SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 5, 2025

Johnnie Harris

DeYona Gaston

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Auburn Tigers

Postgame Press Conference

Florida 60, Auburn 50

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Auburn.

We'll take questions for DeYona Gaston.

Q. Obviously a very physical game. How were you looking to keep on battling, especially in the paint?

DeYONA GASTON: I'm the type of player that doesn't back down from any type of, like, competition or pressure or anything. I'm the type of person that will keep fighting till the end no matter what the score is. I'm just competitive like that always.

Q. What would you say differed tonight from your first meeting with Florida?

DeYONA GASTON: They just looked like they had more energy. They came out really tough. I kind of figured that they were going to do that. We were supposed to match their toughness. We didn't, so...

That's what happened.

Q. What will be your takeaway from your one season at Auburn?

DeYONA GASTON: I really just had fun with everybody, like my teammates, my coaches. They gave me a really good opportunity to, like, embrace my athletic abilities. So it was just good to be able to do that because (tearing up). I came a long way, especially with injuries. It felt so good to play my game. It was pretty good.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, DeYona.

We'll continue with questions for Coach Harris.

Q. What looked different from Florida tonight from the first time you played them? What do you think led to the difference?

JOHNNIE HARRIS: Yeah, I thought their point guard play was better tonight than our point guard play. Our point guard play was really good in that first game. I thought the point guard really came out with a vengeance. We thought she would. I thought she came out and controlled the game.

I also thought we missed shots. We missed open shots that we normally make, so... That was a big, big key in the game.

Q. The emotion from DeYona. What does it mean to see the impact this program had on her with just one season?

JOHNNIE HARRIS: Yeah, so she wanted to expand her game. She wanted to be a leader. She came in and she did that.

This team embraced her. I think she embraced that role. I'm not sure that she has been in a leadership role like that before. I'm not exactly sure. That's what she wanted to do, and she did that.

She's always the first one in the gym. She has a pro mentality. First one in the gym, the last one to leave. She is extremely competitive.

She really helped our team a lot. She helped our team grow.

Q. What will be your key takeaways from the challenging season?

JOHNNIE HARRIS: This team continued to fight back. People didn't see the challenges that we had. Missing starters. We had lots of injuries, a lot of days where we didn't have players in practice but they did come to play. But they continued to bounce back.

I'm just really proud of them for staying the course and continuing to fight and bounce back. It was extremely challenging. It was not what we were planning for. It was just tough. It was just tough, like I said, to overcome some of the adversity that this team had to go through.

But very proud of them for the way they continued to bounce back. They continued to come to practice. They continued to show up. Up until today, I felt like we, even with all of that, came out and punched first, we set the tone. We still played our game defensively.

It takes a level of toughness to do that when you have so much adversity. So I'm excited for the future of this team, the players we have coming in, the players we have coming back.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.

JOHNNIE HARRIS: Thank you.