AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2025

Diane Richardson

Tarriyonna Gary

Amaya Oliver

Dickies Arena

Temple Owls

Postgame Press Conference

Temple - 65, Charlotte - 34

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

DIANE RICHARDSON: Thanks everybody for being here. I thought it was a hard-fought game. We followed the scout. I'm really proud of our young ladies that followed the scout. We came out with a win today.

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions, please.

Q. A lot's been made of the redemption arc against Rice. Like, you guys got knocked out by them last year and you're facing them again. How important is it to kind of stick with your script like you said, which kind of helped cause today?

DIANE RICHARDSON: Well, you know, obviously Rice is a really good team and they did this last year, so they're playing really, really hard. We've got to be able to come out and follow our scout as well. We want to get to the championship and we want to win the championship. We get to see Rice tomorrow and we've got to follow our scout and do what we need to do to get a win.

Q. I want to ask about your fast start. You scored 11 straight before they even scored anything. Your defensive effort led to the offense. What else went into that? I know it's an obvious question, but what makes the defense so strong?

DIANE RICHARDSON: Well, we knew that our defense was going to carry us today, but what we wanted to add to that was to get out and start strong. We jumped out and scored some baskets, and then we stopped them. That was our game plan, is to start strong but to play some tough defense.

Q. Can you speak to the versatility of you're team between Oliver and your forwards and your guards. It seemed like no matter what the matchup is it seems like you guys can adjust and just get what you need to do, especially with points in the paint and the defense.

DIANE RICHARDSON: Yeah, we've got some great players here, obviously. They are very versatile. We knew that coming into this game. Charlotte had some really athletic guards and we knew that in order for us to be able to play with them, our posts would have to be able to be agile and switch on some screens to and they did just that.

So hat's off to Charlotte and their coach, Tomekia Reed, who is a very good friend of mine and a sorority sister, but our team was victorious today.

Q. For the players, Amaya, it seemed like had you a huge role in keeping everything steady in the second quarter when shots weren't falling. What was some your conversations with your teammates and what was the locker room like at halftime too?

AMAYA OLIVER: Yeah, going into the locker room, we just knew we had to throw the first punch just like we did in the first quarter. Even when shots are not falling, we always have to rebound. We emphasize offensive rebounding, and so that's where I kind of came in and made sure that I was a presence there on the boards.

Q. Do you have anything to add?

TARRIYONNA GARY: Yeah, before the game, I just spoke to my teammates and I was just like, We know we're the best team in this conference, but we have to prove that every time we step on the court. So in order to do that, we just had to come out play hard defense, get Charlotte riled up, and we knew it was going to translate to the offensive end, and I feel like that's where we were able to make our money and just be present in the game.

Q. You guys have a lot of experience. Tarriyonna, you have it here. Amaya, you have it elsewhere. How important is it to have a diversity in perspectives from transfers from people who have been with the program for several years?

TARRIYONNA GARY: I feel like it's really important. As far as coming into our system, like, we play a fast-paced system, so of course the coaches are going to recruit players who fit this style of basketball. And we just know we have to play to our role, and I feel like that's exactly what we did today. Everybody played a good part in their role and just being a good teammate and just being who they are on the court.

Q. The size difference was pretty clear, and you talked about the game plan, but I wanted to ask you, Amaya, did you know that you were going to have an opportunity today? Because you guys were way bigger than Charlotte going into the game plan. Did you know that you were going to have a big opportunity for a big game today?

AMAYA OLIVER: Going into the game not necessarily, but once I saw how they were playing, how they kind of went into that 1-3-1 zone, and I kind of got a feel for it, then I did catch onto it immediately. I was, like, yeah, it's a mismatch back here. And then once I caught on, then I just tried to make myself more of a presence.

Q. A lot has been made of your equal-opportunity offense. When you see different players have amazing days, like Amaya -- some days it's Tarriyonna, some days it's Tiarra. How does that feel to have your kind of philosophy working?

DIANE RICHARDSON: It's great because not only do we expect them to be able to score because -- you know, our thing is giving them confidence, and I'm really, really confident in them, and I want them to be confident in themselves. So this equal-opportunity offense allows everybody to be a star, and we want everybody to be a star. It's hard to defend five people. You can't double-team anybody because you can get scoring from everybody.

Q. Amaya, have you experienced that at your previous stops before?

AMAYA OLIVER: As far as getting everybody involved?

Q. Yeah.

AMAYA OLIVER: Yeah, I would say that you want to feed the hot hand. If somebody's knocking down shots, we're going to try to get you the ball. So I think that has carried on throughout my career and it's worked, you know. (Laughing.) You want to feed the hot hand. Everybody's capable of scoring on our team, so yeah.

Q. You talk about the capability of scoring, but also the capability on the defense. What does that mean to have that flexibility where you can trust players to come off the bench and the defensive intensity not drop off?

DIANE RICHARDSON: Yeah, that's the thing, we want to pride ourselves on our defense, and so we spend time on that in practice. The good thing about our defense is it's team defense, and the trust that they have in their teammates, if somebody gets a blow-by, they know they trust their teammate to have their back. They trusted each other on these switches today too.

Q. Tarriyonna, you knocked down three threes today, how big is that for your confidence throughout this week and yeah just throughout tomorrow against Rice that's going to be big for the team this week?

TARRIYONNA GARY: Yes that's really big for my confidence. Not just mine, but my teammates as well, because I know they expect me to knock those shots down, and I know if I'm getting going early that's a good start for us and that's just going to carry on through the whole game. I just try to do what I do best and that's hit shots.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you.