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PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 3, 2017

Seattle, Washington

Oregon State - 65, Cal - 49

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Oregon State. Coach, an opening statement, and then questions.

SCOTT RUECK: Thank you. First off, it's always a privilege to play in front of a sea of orange, and that's what we were able to do again today. So early start today in Beaver Nation didn't disappoint. They never do. So how encouraging that is for our team to run out and hear that ovation and have them behind us the whole time. So we're very grateful for that.

Today I was just proud of our team to play for the third time and second time in just a few days, it feels, against such a talented Cal team. And Kristine Anigwe coming off of a great win yesterday with momentum, and we faced adversity all day. She's so difficult to guard. Then they hit threes in that second quarter.

But I love the resilience this team played with. I thought they started the game in an incredible way with Syd starting it off scoring for us. And every time they made a run at us, we made the plays to keep them at bay. So it was a great team win today. Mik and Syd were awesome, and our defense was phenomenal. To hold them to 49 points and hold Kristine 26 on 24 shots, though, and only keep her to six free throw attempts. That was the plan, to make her work for everything, and we did.

So really proud of the effort and really happy with the win.

Q. Syd, can you just speak to how tough it is to play a team two times in less than a week, and maybe what the difference was down the stretch you feel like every time they tried to make a push there?
SYDNEY WIESE: Yeah, I think one thing that is tough for postseason, especially Pac-12 Tournament, everyone is on level playing field. You forget about the conference play and the wins and losses. And everyone's out to win and to survive. So it was a big day for Cal, because I know that they have postseason opens.

So they were coming out to try to get a win, which is important for them. I mean, they're so long. There were a few times in the fourth quarter I must have forgot how lengthy they were, because they got a lot of tips and we turned it over a little too much there. But they're very talented. It's definitely tough to play a team, I think, in a four-day span, four- or five-day span because you know each other so well. Especially at the end of conference play, you know each other, so you just have to make plays.

So I think Kolbie had an amazing pass to Marie to get that and one lay-up. I want to see a replay of that. So I think people just stepped up the way that we needed to and at the perfect times and made the plays necessary in order to win.

Q. Mikayla, what was it like to play your first college game in your hometown, basically?
MIKAYLA PIVEC: It's great to be back home. I knew some of my friends and family came. And it's good to see Beaver Nation. The four- or five-hour drive, they didn't worry about that. They just came up, and we saw 250, 300 people in the crowd cheering us on, so it's cool to be back.

Q. Were you just feeling it today offensively or what?
MIKAYLA PIVEC: My teammates set me up in position to be successful. I know Syd made a few great passes to me, and glad they went down.

SYDNEY WIESE: Thanks, Mik. Great shots.

Q. Mikayla had a huge game, but your freshmen played really well. Talk about how big Mik was, and that freshmen group. I think three of them were on the floor in the first quarter because of foul trouble. They really gave you a lift?
SCOTT RUECK: Yeah, another huge lift from them. Mik and Kat have produced all year long. I love it when Mik was as aggressive as she was today. She makes so many things happen, attacking the basket, spacing the floor. I thought we did a nice job finding her in the corner, knocking those shots down.

Kat stretches the floor when she's got the ball. She doesn't even have to make a shot to stretch the floor because of who she is. I thought they played great defense as well. Madi gets minutes when we need her, to be honest, and when Marie got those two quick fouls, we were already out of our rotation two minutes into the game. So Breanna did a great job just staying out there. Kolbie had to play long minutes, and they can't stay out there the whole time. So Madi just once again comes in and plays absolutely huge. She hadn't played for, I think a couple weeks to be honest, and the other day hits a big shot against Cal on Senior Day, and then today hits another huge shot at the end of the first quarter.

So just really impressed by all of their contributions. They do a phenomenal job. We see Janessa every day. There are four of them that are just constantly improving, and it's so encouraging to the rest of our team to see their growth. So they're leading from that freshman position. They were pivotal, and they will continue to be as we go forward.

Q. Your rotation was also a little different today because Katie couldn't play. How did that impact your substitution patterns and how optimistic are you that she'll be able to go at some point this weekend?
SCOTT RUECK: Yeah, I'm hoping. We'd love to have her back tomorrow. You saw gabby at the one a little bit. You saw Mik playing a little bit longer minutes. You saw Syd playing longer minutes. Well, I guess. That's kind of typical, I guess. But, yeah, anytime -- just one more example of this team rising when, you know, we're down a player. That's been who they are over the years. Not just now.

So when somebody goes down, somebody else steps up, whether it's foul trouble or whatever it may be. So this was just one more example of this team taking adversity and turning it into a positive and overcoming it.

Q. Scott, there were multiple times throughout the game where it looks like kat was going Cal was going to make a bit of a run and it get back into it. They got within four at one point. Most coaches opt to take timeouts at that point. It seemed you let your team play. Is that more of a comfort thing for you knowing that they've been through a lot of the season and they'll ride it out, and you don't really need to slow it down for them?
SCOTT RUECK: It's a feel, complete feel. There's times when as soon as that momentum has changed, we need a timeout immediately. That happened against Stanford last week, actually. They got momentum and an immediate timeout. Who is on the floor, the vibe of the situation. So that's always feel for me. I felt in this situation let's play through it as long as we could.

I did take two timeouts tonight though because of that. So when you've got veteran leaders on the floor, and typically we do with Syd and Gabby, normally you can weather it a bit. This team has done a great job of that, and I trust that their ability to make it right again out of the chaos, you know? Let's get back to something normal. So sometimes it's just telling them to slow down. A couple times I thought we shot the ball way too early a couple possessions in the third quarter that led to their momentum during that stretch. We got away, maybe, from being who we are. Took a couple bad shots, and, hey, let's run a set. When we did, we were successful tonight. So, all feel.

Q. Mik, you've had a lot of success in the three games against Cal. Is there anything that they do that allows you to be open? It looked like you were really confident throughout, but just especially shooting the three tonight. Was that true?
MIKAYLA PIVEC: Yeah, I try to come out and be aggressive with my drive. If they take that away, if the threes there, go for that. But try to come out with that mindset each time. Luckily it's been against Cal, I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but...

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 3, 2017

Scott Rueck

Mikayla Pivec

Sydney Wiese