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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT


March 7, 2015


Lexie Brown

Brenda Frese

Brionna Jones

Laurin Mincy

Brene Moseley


HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILLINOIS

Maryland – 74
Northwestern - 63


THE MODERATOR:  We're joined by Maryland head coach Brenda Frese and student‑athletes Laurin Mincy, Brene Moseley and Lexie Brown.
Coach, an opening statement.
COACH FRESE:  I thought Northwestern came out, showed what a great team they are with the first punch.  They were really aggressive.  Got us on the back of our heels.  The first ten minutes, I thought they really sped us up.
I thought we needed to slow ourselves down and get our poise and composure, led by Coffey.  I thought she just did a tremendous job in terms of her energy and her will to win.
I thought a big difference for us was our bench play.  When you talk about we went to our bench, Lexie got in foul trouble, we were able to go to our bench and really stretch out with our defense and with our depth and I thought that was a huge turning point for where we're at.
Then the second half, you know, we decided to make it interesting, I guess, to work on special situations, late game, but again credit to Northwestern.  I thought they did a tremendous job, just not going to quit and they fought for 40 minutes.
THE MODERATOR:  Questions for the student‑athletes.

Q.  Bones, you're down nine points, I think, in the first half and a lot of bench players come in including yourself, what's the thought process there and did you have extra confidence compared to how you played against Northwestern last Sunday?
BRIONNA JONES:  We wanted possessions basically.  Because at that point we needed to value because we were wasting a lot of possessions but we also needed value on the defensive end.  That was my focus coming in.  That's what the bench came in.  That's what we were focusing on when we came in.

Q.  Laurin, you were the only senior in the lineup in the first half.  What was it like being in on the floor with that group and mounting that coming back?
LAURIN MINCY:  Making sure we was on the same page, especially defensively.  We needed to rebound especially.  Just being overcommunicative and telling my team to keep fighting throughout the game.

Q.  Lexie, for you what's it like watching the reserves get the lead back for you, you can come in, take over in the second half?
LEXIE BROWN:  It's a lot of fun.  I'm not worried I know how hard they work in practice.  They push us in practice every day.  When I come out and they go in, there's never a thought in my mind that our energy is about to dip.  They did a great job today.  We didn't come out the way we should have and they were ready and obviously it showed because we got the lead back going into halftime.

Q.  Brene, talk about how big a momentum shift it was when Kiara picked up that rebound on that second shot going into shaft?
BRENE MOSELEY:  It was huge.  That gave us life and we needed that, especially for her.  She needed a boost and that got us going.  That was a good moment for us, especially to be able to show her even off the ball the plays she was able to make, even crashing.  That gave us momentum and from then we just tried to carry it out.

Q.  For any of you, yesterday Northwestern's point guard said nobody's going to stand in their way.  You guys read that stuff, was it any motivation?
LAURIN MINCY:  We did see it.  But we were just going to play Maryland basketball for 40 minutes.  We don't focus on the other team.  We focus on us.  That's what we did tonight.

Q.  Lexie, the team went 0 for 14 stretch, you guys did at one point in the second half.  What was going on offensively during that stretch?  You guys had a really great stretch prior to that spanning halftime.  What changed?
LEXIE BROWN:  I don't know.  I think that's just the flow of the games, sometimes you're hot, sometimes you're cold but you can't worry about that.  I had no idea that we had missed that many shots we've just got to focus on getting it on the other end because you can control our defense.  Even if our shots aren't falling we have to lock it down on defense.

Q.  I'm going to go in a completely different direction, Lexie.  Yesterday we had a headband.  Today were you making a statement with the waistband?
LEXIE BROWN:  No, I've been wearing the waistband for a while now.

Q.  Laurin, your thoughts on their offensive rebounding margin, staggering, 21‑8.  What was going right there on the offensive glass?
LAURIN MINCY:  That was one of our game goals.  We knew coming into the game that we had to match them on the boards.  Coach B and the rest of the coaching staff challenged us for this game to outrebound them.  We crashed hard, and it showed tonight.

Q.  Bones, second straight big game against Northwestern, is there something about this team?
BRIONNA JONES:  Not at all.  I think I just go with the flow of the game.  Whatever opportunity I'm able to get at, take and seize it.  That's what I try to do that.
THE MODERATOR:  Questions for the head Coach.

Q.  Could you elaborate more on how reserves of the bench contributed, huge.  Margin 24 and 7 in bench points?
COACH FRESE:  It was huge.  It was the difference in the game.  And we've always talked about be ready when your number is called.  Obviously we had a lot of players come in off the bench together and we've had all year two teams in terms of the depth that we've been able to have.  So just really proud of them.  Staying united, understanding that our depth can really make a difference and it was a big part to the game.

Q.  Brenda, in the second half you made a similar substitution pattern with about 12 minutes to go or so.  You had Malina was the only starter and four bench players.  Was that sort of in anticipation of possibly playing tomorrow or was it just again in the flow of the game?
COACH FRESE:  You know, yeah, it was two fold.  I wanted to be able to rest our starters if we could for tomorrow.  I also challenged the bench to stay locked in in terms of being ready again when their number was called.  So a little bit of both.

Q.  You talked a lot about Laurin Mincy as the only senior and her leadership.  She was the only starter on the floor during that big comeback.  What was she able to kind of do with that second unit that was so impressive?
COACH FRESE:  You could feel her presence, her energy on both ends of the floor, defensively getting stops and then really kind of connecting it all on the offensive end.  You could feel how much she wanted this game.
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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