feeling and kind of what the mood was like in the locker room, what you guys were saying to each other?

NATALIE ANDERSEN: Yeah, it was pretty sad, not going to lie. I love playing for this team, and I love playing for Coach Borseth here. I'm just sad it's all over.

MADDY SCHREIBER: Yeah, it's unfortunate. They're a really good team, and they kind of proved it. It's sad that it's over and we lose some great people like Natalie. We have nothing to be sad about, really. Our season was great, and everything to be proud of.

Q. Natalie, you are a senior. What's next for you?

NATALIE ANDERSEN: That's a good question. Yeah, I'm going to be finishing my Master's Degree in cybersecurity, so that's what's next for me so far. But yeah, I'm going to be -- I've got a lot of free time now, but we'll have to figure that out.

Q. For both players, what was it about Tennessee's size and height that was so challenging?

MADDY SCHREIBER: I think this was the biggest and probably strongest team that we've played all season long, so I think coming in we were like, well, we're a little bit undersized but that's okay; it's about what's inside, not necessarily what's physically.

I don't think coming in we were too scared about that, but when we got out there, they're a tough team. They're big girls, they're tough girls, so I think it was a little bit challenging when we got out there, but we played with them for a while.

NATALIE ANDERSEN: I agree with Maddy. We were playing with them, but it's tough when they're all way bigger than you and then you get fouled. It's tough.

Q. What's this experience been like? And with five or six girls coming back next year, what is this going to do to motivate you to get back to the tournament again?

MADDY SCHREIBER: Yeah, this experience has been something that we'll never forget. All of us besides Natalie have never been here before, and the opportunity is unbelievable, and an incredible experience.

With a bunch of us returning again, we're going to keep fighting to come back here, and it's going to be good to have that experience under our belt.

Q. When Tennessee made some early perimeter shots, did that just heighten the problems you might have in trying to defend them?

KEVIN BORSETH: They made everything. They shot really well. They were 70 percent in the second quarter, 65 percent in the first quarter. That's pretty good shooting.

Now, granted, some of them were over smaller people. Every time we made a mistake we went underneath 0 three times, and three times she hit a three. They weren't supposed to go under. But they made shots when they had to make them, obviously, and of course now you're battling around that rim and all we could do was foul them around there. We got quite a few fouls around there. But that size is a pretty big factor.

Q. How does this compare to the previous tournaments that you've been a part of, and what are you going to take primarily from this season?

KEVIN BORSETH: Well, anytime you play in a national tournament against a big name, be it Tennessee, be it Oklahoma, be it LSU, you're playing against some pretty good teams. You go back and you look at Tennessee's losses, they lost four games early in the year when 2 wasn't playing. Then they lost five games, three of them to South Carolina and two to LSU. That's nine losses out of their 11. So they're pretty good. And they almost beat South Carolina. They're a good team. That's all I can say.

We had to play perfect, and even at that, I thought they played really well, and they've got some players -- I thought we held 2 down. She had 24 points. We spent a lot of time substituting people in and out because they had foul trouble. But yeah, national tournaments, you're always playing against really good teams. We would have liked to have gotten a little closer in score, obviously, but I think for the most part our kids represented themselves and the university really well, and I was proud of that.