Speechless on the utter success and class of this team.
Losing Alyssa Thomas and finishinhg 30-2 overall is a testament to the great coaching prowess of Brenda Frese.
In my eyes there are 4 goals entering any Basketball season
#1 Win the regular season Conference Title—Check
#2 Win the League Tournament—Check
#3 Get to the Final Four
#4 @in the National Title
Dont for a second believe this team can not get to the promised land
The achievement of going 21-0 in the first year of the conference is beyond incredible
Lexie Brown was just incredible the entire tournament. Give me great guard play and I’ll take my chances against anyone!!
POST GAME INTERVIEW WITH BRENDA
Q. Brenda, you won conference titles before, how does this stack up? Can you even compare them?
COACH FRESE: I mean, this team is always going to stack up, when you talk about something that I’ve never been a part of and the chance of making history. They just continue, when you talk about being undefeated in conference and then coming out here in the tournament, three games in three days.
And that was a really, really tough game that they had to go out and earn to be able to win. So obviously going to rank right up there.
Q. Could you discuss the poise the team had, up 15 and Ohio State brings it back, but you never relinquished the lead.
COACH FRESE: It’s really been their mentality, their resiliency all season. And they do, they don’t get rattled. They don’t get too high, too low. Game of runs. They understand it. They connect and they lock into their defense and the rebounding and whatever we need to have to be able to be successful.
Q. I asked Malina about the sort of dominance inside rebounding. And that was one aspect of the inside game. But you seemed to struggle getting the ball inside to score, except off of some offensive rebounds. What was Ohio State’s zone like that was sort of preventing you in long possessions and some desperate shots?
COACH FRESE: Obviously they were extremely physical. They’re very athletic. Great length. I think sometimes for us the ball was sticking a little bit tonight. Normally passes that we make that are pretty easy for us, but maybe in terms of the pressure and that we were under.
But credit just sticking to the game plan and trying to find other ways. We found other opportunities on the glass in terms of trying to combat that.
Q. Actually, to have Brionna Jones only play 14 minutes but still have that rebounding edge, what does that say about this team that your leading rebounder can suffer through foul trouble all game and still hold that edge?
COACH FRESE: I mean, it’s just this team. You talk about someone else and steps up and continues to make plays. And to be have that moment for Malina double-double. And Kiara Leslie who has worked and fought all season, a lot of these guys could have quit. But again they continue to show how special they are as a team, why they separate themselves because they continue to fight for each other.
Q. You talked about different players stepping up and again I think it showed in the fact that Lexie is the only Maryland player on the All-Tournament Team. You probably don’t win tonight without the effort of Malina. Last night Brene. Could you talk about how you keep those players focused and ready to step up time after time because it’s been like that all season?
COACH FRESE: You can see why this team wins. I mean because they are selfless. They understand they’re going to sacrifice for one another and as we’ve continued to kind of go through this March, you see– they just love to win. And I think if you ask them, they love it. They’re going to continue to play for each other.
Q. Same question for Lexie, do you feel you’ve done enough to earn a No. 1 seed in the tournament?
COACH FRESE: I think we’ve shown we’re tremendously consistent. I think our body of work speaks for itself. Obviously when they get in a room I don’t have all the paperwork that they have. But for us it’s never been about the seed. It’s always been about seeing our bracket and being able to advance. I mean, last year we were a 4 seed. Worked out pretty well for us to be able to get to a Final Four. So for us if we’re a 1 seed, I think it’s a compliment in terms of our consistency, but it doesn’t win us any games. We’ve got to be able to come back and be ready to play.
Q. Yesterday when Kiara checked in she borrowed a couple of passes. Looked like she was a little nervous. Tonight definitely not the same. Do you notice that difference?
COACH FRESE: Yeah, no question. And you saw her early. She was the first player we brought in off the bench. And we knew matchup-wise she could give us some big things if she was confident. And she presents easily in terms of where she’s at. But just really proud of her. It hasn’t been an easy role for her as a freshman. She was huge for us tonight.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.
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