BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2026

Darnell Haney

Laila Jewett

Brianna Scott

Mohegan Sun Arena

Georgetown Hoyas

Postgame Media Conference

Georgetown - 62, Butler - 58

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from Coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

DARNELL HANEY: Hello, everyone. Extremely proud of our group and our effort tonight. In the first half, in the first quarter, we missed a lot of chippies offensively, but our defense, it looked like we packed our defense with us to come up here to the Big East tournament, and it showed in the second half.

Very proud of our group. And kudos to Butler. They're a good team. Coach does a great job with them. But we packed our defense tonight. Proud of our group for that.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

Q. What was the message at halftime? Because you guys seemed to reset the tone when you started the third.

DARNELL HANEY: We made some adjustments, right? We talked about how we were going to guard some of their actions. We talked about -- when I first walked in, I told them, I said, like, we missed a bunch of layups and we weren't rebounding the ball. And we did a much better job in the second half of doing that.

And then we call it the Hoya effect, right? So the first quarter, they can feel the defense a little bit. Second quarter, all right? Then third quarter. Tell you a little story, I used to -- I'm from Miami, right? So I'm from Miami. I used to collect lizards, okay? So I used to collect lizards and make 'em my pet. But I was so young I didn't know anything, so what I would do is I would get a glass jar and I would put the lizard in a glass jar and tighten the lid on the jar. I'd get back up the next morning and the lizard gone, right?

And we call it the Hoya effect, and what we want to do is every quarter we want to tighten the jar. And they know first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, we continue to tighten the jar. That's the Hoya effect. And we talk about it. You'll see them on the -- in the game tightening the jar. So that's what we want to do. We want to make sure we wear these people out, right?

So in the fourth quarter, all the work that we've done all year, all the miles that they have ran in the pre-season, all of the practices they have been in, and they have been hating me about it, right? It comes to fruition. So I'm just proud of them for that. They really stepped up defensively tonight, and just kudos to them and their teammates, man. We just did a great job. And kudos to our staff staying with it and these young women staying with it.

Q. Speaking of staying with it, coming back from injury now and reflecting back on where you were and where you're at, you could just see how much you enjoy competing in the clutch, that scream you let out after you-all forced the turnover late in the game, your bucket late. What does it mean to you to help lead your team along with Laila to a Big East tournament win?

BRIANNA SCOTT: Honestly, it just means the world to me. Laying in that bed after tearing my ACL and all the other things that I did, like, I just knew that I was going to come back and I was going to come back stronger. Just having a team and a program that still believes in me, still believed in me after I could have just put the jersey away and said, I'm done with basketball. They wanted me to come back, I wanted to come back, and I feel like I have that support system here that I built. My teammates trust me, they love on me. The coaches, same thing, they trust me and love on me.

So it just means the world to come back to a program that loves me so much and just helped me get back and helped me with my confidence. Even when my confidence was low, they were there for me, and I really appreciate that because that's what helps us win.

Q. Five of six on the free-throw line. You clearly thrive in kind of those clutch moments. What is it about your game that kind of translates to elevating it in the big moments come tournament play?

LAILA JEWETT: First and foremost, I thank God for the ability to play. I know my strengths. I know if I'm going to the free-throw line, nine times out of ten it's going in. So that's something that I trust, something that I believe in. That's really it.

Q. You guys had a lot of second-chance points in the paint, and it seems like you guys were the more physical team. Can you talk a little bit about that?

BRIANNA SCOTT: I feel like we had the size advantage against Butler, so I feel like that was something that we harped on very heavily when we were prepping for this game. We're one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the conference, if not the best. I'm not sure. I feel like we harp on that every day, so that overpowering on the offensive glass, getting each other's misses and putting them back up for points is something that we really -- it's something that we do. It's just, like, our identity. It's something that we do very well. Just playing physical was one of our goals this game because we knew we could out-physical them. So, yeah, that's what it was.

Q. For both of you, what does it mean to play at this time of year where games are really few and far between? You win or you go home. What does it mean to play with this group of teammates?

LAILA JEWETT: It's priceless. I love my teammates. I love the coaching staff. I'm thanking God that I'm still here, still playing. I'm very grateful for the opportunity, for sure. So that's my biggest thing.

BRIANNA SCOTT: I agree. Not a lot of teams get to say that they played and won in March. So it's just a blessing to be able to come back out here. I thank God for all of it. Just coming back -- I've stated it multiple times, it just means the world to me. So getting a win in March is just -- it's priceless. Like Laila said, it's priceless.

Q. What's it like to have teammates -- twins on your team and then also play a team that has twins?

BRIANNA SCOTT: They're trippy. (Laughing.)

LAILA JEWETT: No, it's definitely trippy. Summer and Indya, like, once you get to know them, they're absolutely hilarious. Honestly, we've played Butler, like, twice in the last, like, two weeks or so, and honestly, they have, the twins have been guarding me like full court, so I've gotten to know 'em a little bit. They're just as goofy and everything. So it's pretty funny obviously.

BRIANNA SCOTT: Yeah, it's trippy to see. You got to look at their number to know. After you play them three times you can see how they look. It's like with our twins. We look at them, and I see their mannerisms, and I'm like, Oh, this is Summer and this is Indya. We can kind of tell the difference now because we played Butler so many times. So, a little trippy but it's cool.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you.