ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 4, 2026

Kate Paye

Hailee Swain

Courtney Ogden

Gas South Arena

Stanford Cardinal

Postgame Press Conference

Miami 83, Stanford 76 (OT)

KATE PAYE: First I'd like to compliment Miami and their coach Tricia Cullop and their staff and their players. I thought they played a great game. They were very difficult to guard. It was a real seesaw game, went back and forth, back and forth, when you look at first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter.

I'm very proud of our team but we dug ourselves a hole a couple times and battled back. I thought both Courtney and Hailee, our Atlanta girls, really showed out today. We got our shot going and knocked down some nice threes. Zone came through for us in the fourth quarter.

Really, they beat us on the board. It was very challenging guarding No. 0. She is a real force in there. The guards are difficult to guard.

We turned the ball over too much in the second half and I think that contributed to their third quarter run. Obviously we're very disappointed. This is not the outcome that we wanted, but I'm very proud of our team for battling.

Q. I just wanted to ask about the zone defense that you switched to. It seemed like that helped calm things a little bit. Coach, if you could speak to that and what you saw.

KATE PAYE: Well, we were really struggling to guard them, quite frankly. Again, 0 is big inside. She commands a double. She was 10 for 12 from the floor.

Their guards were really -- we were struggling to gored their pick-and-roll. So we went to the zone. I thought our team made an excellent adjustment, forced a lot of turnovers, and that got us back into the game.

Our press helped kind of late in the fourth quarter as well. Courtney hit some big shots, her three, her lay-up kind of right at the end of the game to tie it up and send us into overtime.

So that was effective. We probably needed a little bit more sooner.

Q. Hailee, it kind of seemed like you, Lara and Alex when you guys needed a bucket were able to be that motor even as freshmen. What did you see today? I know you can't speak for them, but what was this for your first experience and being able to come up with some big buckets when your needed them?

HAILEE SWAIN: I feel like throughout the season my teammates and coaches trusted me. They always see me gym, they know I'm in there, so when the time came I feel like I was ready for it.

Q. Coach, if you could just talk about what you're most proud of today. I know you hinted at it in your opening statement, but Courtney and Hailee, if you want to join in, what made you proud today?

KATE PAYE: Just that our team battled back. I'm extremely proud of Courtney Ogden. I think she's had a great regular season and played great today, a homecoming for her. She has just really taken off. She's an all-ACC player in my opinion, and she's put our team on her back on many an occasion, including tonight hitting huge baskets, so I'm really proud of that.

Following up on the other question, I'm extremely proud of all the players on our team, in particular Hailee Swain; a big night as you mentioned. Their game plan was not to guard Hailee. I don't think that worked. That's because Hailee gets in the gym and is constantly working on her game. That is what Stanford basketball is built on is real workers.

Lara, Alex, and Hailee have really grown. They've had excellent mentorship from their upperclass players, Nunu, Chloe, Courtney, Shay, and I'm most proud of the sisterhood on our team.

Q. Coach, in terms of the schedule you guys played this year, the strength of schedule and the wins you have, what can you hang your hat on in terms of the toughness that you challenged your team with?

KATE PAYE: We feel, we know, we can beat any team in the country. We can play with anybody. We unfortunately had a very tough stretch in our season where we struggled. Nunu was out for five plus games. We lost Talana Lepolo, our starting point guard six, seven games into conference play, and our team struggled through a stretch. We had a very short rotation, and I think it wore on people.

But people stuck together. People battled back. Obviously we got Nunu healthy, Hailee, Shay, Chloe have stepped up. We played great teams in the preseason, obviously beating Oregon, beating Washington, a win at UNC.

Unfortunately it just didn't come together today.

COURTNEY OGDEN: I think throughout the season, I am most proud of I think our team has had a next-man-up mentality and also a next-day mentality. Like Kate said, we've had some ups and downs this season, but every day in the gym, the next day after a tough loss or a tough day everybody comes back to practice, in the locker room everybody is still ready to work, everybody is still is showing positive emotions, loving each other.

So I'm just proud of us for sticking together this season especially.

HAILEE SWAIN: Just to go off that, I think I'm really proud of, like Courtney said, how we stuck together but also just not sitting in the tough stretch that we did have.

KATE PAYE: I just want to say we appreciate you all being here. We appreciate the ACC, the ACC staff for putting on a first-class event. Being here at Gas South Arena has been terrific. It's beautiful venue. The floor is really nice. It's been a first-class experience for our team. The ACC is a fantastic women's basketball conference, and the competition has made us better. We're very appreciative, so thanks to everybody.