BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 7, 2026

Anthony Bozzella

Savannah Catalon

Jordana Codio

Mohegan Sun Arena

Seton Hall Pirates

Postgame Media Conference

Seton Hall - 63, St. John's - 61

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from Coach and then take questions.

ANTHONY BOZZELLA: First of all, congratulations to St. John's. They had a tremendous year. I know they're not done playing. They're an outstanding team. 20-plus wins and obviously, as everyone knows, Coach T and I are good friends, and he had his team ready. They played really well, and we did as well. I thought it was a very well-played game. I thought the two young ladies on my left led not only because of their points and rebounds and stuff, they led because of their effort and their effort was outstanding.

Obviously, Jordana's stat line speaks for itself, but there were some other things she did in the game that really impressed me as a head coach. And the lady to my left is the heart and soul of our program. I mean, I'll just give you a quick story. She's playing with a broken bone above her eye, and the doctor told her 10 days minimum. And she goes, Well, we play in five. And he goes, Well, it's 10 days. And she goes, No, no, no, we're playing in five.

And she basically told him she was going to play, and that's the type of person she is and leader of this program. And I'm very proud of both of them, of the team, and us. And it's hard.

We've battled through a lot of adversity this year. I know everyone says the same thing, but you can look at our box score and the adversity shows. But they keep working, they keep getting better. I'm just proud of them.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

Q. Take me through that final possession there. What was going through your mind?

JORDANA CODIO: We made it adamant in the huddle that we needed to obviously not let them get a three off, but also rebound. So I know all of us were very -- like, we needed to do that, so I don't know, I just knew I needed to grab the rebound, so I did. So, yeah.

ANTHONY BOZZELLA: That was a heck of a rebound. You know, everyone looks at the points. I look at her defense and how well she played and just went after that rebound. It was just incredible.

Q. Was it spotlight? Was it the big stage of the Big East tournament? What was it that had you in such a rhythm tonight?

JORDANA CODIO: Yeah, it's win or go home, so, obviously, I was going to do whatever I needed to to help my team win. So, yeah, I treat it like every other game, but I did know that I had to play my best, you know. So I just had to go out and help my team.

Q. What was it like for you to be in a game like this? Obviously, emotionally you can go high and low, but you guys still had a chance to pull it out and you did. So what was it like being in the middle of a game like this in March?

SAVANNAH CATALON: Well, this matchup meant a lot to us because the previous two didn't go our way. So we knew we had to come into this game and throw the first punch and I feel like we did. Good thing Jordana was on tonight, and I feel like our defense as a team was really good and that we stuck to all the things that we were preaching throughout this week, which was defense, rebound. And even though we got out-rebounded, I think we still did pretty good, so, yeah.

JORDANA CODIO: We rebounded when it counted.

SAVANNAH CATALON: Yeah, that part.

ANTHONY BOZZELLA: That's a good point and that's very accurate.

Q. Essentially you guys have been offensive momentum for the team. However, tonight I think it was four or five possessions in the last minute, and I think after the call, you guys kind of accepted it. Jordana clapped and hopped back on defense with 10 seconds left. What does this say about the toughness of this team and not shying away from the moment?

SAVANNAH CATALON: I think one thing about this team is, like you said, we don't shy away from the moment and whatever we're thrown -- whatever's thrown at us we're going to handle it, we're going to find a way to move past it, get around it. After that possession, you were talking about, we all came together and said, Look, we can't do anything about it. We're going to have to stick together and play our hearts out because it's win or go home, and we all know how much this tournament means to us.

Q. The first two St. John's games were very similar to this. What were the biggest differences in this one?

SAVANNAH CATALON: I think heart. I feel like we played with a bunch of heart today. We didn't let them outwork us. I feel like we outworked them.

JORDANA CODIO: And I also think that we, like she said, punched first, and also, I think our whole team did a really good job of keeping our composure during the game and not getting into little things that do not matter, especially on the big stage. So I think that we, you know, got down to the nitty-gritty and punched first as well.

ANTHONY BOZZELLA: I think we matched their physicality. I mean, they're a very physical team, and they play really hard and really tough. They're a great example of what Big East basketball is about. We talk about Big East basketball and obviously everyone talks about Connecticut and they have a great program, but Seton Hall and St. John's have really good programs too. And I think tonight's game was an exciting, hard-fought, well-played basketball game, and we found a way to win because we made one more play. But they're still an excellent team as well.

And let's not forget that the Big East is a really good conference, and I'll talk about it after these two ladies leave, but it's a hard place to play, this conference.

Q. Essentially people, when they think of the Big East, they really just think about UConn, maybe Nova, a little Seton Hall. However, this conference is deep. I think I spoke with you earlier this year about how tough this conference can be. What does this just say about the conference how tough these games have been outside of you guys as well?

ANTHONY BOZZELLA: Yeah, no, it's interesting. I listened to Dawn Staley talk about the SEC after they won today to get to the finals, and she's like, You know, the SEC's a war every day. You can't just look at metrics and numbers. You have to watch the games and watch the talent that's on the floor. And I thought she was talking about the Big East. Because I'm tired of being compared to other conferences by a metric or something like that. St. John's and Seton Hall would be at the top of any other conference in the country, except the Power Four, there's no doubt in my mind. I said St. John's and Seton Hall, obviously Villanova, Marquette has a great program as well. Look how good Creighton is. You can't look at a metric and say Creighton and St. John's are barely top-100 teams. They'll beat most teams in any other league. So we battled through some injuries, we had a couple losses that we wish we didn't have, but we have a damn good basketball team and we're in a damn good conference. And everyone else needs to realize it by watching our games, not by looking at some metric because we beat some low-level team by 35 points. We don't have low-level teams in our conference. We have really good basketball teams in our conference. People need to start watching that as opposed to looking at a metric or a number. I mean, I am proud and honored to coach in this league.

Q. You have a game today. And you're losing an hour of sleep. How do you recover, how do you get ready for a game that's going to be not too long from now?

SAVANNAH CATALON: It all starts with rehab. Our trainer, Christina, she's really good. She's always making herself available if something's hurting. It could be as small as your finger, she's always going to be there. So of course going to that, but also just staying off our feet.

JORDANA CODIO: I would also say too, like we're going to be tired regardless. I feel like this tournament, all the conference tournaments, you just have to push through it. Everyone's tired. And like she said getting rehab, getting treatment, doing everything you can to get your body ready for the game. But you know that you're not going to be a hundred percent. So just having that mental, you know, to push through.

Q. Coach, strategy?

ANTHONY BOZZELLA: No, my, these young ladies are going to be ready. We just played Villanova two weeks ago, and they played really well against us. And we, you know, we know what we have to do to be a lot more competitive against them. And the staff's going to work hard and be prepared, and the players will be prepared. And now you made me upset, because I forgot we were losing an hour of sleep. But that's okay. No, it's great. Listen, it's a lot easier after you win, and we won and we're in the final four, and I'm really proud of the girls.