NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL 4 FINAL - TCU VS SOUTH CAROLINA

March 30, 2026

Mark Campbell

Donovyn Hunter

Marta Suarez

Taylor Bigby

Olivia Miles

Golden 1 Center

TCU Horned Frogs

Elite 8 Postgame Media Conference

South Carolina - 78, TCU - 52

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by TCU head coach Mark Campbell and student-athletes Marta Suarez, Olivia Miles, Taylor Bigby and Donovyn Hunter.

MARK CAMPBELL: Just want to open up and congratulate South Carolina on a really well-played game. Wish them nothing but the best as they head to Phoenix and compete for a national championship.

I'm so proud of this team and this group. They took our program and our university on just another magical, special season. This one game will not define our season.

But what this group has accomplished, with 10 new players that came together and never played for TCU basketball in June, and 10 months later we're a game away from the Final Four, and just had an amazing journey together. And I could not be more proud sitting up here with these guys.

But it's hard when the journey ends.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Olivia and Marta, I know this wasn't the result you guys wanted tonight but what will you remember the most about this journey this season you had in Fort Worth?

OLIVIA MILES: The people. Such a special place. You don't really understand until you're in it. But the people I've got to meet, impact and inspire I will remember forever. I hope that they remember us forever as a little part of their lives as well.

But just a special place. I'm so grateful I had the opportunity. I just want to thank Coach Mark for taking a chance on me. And I feel like we did a lot of special things this year, and I'm just grateful to have done it with the people around me.

MARTA SUAREZ: Of course, me too. It's been definitely a very special season. I think I've grown a lot, and I'm very grateful about that, even (indiscernible) areas of growth. So that's cool.

Just felt so much love in this city. I'm talking about Fort Worth and this community and that place. And for it to happen in such a short time, it's just amazing. So very grateful about that.

Q. Olivia, we all watched you go down in the third. I'm just curious, how are you physically feeling? Because it looked like they were working on both of your legs. Whatever you're comfortable sharing, how are you feeling, what was going on there?

OLIVIA MILES: First of all, thanks for asking. I'm doing better now obviously, now that I'm not playing. But just dealing with some cramping stuff that was just preventing my movement a little bit. But our athletic team did a great job trying to get me back out there.

And gotta play. It's an Elite Eight game, trying to get to the Final Four. I just want to help my team as best I can, so I just tried to play through it.

Q. Donovyn, you guys had struggled towards the end of that third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter and you didn't score until 5:55 of the fourth quarter. What was South Carolina doing to prevent you guys from scoring?

DONOVYN HUNTER: I mean, at the end of the day, they're a great team. They've been together. They are fluid with each other. They know each other's strengths and where they are on the floor. So I think they just gained momentum.

They were getting O boards. They were able to push in transition. And I think, at the end of the day, they found their momentum. The game of basketball, those happen.

We continued to fight, which was most important. But again, they're a great basketball team. So that's unfortunately what happened.

Q. Taylor and Donovyn, can you just talk about the growth of this team. You both experienced playing in an Elite Eight last year. Had another opportunity -- Donovyn, got another shot to go for it. Just how this program has continued to stair-step and grow?

TAYLOR BIGBY: The coaches [inaudible] proud of this group in particular. We faced a lot of adversity. And when a lot of teams could have quit or crumbled, they could have and we didn't.

So I'm just super proud of them. It's not easy to make it this far, and, of course, the feeling sucks right now. But I'm still proud of my team. I wouldn't want it any other way.

DONOVYN HUNTER: Piggybacking off of that, it's the exact same. At the end of the day, we can only control what we can. Like she said, losing sucks. It's unfortunate. But there's so much to be proud of.

And to have so many new girls come on to our team and us be two returners and have all of these new teammates and trust our coaches with who they're bringing in and the culture they're going to develop, it's a really hard thing. He makes it look easy, but it's really hard.

We did have moments of adversity, and it only made us stronger. I think that's what I'm most proud of. It's human nature, you hit adversity and you start to crumble, and none of us did that. So I think, at the end of the day, wins, losses, that's what I'm most proud of.

Q. Olivia, speak to what it means to play with previous talent that you had at Notre Dame, like a Hannah Hidalgo and others, and now be at TCU with Marta and the rest of your teammates up there, and just what that means to transition from one team to another and to impart yourself on both teams?

OLIVIA MILES: Yeah, I just try to be me on both teams. I don't really think about it as who I was playing with then and who I'm playing with now. I'm just grateful to be on a team playing basketball, period.

Obviously transferring is always an adjustment, especially when I was at a place as long as I was.

But Coach Mark and his staff and the girls on this team have allowed me to be me and to just learn the system. I remember Coach Mark and I talking before the season. He said it's going to take you like 10 or so games to get used to the system and we're going to ride with you. Once you get there, you'll be flying from there.

That's exactly what I did. And his trust and his faith in me from the jump is, I think, what propelled me to have such confidence this year.

Q. Was there any surprise to how South Carolina guarded you?

OLIVIA MILES: No. No, I knew it was going to be physical. They're very long. They had multiple defenders on me. Raven started on me, and then Makeer played a lot on me for the rest of the game.

But, no, I'm used to it. I understand the territory. Obviously both teams are competitive and want to win. So I expected a physical and tough match-up.

Q. Coach Mark, you have some Sacramento roots being here at Sac State. Could you just talk about your trip back here and how that felt coming back to Sacramento?

MARK CAMPBELL: It's been just an awesome week, mainly getting to see the people that were at Sac State when me and my coaching staff was there. So just that part of getting to spend time.

They're obviously working this whole Elite Eight bracket. So that part's been amazing. My family has been able to see friends and relationships that were established here.

We've been able to go to some of the local food shops and coffee shops. It's been really, really special. It's been a full-circle moment.

I absolutely loved my time at Sac State, primarily because of the people.

Just getting to bring our team back here and be on this stage at the Golden 1. Obviously we used to play the Causeway Classic here against our rival, UC Davis. So all of it has just been a really special week. It really has.

Q. We talked a lot about this week about closing the gap. I know how the game went last year, but it was a game in the fourth quarter. Can you take that as a sign of progress?

MARK CAMPBELL: Yeah. Again, you're not comparing one year to the next in any way, shape or form. I think that model's out the window. Last year's group had a great battle against Texas.

I think I would compare progress, if I gotta have that group back and you get that group for a second year, it doesn't work that way.

We've got 10 players that are brand new, never played together, never played for our staff. And you've got to get that group to come together and try and make another run.

So if you're asking about progress, I would say what this team has accomplished is magical, special. They won 32 games. They were Big 12 champions. They're a game away from the Final Four.

I would say the progress is elite, as well as anybody in the country. Again, I could be off on this, but I think there's five teams in America that have won 30 games in the last two years. Four of them are in the Final Four, and I think the other fifth team is TCU.

So I think the progress that has been made at TCU, I think four years ago they were 1-and-17 in the Big 12. Three years ago, they were holding open tryouts with players from the rec center.

So I would say it's been incredible what this team has accomplished. I thought it was incredible what last year's team accomplished.

Q. What was going so well defensively in keeping South Carolina in check in the first half that kind of got away from you down the stretch, especially in the fourth quarter?

MARK CAMPBELL: I wouldn't use the word "got away." Your margin for error against South Carolina, UConn, Texas, UCLA is almost zero.

Our kids fought and battled. It was an eight-point game heading into the fourth quarter. And with this level -- the South Carolinas of the world, a bad shot, a turnover, a missed blockout, it just escalates rapidly.

I think we called timeout and there was three minutes into the fourth quarter and it went from eight to 20 like that. And, so, again, you're playing a 40-minute game with a tiny margin for error.

We didn't change anything schematically. This group fought for 40 minutes. I think the biggest issue -- 22 offensive rebounds against a team like them, you can't give them that many opportunities at second shots. I think that's the biggest takeaway from not being able to be in the fight heading down the home much stretch of the game.