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NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 5, 2011

Devereaux Peters

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

Texas A&M Â– 76
Notre Dame - 70

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Notre Dame student-athletes Natalie Novosel, Devereaux Peters, Skylar Diggins and Coach Muffet McGraw.
COACH MCGRAW: What an incredible season. I'm so proud of the team what they accomplished this year where we came from in November to get to this point. It's really remarkable, the progress that we made this year.
And just so proud of them right now and so thankful for the support from all the people from South Bend. A lot of green out there in the stands today, and we really appreciate that support.

Q. Skylar, can you talk about getting past that start, I think it was 18-6, you had seven turnovers, then from the 13:26 mark no more turnovers the first half when you got the two-point lead. What changed there for you?
SKYLAR DIGGINS: We started putting pressure on them like they were putting on us.

Q. Devereaux, can you talk about your game tonight, just what was there for you and the challenge of dealing with Adams inside?
DEVEREAUX PETERS: She's a big post of the she knows what she's doing. She got low and she got easy buckets. We couldn't guard her.

Q. Skylar, can you just try to put this into words, what you're feeling and what it's like?
SKYLAR DIGGINS: I'm just disappointed. Obviously we wanted to win and we didn't, so...

Q. Devereaux, what do you think ultimately was the difference tonight?
DEVEREAUX PETERS: We couldn't defend them like we've been doing all year. White had a great game and Adams had a great game. We couldn't stop them.

Q. Natalie, what was the difference between the first and the second half, you guys went in with the lead and built on it a little and then all of a sudden it trickled away?
NATALIE NOVOSEL: I think we started the second half well and they were able to counter act with a run on their own. We got back on our heels a little bit, got in foul trouble.
And I think they just kept pounding it into the post and we didn't have an answer.

Q. Did the speed of the -- Skylar, did their speed surprise you guys the first five minutes of the game? It looked from a standpoint as if you were a little bit out of sorts out there the first five minutes. Did their speed surprise you, or what happened there the first five minutes?
SKYLAR DIGGINS: We just didn't handle the pressure. We turned it over too much. I don't know if it was nerves or what. But we didn't handle the ball and didn't execute on offense. They're a great team. They're a good defensive team. One of the best in the country, and we did a poor job handling it.

Q. Skylar, I saw you leave the court right before the buzzer sounded. Was it at that point just too much for you to basically --
SKYLAR DIGGINS: After the buzzer went off, they're celebrating and things like that. I just wanted to get off for my team and get ready to talk to everybody and finish it out with the huddle.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Questions for Coach.

Q. Coach, can you talk about Skylar and how well she played the whole tournament? What can this do for her heading into the next year as far as status as a college basketball player?
COACH MCGRAW: She really stepped up her game, I thought, in the NCAA Tournament, particularly as the games went on. I thought at the regional, being MVP, as a sophomore, what a great accomplishment.
I think she came into this season as somebody that people were aware of. Obviously she was on the Naismith and the lists that were circulated.
And I think she really gave herself a big shot of credibility, I guess, I would say, coming into next year as one of the top players in the Big East and one of the top players in the country, I think particularly at the guard spot, and to make the All-American team.
And just a fabulous end to her season. I think she really, really figured out how she could score and how she could lead us. And I'm really looking forward to the next two years with her.

Q. Can you talk about how you got things turned around, to go without a turnover that last 13 minutes of the first half?
COACH MCGRAW: Yeah, we really dug ourselves a hole early, and we were very nervous. I thought we were just a little flustered offensively and completely out of sync, and so they were making all the shots. And so we were hoping they couldn't stay on that pace.
So I think really just what happened, we settled in a little bit defensively. We rebounded better and we started to run some things, and I thought we got a couple of good back door looks and just got some good shots.
And that was what we weren't doing I think the first couple. So I thought their pressure bothered us at the start of the game.

Q. Can you talk about Danielle Adams and the difficulty in dealing with her?
COACH MCGRAW: Well, we did not find an answer for her. We had a plan, and we just weren't able to stop her. We thought that was going to be a tough matchup for Becca.
Devereaux tried to guard her a little bit, but then the foul trouble was a problem. Natalie tried to guard her and then she got into foul trouble. She did a really good job of getting us in foul trouble.
She's just a great player. She's got a big body. We couldn't get around her. I thought she really hurt us down the stretch.
I thought we did okay for a while, but then in the last, I don't know, seven or eight minutes, they just seemed like they were going to go into her and if she didn't get it she was going to rebound it and put it back in. I was disappointed that we weren't able to get down there to get the double-team a little quicker.

Q. This is Devereaux's first full season in an Irish uniform even though she's a senior. Can you talk about her play tonight and what it means to have a national championship game like she had?
COACH MCGRAW: I thought she played very well, again, after the start. I don't think anybody played well at the beginning.
But then she really settled into her game, did a nice job on the boards. I thought she was effective around the basket. She scored well. She rebounded well. She defended pretty well. Overall, I thought kind of a nice momentum builder for her going into next year.

Q. Can you talk about the quality of the basketball? It seems that was almost as -- that the game of basketball won, particularly after the mess we saw last night.
COACH MCGRAW: I thought this was going to be an uglier game, and I was right on our part at the start of it. But I think both teams really did a much better job as the game went on.
So I thought both teams played hard defensively, and, yeah, I thought it was probably not so entertaining from my point of view, but I think from the fans's point of view it was probably a pretty entertaining game.

Q. Can you talk about White's 3-pointer as the shot clock buzzer went off? It looked like Skylar was there and had a hand stretched in her face.
COACH MCGRAW: Yeah, that was a knife right in my heart. That was the game. That was the game. And the disappointing part about it was with two seconds left we didn't get the rebound. That was the disappointing part.
We had two people in there and it ended up a jump ball and that cost us the game. I thought that was just an amazing play on White's part. And it was an unbelievable shot. They make two 3s in the game and we have a two-point deficit and we couldn't get the rebound.
That was the game, that play right there.

Q. Talk about the run at the end of the first half, if you would. I want to go back to the first of the game, here you are in your home state. What are some of the things you talk to your players about and expectations and, like I said, the run before halftime, no doubt a big momentum for you?
COACH MCGRAW: Yeah, we started making some shots. And they started missing some shots. And we got our transition game going a little bit. We got a couple of drives. And when we were able to shoot the ball, I thought we did it pretty well. Almost 60 percent in the first half.
So I thought we just kind of got our legs back and just kind of got our confidence back a little bit at the end of the half. And we were just so happy with all the fans that were out here in our home state. And everybody around town was cheering us on wherever we went.
It was so great. We were so well received here, and the hospitality was so amazing.

Q. I know people remember who won, but maybe you can speak for a moment of how your team came back from a 13-point deficit, seven-point deficit, even late, five, maybe you years from now will be able to remember that countless comebacks, but talk about the resiliency your team showed.
COACH MCGRAW: Well, it's a group of fighters. I knew they weren't going to give up. And they didn't disappoint me.

Q. Can you talk about right when you had a chance to build on that lead in the start of the second half and then they ended up closing the gap? What was happening right in there with them making that move?
COACH MCGRAW: I thought we took a couple of really bad shots. We probably had a turnover or so in there. But just really quick shots where we could have got something a little better.
I think we got a little anxious at times. And, you know, White hit a couple of shots and Adams hit a couple of shots.
And we kind of lost our poise, I thought, maybe for just a minute there. And that was all it took.

Q. Great players are often really tough on themselves. And I wonder at what point will you sit down with Skylar and give her a perspective of the whole year as opposed to just tonight?
COACH MCGRAW: I think it's going to be a while for her to get that perspective. I think she's extremely hard on herself. And she will spend the entire summer, I'm sure, thinking about this game.
And that's probably a good thing for us. I think that's how we got motivated last year. You lose that last game, and you just get motivated to come back and work a little bit harder and make sure it doesn't happen again. So I think it will be a really good motivator for us. She had a great tournament. But obviously some things that she would like to change at the end.

Q. Do you think in retrospect you made a mistake at the beginning of the game by moving Skylar to the wing and letting the other guards bring it up? Because you really lost your composure there right at the beginning and the game almost ended before it began.
COACH MCGRAW: I actually didn't make that decision. They kind of -- they're at the point -- they make that on their own in the game. When Sky wants to play on the wing she tells Brittany to bring it up.
And I think she really wanted to be off the ball a little bit. I thought we really didn't have any poise the whole first probably eight or nine minutes, even when she was at the point. I didn't think we executed well.

Q. You're going to be losing a lot to graduation. Could you talk about next year and Notre Dame women's basketball?
COACH MCGRAW: The great thing is Becca Bruszewski is our only senior. So we've got everybody else back. We've got a young team. So we've got a lot of people with a lot of experience coming back. Becca is a great leader for us. We're going to miss her, the intangible part of her game.
She really got things going. Set the tone. So it will be tough to replace her, but we have some good players coming back.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

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