AMERICAN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 13, 2026

Lindsay Edmonds

Dominique Ennis

Hailey Adams

Legacy Arena At The BJCC

Rice Owls

Postgame Press Conference

Rice 71, North Texas 67

THE MODERATOR: We are joined on the podium by Rice head coach Lindsay Edmonds, Dominique Ennis and Hailey Adams. Coach, we'll just start with some comments after we pick up the bottle. Turnover this late. We'll start with general comments from you.

LINDSAY EDMONDS: Okay. Really just proud of this group. That was a battle. Credit to North Texas. I thought they played a heck of a game. I thought we had a great first quarter. I thought we had a great third quarter and I feel like that was really the separator for this game.

We talked about wanting to lean into our defense. We wanted to lean into our rebounding, and I feel like we really hung our hats on that for the most part this game.

So, again, just proud of the effort to be able to get this win and get ourselves back into the championship game for the third year in a row.

Q. You mentioned the third quarter in particular. What was the conversation like at halftime to kind of regroup and come out strong in the third?

LINDSAY EDMONDS: Yeah, we had got into a little bit of foul trouble. I think I had four of my five starters sitting on the bench with two fouls and we didn't play our best quarter but at that same time, we were only down five and so we felt like we needed to regroup, get all of our starters back into the game, and we needed to build off of the confidence we had from the first quarter.

I think they really just bought into that. They leaned into that. They came out really aggressive and we attacked paint. We got ourselves to the free-throw line. We saw some of those go down which I think opened up other things for us, but it was just the quality of the shots that we were getting but the aggressive mindset that we came out and started the third with.

Q. Going to the conference championship third year in a row, what can you take from that to talk to the team heading into tomorrow to get a little bit of an advantage there?

LINDSAY EDMONDS: Yeah, we've been here before but we're also not leaning into the past. This team is very different and this team is all about our motto, TNT: Today, not tomorrow. Tomorrow we're going to do everything we can to be our best versions of ourselves and go 1-0 tomorrow.

We didn't expect to get to the championship just because we have been there before, and we don't expect to win it just because we have been there before.

We will have some veterans that have played in those moments and they'll remember those things, but we're not leaning into that. We're leaning into the work we have done over and over again this year once we do get there.

Q. Same question for the players. Based on previous experience here, championship the last few years, what type of mindset heading into tomorrow's game?

DOMINIQUE ENNIS: Just same thing coach said. What we did in the past doesn't really matter anymore. It's what we're doing now.

But I think as veterans and as returners also allowing our team to know there's possessions that we can't get back, so looking into the game tomorrow, like, it's everything we've had. We've had such an amazing year. It will just be the cherry on top to complete the work we've done. This team deserves it. The coaches deserve it and our school deserves it.

I think just having pride, knowing the work we put in knowing that we're meant to be here. But as veterans, like remembering the good side of how it felt to win and also remembering how it felt last year. So allowing our teammates to know like take no plays off because it can be gone in a heartbeat, but we can have the best feeling in the world tomorrow night if we do our jobs.

HAILEY ADAMS: You all will probably get tired of hearing us say it, but TNT is our mindset. It's everyone's mindset on the team, today not tomorrow, and tomorrow will be today eventually, and that will be what we're focused on.

Q. You guys are such a veteran team. Do you think that experience that we're talking about here really paid off down the stretch? You're in a tight game like that, seemed like you made the key plays when you had to to pull this out.

LINDSAY EDMONDS: Yeah, we are veteran. We returned a lot from last year and we added some incredible pieces to our roster as well too. We've been battle tested all year long, though, this year, and I'm not even referring to the past years. But this year we have been battle tested.

We have been down before. We have had to come back from being down to win. We've taken the lead for the first time in a fourth quarter with 14 seconds to go in a game.

So we've had a lot of battle tests and we've been able to always respond in that moment with, hey, we can do this. This group has never been afraid of that moment. They've never backed down from that moment, and that's what's made them special all year long and that so she wanted up again tonight.

Q. For the players, Victoria was named conference player of the year. What was it like seeing her kind of take over the game in the third quarter?

DOMINIQUE ENNIS: It was amazing. She deserves it so much. You guys only see maybe 5% of all the work that goes into it. Her transferring from TCU and allowing Coach E taking her in, allowing us to just embrace her. She's been a dream of a teammate, dream of a captain, dream of a leader, and I am so glad she is getting the recognition she deserves, especially know that she is only a junior, she has another year to also make more statements.

So I'm just really happy to see a good person get something good handed to them. She worked for it all season long. I'm so proud to be her teammate because she makes life easier.

HAILEY ADAMS: She's so amazing. I love her so much. Our team is so lucky to have her. She's a one of a kind player. She's a game-changer. She closes games for us really, really well so she's just amazing.

Q: Coach talked about being battle tested. How important is it that you've won this hard games like today as you go in tomorrow to play for a championship?

DOMINIQUE ENNIS: I think we're prepared for any of the punches that are thrown regardless of who we play tomorrow. We know it's going to be a great team that we're going up against, so we know that the punches are going to be thrown, and I think that just goes back to leaning on our returners, leaning on our veterans and knowing we have been in this position before all season long.

We've gotten teams' best shot every single night, so just leaning into that and knowing why stop what we've been so good at all year, which is fighting through adversity. So we know it's going to be a game of runs tomorrow, no matter who we're playing, it's a good team. Just leaning in to what I think we do and staying within us is what matters most.