NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - EASTERN WASHINGTON VS OREGON STATE

March 22, 2024

Joddie Gleason

Jamie Loera

Jaydia Martin

Gill Coliseum

Eastern Washington Eagles

Media Conference

Oregon State University - 73, Eastern Washington University - 51

THE MODERATOR: We'll have a comment from Coach followed by questions for the players.

JODDIE GLEASON: I just want to congratulate Oregon State. They came out and played a great game. Congratulate them on advancing to the next round.

I thought we started the game pretty strong, and then that second quarter, they just started to get it to Beers, and she's just such a great player, and we struggled to stop her a little bit there. And they just kind of cranked it up defensively a little bit as well.

But I'm super proud of our team. This team has cemented themselves as the best team in Eastern Washington women's basketball history. And we just love every one of them. And that's what I told them when we went in there, and I'm just super proud of the entire season and this game as well.

Q. Jamie, I'm just curious, can you talk a bit about that first quarter, because it seemed like that was what you needed to do to be able to win this game, play four quarters of that?

JAMIE LOERA: Yeah, for sure. I think we came down, we got some stops, we got some rebounds, and we just really pushed the ball to get our offense going.

And, yeah, like Coach said, we started off really strong. And Oregon State is a tough team. So just being able to trust who we are and trust our abilities for four quarters, I think that was the challenge for today.

But, yeah, they came out. They were more aggressive coming into the second quarter. And our response wasn't what we wanted, but just definitely proud for just fighting the rest of the game.

Q. I know it's fresh. But are you guys able to look back and reflect on the season and how big of an accomplishment this is and how great of a season, truly historic it was for Eastern women's basketball?

JAYDIA MARTIN: Yeah, you know, it's always tough right after you lose a game. But looking back on how much we've accomplished this season and, honestly, what a great group of girls we have, it's just amazing to see that and see how far we've come and how much we've done together as a team.

And honestly this is probably the best team I've ever been on throughout my whole experience through basketball. I love these girls, and I couldn't ask for a better team.

JAMIE LOERA: I'd echo Jay. Just super proud of our team and what we accomplished, breaking records and making history.

That wasn't really on our goals this season, but it just happened. And I think it's just something to highlight and be really proud of.

Just as an older player, I'm just proud of the growth that I've seen from my teammates and just being a part of that and helping them, supporting them any way I can.

Just been really an amazing experience. And, yeah, even just Jay right here, she's grown a lot since I've been here the past couple years, and just super proud of her and what she's been through and what she's battled through.

So, yeah, it's been a great season, and definitely, definitely proud to be an Eag.

Q. Jamie, Oregon State had eight turnovers in the first quarter. What did you think specifically you guys were doing to disrupt their offense?

JAMIE LOERA: Yeah, I mean, ball pressure was definitely key because they wanted to pound it inside to their bigs. So applying that ball pressure was kind of what frazzled them a little bit.

And we feed off of our defense. It turns into offense for us as well. So I think our ball pressure. And then just mixing it up on the ball screens and on our post defense as well.

Q. Anybody up there, what do you guys hope that people remember most from this season of Eastern women's basketball?

JAYDIA MARTIN: Honestly, like I said before, I know it's a little repetitive, but our community knows how great of a team we are and how close we are and how much we just generally care for the game and care for each other.

Outside of everything, all the records and everything that will be put up on a banner, I feel this is a team that I feel like most we won't -- sorry -- that we won't forget or nobody will forget that's been in the community of Eastern while we've been playing.

JAMIE LOERA: I would highlight our culture. I think one of our goals this season was to have the best culture in the country. And to be able to show up every day and be for each other, I mean, that's the best culture right there.

And I think we showed that. And I think our community and Eastern Washington knows that Eagles women basketball, they come to fight and they love each other.

Q. You're a junior. How can you and the other younger players on this team use this as a catalyst for next season, season after that, et cetera?

JAYDIA MARTIN: Yeah, you know, we always look at our past seasons and see what we can work on. And I feel like we can look at this season, and there's a lot of good things that we've done, but there's also always room for improvement and room for growth.

Summer is super fun to be able to work out on your own, lift weights, be on your own schedule, but still working hard together. It's pretty much like playing high school again. And I think that's where we'll definitely come together and we'll be a stronger team together next year.

Q. Jamie, just walking off the court for the last time there in this game, what was that like for you to give hugs down the line?

JAMIE LOERA: Dang it (tearing up). Just like what a journey it's been. It mean, just when you pour your heart into a program and just receiving the love back, it's -- it's pretty incredible. So just super proud of what this team has done, and just got a lot of love for these girls.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you both for being here. You're good to go to the locker room. Thank you.

Okay. Now we can open it up for questions for Coach Gleason.

Q. Coach, Jamie was really cooking in the first quarter. What's going through your mind as her head coach watching that all unfold?

JODDIE GLEASON: I'm just super proud. A lot of times Jamie defers to other people. Especially to start games, she looks to run the offense and is a great distributor. So I was just super proud of her. I think that she kind of recognizes that she needs to score for us as well.

And so we were super proud of the way that she was cooking. And our team as a whole played really well that first quarter. But just Jamie was doing Jamie things.

Q. Right around a minute and a half, you took the starters out, you took Jamie out, and you got in a lot of your younger players. We're talking a lot about how you retained so many of your players from year to year to year since you've been there. How big of a milepost is that for you in the growth of this program?

JODDIE GLEASON: Yeah, we just wanted to give those guys a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. It's really, really hard to get here. I think people outside the business don't realize how hard it is.

And so it just felt like those guys needed that opportunity, and so we made sure that we got them in.

And they're very capable. We have a lot of kids on our team that deserve minutes. But we just had better players in front of them, to be honest, and so they didn't get in as much as maybe they would like. But they compete every day in practice, and so we just wanted to give them that opportunity.

Q. Looking back at earlier in the year when you played Gonzaga and you lost by two to them, in some sense was that kind of the formula to play like that again?

JODDIE GLEASON: Yeah, we kind of went back to our Gonzaga game, our game at Cal. Those were our two preseason games where -- probably the toughest competition in the preseason.

And you know you have to play your best. You don't have to be perfect. But we needed to really apply defensive pressure. We needed to force turnovers. We know that helps us get out and score. So that was -- we did look at those two games as catalysts for sure.

Q. Coach Rueck talked about when he watched you on film, it was clear you win one-on-one battles with your players. I'm just curious, how well were you able to do that tonight to get those shots and get one-on-ones?

JODDIE GLEASON: It's tougher with Oregon State. They had length at every position on us. And so those shots are just a little less open. You are a little more rushed.

But I think our players still do a nice job of creating and getting pretty good looks. Aaliyah and Jamie in particular were able to get a lot of those looks that they normally do.

So it's just a little different. It's just bigger, stronger, faster, playing against these guys. So you just have less time.

Q. You just mentioned getting the younger players experience. Going into this game today, only one of your players on your roster had experience in the NCAA Tournament. That's Jamie. She's leaving the program. We're talking about growth of this program. How transformational of a moment could this be for your program next year and beyond?

JODDIE GLEASON: Yeah, it's huge. The only way to get experience is to get experience. And so we have a lot of players that started as freshmen and then are now juniors, and those guys have been here for three years and just getting them into the game, a lot of sophomores that maybe didn't get as much time throughout the year, like I said, because of the depth of our starting group and, I mean, the quality of our starting group.

But just trying to give them their time.

Q. Going forward, how do you build on this and what kind of a message does this send to the rest of Eastern Washington, the rest of the country about the fact that you guys are the real deal?

JODDIE GLEASON: As coaches, we're always working extremely hard to fill the shoes on the recruiting trail. And we have some seniors in that starting lineup, three in particular, that we need to replace, and then Gabby Jung off the bench.

So we're always working. We have a couple coming in already, and then we have a couple forwards that we've already signed.

But we're just always working hard to fill those shoes. And our bar is always high. We want to put out the best product that we can and represent Eastern as best as we can.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much, Coach.

JODDIE GLEASON: All right, thank you.