NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR - STEPHEN F. AUSTIN VS MISSOURI STATE

March 18, 2026

Ashlyn Traylor-Walker

Harmanie Domínguez

Leonard Bishop

Moody Center

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks

Media Conference

Missouri State - 85, Stephen F. Austin - 75

THE MODERATOR: We're going to welcome to our podium Stephen F. Austin. We're going to hear from senior guards Ashlyn Traylor-Walker and Harmanie Domínguez. We're going to start with an opening statement from Coach Bishop.

LEONARD BISHOP: Obviously not the result we wanted. Again, really still proud of my group for the way they battled. Again, we went 0 for 16 from 3 in the second half, which is something we kind of hang our hat on.

I thought we battled, gave ourselves opportunities, and weren't able to get the key stops when we needed to to capture the momentum.

Again, 25-10 on the year, extremely proud of my group, the way we represented Nacogdoches and Stephen F. Austin. Really proud of these two. They came in, they transferred in, they trusted the vision, they trusted in the people that were guiding them, and were able to win a lot of games and two conference tournament championships. Again, the best is yet to come for these two.

Q. For you two, you guys transferred in, as Coach said, been here for the past two years. Just summarize what it's been like. You had back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, back-to-back Southland Conference titles. Talk about your time at SFA.

HARMANIE DOMINGUEZ: I think Coach Bishop really emphasized building a culture here. We came in, we won two back-to-back championships. It's a blessing to be here in March Madness, and I think it was just an opportunity.

Obviously like he said, not the outcome we wanted, but young team, hopefully they can build on that, graduating for us. I hope that they understand what it feels like to be in this position, and just want to build off of that.

ASHLYN TRAYLOR-WALKER: For me these last two years have been a lot of growth on and off the court. I'm just thankful and blessed to have the people in my life that God put in my life.

Q. You guys made a nice run there at the end of the first quarter, end of the second quarter to take the lead. What changed for the game in the second half where they were able to get a little more control and then kind of put some distance between the two teams?

ASHLYN TRAYLOR-WALKER: Honestly, I feel like some of it was fatigue. Our starting post went out. She only played three minutes. So that was a less rotation for us.

Then we usually are together, but I think that there was moments where we weren't on the same page.

HARMANIE DOMINGUEZ: I agree. We not necessarily became separated, but obviously we want to win, and she did the best to her ability. I think that we just didn't use each other in times that we should have. Like Coach Bishop said, going 0 for 16 from the 3-point line when you hit three, four of those, that changes the momentum of the game.

I think that was one of the bigger changes is coming out a little more cold. We want to hit shots that we were missing, and that's really all it was.

Q. Coach, just summarize what this season has been like. You guys have had injury issues starting from preseason. You had two freshmen playing a bunch of minutes. Let's talk about how this season has gone.

LEONARD BISHOP: Again, you said it. We were injured. We had freshmen probably having to carry too much water early on. I'm not going to shoo-shoo that because I think it made us stronger throughout the stretch and leading down to March when we went to Lake Charles and won it.

Injuries happen in the game of basketball. I always tell them the great ones adjust. We've got to adjust to whatever is thrown our way. I thought tonight in the first half we adjusted to some things, and then in the second half we just weren't able to for whatever reason.

Like you said, I'm really proud of this group for finding ways to win. We always talk about, hey, we want to win games when we're shooting the ball well, and we want to win games when we're not shooting the ball well. I thought we did that all year long. You go 0 for 16 and lose the game to a very good Missouri State team by 10 even when you have shots at the rim that you would have liked as well. So again I'm proud of them for continuing to fight and represent the university.

Q. Talk about those two seniors next to you. Like you said, they transferred in and put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this program. Harmanie with the single season 3-point record now, Ash hitting a career high 32 points a few weeks ago. Talk about what you've seen from those two?

LEONARD BISHOP: I owe those two seniors everything. They trusted in the vision after one year of seeing me as a head coach. Harmanie transferred from Division II Adams State. She was looking for someone to give her an opportunity at the Division I level. I saw her skill set. I knew she could do it. She saw me as a coach and believed in me enough to make that transition.

I'm happy that she did. She's our new 3-point record holder, so I'm happy for her. We shoot a lot of 3s. I told her I don't know how long that record is going to last, but I'm glad she's the one to get it.

Then Ashlyn Traylor-Walker coming all the way from Radford to Texas, not knowing a thing about our league, our university, anything when we first started recruiting her. But she believed in me, she believed in God, and we believed in each other. We talk about belief a lot in our program, and she's one of the ones that always believes and always plays hard.

Sometimes her teammates don't like her because she's going 90 miles an hour in a shootaround and she's going 100 miles an hour in a walk-through. That's the fire that kid plays with. That's the fire inside of that kid. I told her her whole career, as long as it doesn't burn the building down, I'm going to be fine with it.

We've just got to channel that fire so we can heat all the rooms up in the building, and she does a great job of that.

Q. Coach, if you could just speak to playing in the regular season with our Southland Conference teams this year and how it prepared you for today.

LEONARD BISHOP: I think the Southland Conference has a lot of really good coaches, a lot of good players, and a lot of different styles. There are teams that are going to grind you out on the defensive end and teams that get up-and-down in transition and play in a different style. We've got a lot of really great coaches that just got in the league and we got some coaches that have been there for a while and made some transitions to different schools and started to go build their programs the right way.

I think the Southland Conference is going to continue to grow in recognition and notoriety in women's basketball, and I can't wait to see where it is three to five years from now.