AMERICAN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2026

Ashley Langford

Mecailin Marshall

Legacy Arena At The BJCC

Tulane Green Wave

Postgame Press Conference

Temple 86, Tulane 77

THE MODERATOR: We are joined now by Tulane head coach Ashley Langford and Mecailin Marshall. Coach, we'll start with you.

ASHLEY LANGFORD: Yeah, I'm obviously upset with the final out come but just really proud of our team for continuing to fight. We were down 17 and I just told them a lot of 18- to 24-year-olds would have just quit or laid down and maybe got beat by 30.

And so just proud of how we finished. Really big on doing things the right way and finishing the right way regardless of the result and I thought we finished the right way regardless of us coming up short.

Q. Coach, I'm going to start with you if you don't mind. You took 14 less shots than they did in the game and you still were able to -- in fact, when you forced it to overtime, you had taken 17 less shots than Temple had and you still forced it into overtime. Can you tell us about the gumption your team had pushing it all the way to OT?

ASHLEY LANGFORD: Yeah, I think it's just pride, resiliency, not want to lose, wanting to keep playing, just being competitors. I think that's what drove it.

And obviously some belief. Mecailin starts scoring, that helps. We get some steals, a little bit of belief and some energy.

But ultimately it's hard to win a game when you get beat on the glass. You allowed 12 made threes and there's things that put us in that position.

While I'm proud that we fought back, I just wish we didn't even put ourselves in that spot because I thought the second half is who we are. I thought the first half, that's not who we are. Part of that is the stage and, you know, that happens sometimes.

Q. Mecailin you really came through like gangbusters again. You are so brave when you go up against a lot taller players up there on the board. What kind of, I guess, soul do you have to do that kind of stuff? I don't see me going up against people that much bigger than me.

MECAILIN MARSHALL: Really it's just hard work and preparation, because in practice we do one-on-one drills and we work on different ways of attacking the basket and getting to the rim. It's definitely the confidence that comes behind all the preparation.

Q. I know, Mecailin, this is not the way you wanted it to end, but Freshman of the Year and then you scored 25 points and you go 11 of 11 from the line. This is the kind of performance that I know your coach is loving from you right now. Tell us a little bit about your preparation to go into that 25-point performance you had today.

MECAILIN MARSHALL: It's really not just, like, on the court preparation. It's really just a mindset that I have keep for myself. During the game I was telling myself you got this, you got this. You're here for the team. You're here to win.

We only get one opportunity and, obviously, we fell short, but, yeah. I just kept telling myself you got this, you got this. It's for the team. This might be the last game, so just play all-out.

Q. Coach, if you don't mind, I would like to go back to the last shot of regulation. Kanija hit that gutsy three-pointer that she did. Can you tell us the setup for that and how that arrived?

ASHLEY LANGFORD: That seems like so long ago. A play broke down. It's March, players make plays. It's not about Xs and Os. Everybody knows your plays. Everybody knows what you're doing. A player has to step up and make plays.

We designed something that broke down and understanding what we needed to do and we needed a three and she stepped up and knocked it down. That's what we need. We need fearless, right? And she's fearless. Again, we went out the right way. I'm proud of that, but that's what it was, players making plays.

Q. So what does this mean for the future for you? What does this mean for the future for Tulane? This really was a gutsy, gutsy game and you played some gutsy games this last month of the season, not that you didn't the rest of the year, but this was a really emotional team. I loved watching them play. What does this mean for you for going into next year?

ASHLEY LANGFORD: Yeah, I love this team and I appreciate them. Being a Tulane alum, this is not the standard and this is not where we need to be. It's my job to get us back to where we're supposed to be. I hope that all the returners never want to feel like this again and don't want to have a season like we just had, because we were so close to winning for literally our record could be flipped. Literally.

If we were just consistent and played for 40 minutes. So I'm really hoping that the returners understand that and that we mature on the off season and grow up a little bit and realize this is unacceptable and we're going to be better next year.

Q. I just want to ask, Coach, of course the last game for all your seniors today. What have they meant for this program all season and their whole careers to you?

ASHLEY LANGFORD: Yeah, you never want them to go out on a loss, obviously. Everybody wants to win. Again, I'm just proud that we kept fighting and the team kept fighting for them. They're all important and they all have helped in different ways.

Amira has been at Tulane for four years and so has Jaylee Womack, and that says a lot about who they are as people and the university. Each of them have helped in a different way. Some of them have come for one year, which is not even a full year. It's like six months. Even for them trusting us and wanting to come help us one. I appreciate all of them. Like I told them in there, to me, it's about experience and I think they're all really connected as a team and that's going to go further than right now. To me, that's what it's about. Lifetime friends, experiences, that kind of thing. I appreciate all of them.

Q. One more. To fight back from that deficit at halftime, 14, just what was the message in the locker room to spark that come back?

ASHLEY LANGFORD: You might want to ask her what sparked it. I don't know. In halftime I literally just said guys, everyone chill out. Like we just played 20 minutes of I don't know who that is. I know everybody in here wants to win it really bad, but everyone just needs to do what we have been doing all season. So, I do think they responded to that in the second half and started doing things that we've been doing.

But, again, that's part of experience. You have a freshman point guard. Like, she ain't been here before, you know what I mean? She hasn't been here before either, so that's a little bit of the growing pains. But I literally just told them to chill out.