SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 7, 2021

Jenna Staiti

Georgia Bulldogs

Postgame Press Conference

South Carolina 67, Georgia 62

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Jenna Staiti. Questions, please.

Q. Great run in the tournament. Can you put today into perspective? I know that was a tough, emotional ballgame out there.

JENNA STAITI: I mean, just nobody thought we'd be here. I'm really proud of this team. I'm proud of our coaches. I'm proud of everyone who's gotten us here.

They're a tough team. They're a great team. They just came out on top. I don't know.

Q. Obviously the big difference was that nine-point swing at the end of the third. Any thoughts about what was going on then, what happened?

JENNA STAITI: It was a mental break on us. You can't have those in games like this. We didn't respond back for a little bit. It hurt us.

Q. Obviously this is disappointing, but there's still potential for a whole lot of basketball for y'all left to play. How are y'all going to go from this point on?

JENNA STAITI: I mean, today sucks, it hurts. It's not how we wanted to go down. We can put it in perspective by saying we can play with any team in the country you throw at us, so...

Q. Through this whole run, I mean, how important was it for you guys to realize what you are capable of, what you have done to this point to get more eyes on the work you've done over this whole year?

JENNA STAITI: I mean, we've been working hard all summer. We've been working hard in the off-season, pre-season, everything. No one sees what we do. No one sees it.

Just getting this far and people having us place 9th in the SEC, us finishing second in the tournament, is a huge pat on the back to our coaches, us. We worked so hard to get into this moment. Everybody doubted us. I think we shocked a lot of people. I'm proud of everyone. It goes a long way.

Q. How do you think your run in this tournament set you up for the next tournament?

JENNA STAITI: I mean, like I said, it gives us confidence we can play with any team in the country you throw at us. Our team is tough. We will bounce back from this. It hurts right now. We're going to let it hurt today. Tomorrow it's a new day. We wake up, we're going to get to work, we're going to focus on us this week. Probably get a couple days off, focus on us, what we need to do better.

Q. Can you take me through your emotions? There's pain in this moment, but also there's got to be a sense of pride as well in the fact you beat the top team in the country, hung with Carolina, had the run that y'all had.

JENNA STAITI: I mean, it just hurts. We played so hard. We play such good defense and stuff. Yeah, it's tough. It hurts. Sorry, I'm blanking. What was that part of the question?

Q. I was talking kind of like the balance of the pain, but also the pride in the fact you guys won those games, have a good spot in the NCAA tournament.

JENNA STAITI: Yeah, Coach said we have an opportunity to make a statement in the next tournament. So we made our statement in this tournament. We unfortunately didn't come out on top. But we made a statement. I don't think many people would have picked us to even be in the championship game right now.

Just making that statement shows how tough we are.

THE MODERATOR: Jenna, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.

JENNA STAITI: Thank you, guys.