MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2025

Mik Bradbury

Alyssa Hargrove

Hulda Joaquim

Thomas & Mack Center

New Mexico Lobos

Postgame Press Conference

San Diego State - 63, New Mexico - 53

MIKE BRADBURY: We came out pretty good. I thought we were playing really hard and focused. And then the third quarter happened. And give San Diego State credit and wish them the best of luck.

Q. Like Coach said, started off well. The third quarter happened. What went into that third quarter? What did they do well to limit you to five points?

HULDA JOAQUIM: I honestly just think we did not make our shots. That's it. Because we were trying hard but they were not falling in, wide-open layups, and that's kind of what happened in the third quarter.

Q. Both teams had good performances off the bench tonight, 20 points for you guys. What did you make of that performance from that group tonight?

ALYSSA HARGROVE: We're always happy to see our bench players get in and help us and provide that extra umpf and give us more energy. I thought they did that, Drew and Nayli and a couple of them, and Amhyia helped us.

Q. I know this is not a question you can really answer, but you had a few quarters where the offense sort of disappeared on you. What's going through your mind when that happens, and why is it so difficult for you guys to get out of that so quickly?

ALYSSA HARGROVE: I think I struggle between wanting to either deciding to slow it down or if we need to pick up the pace or what we kind of need to fix in that moment. But I think we got good shots, and we were running the floor and we just couldn't finish them.

Q. Hulda, you've seen that a couple times and you manage to overcome runs like that. Fresno State, you had a bad quarter but you managed to turn it around. Was this one just too deep?

HULDA JOAQUIM: I don't even know what to say to that. We tried. The ball was just not going in.

Q. The players with four steals tonight, what did you make of the effort and the stinginess at times from the defense?

MIKE BRADBURY: Our effort was good. We played really, really hard. I thought we competed the entire 40 minutes. I thought that part was good.

Q. For you, in the third quarter, did it just boil down to not making shots, or was there something that wasn't working?

MIKE BRADBURY: They may have sped us up a little bit. But we missed -- according to what we kept on the bench, we haven't seen it yet -- we missed six layups in the third quarter, five of them uncontested. And we didn't make any free throws the entire night.

So without looking at it -- if those numbers are accurate -- that's really the difference in the third quarter.

Q. Similar to what I asked them, I know it's difficult to explain that, when you're getting the same shots that you're trying to get in the first half and just weren't hitting them. But the turnovers and the missed free throws, at some point those have to start to weigh on you, don't they?

MIKE BRADBURY: Yeah, without a doubt. We turned it over way too much. And then free throws are the free throws; I don't know what causes that or why it happens. But we had way too many turnovers.

I think some of them San Diego State forced, obviously. But some of them were just one-sided drives, first-side drives that we talked about not doing. And it's easy to say and easy to practice, but unfortunately we made too many of those.

Q. Defensively, were you relatively happy with your performance?

MIKE BRADBURY: Yeah, I thought we got out there and we followed the plan. And they got loose on us a couple of times. And a couple kids made shots that we were willing to accept, especially during that little run. And give them credit. They stepped up and made them.