Michigan - 66, Washington - 58
THE MODERATOR: Coach, welcome back. Let's start off with an opening statement from you, and we'll open it up for questions for Dalayah Daniels and Elle Ladine. Coach Tina Langley, if you would go ahead and make an opening statement, that would be great.
TINA LANGLEY: First of all, just really proud of our team. We've obviously finished the season in the regular season and coming into the tournament very strong. I thought we've been really connected, working really hard in practices and extra work and film. So proud of the work they have put in.
I thought we had a great game today. I thought there was a battle on the floor. There's obviously some things we could have done better, but Michigan is a great team, and they were able to pull out the win, but very proud of this team.
Q. Michigan held you guys to six three-point looks in the first half. What was so effective in their defense, and how did you guys approach that?
DALAYAH DANIELS: I think Michigan's a good team. I think they scouted us well. I feel like their switching made it hard, I think, to get the threes off that we normally do get.
Usually in saggy defenses, we're able to capitalize on that, but they were definitely applying more aggressive pressure, so it was hard to get shots off like normal.
Q. Michigan was a lot better offensively in that second half. What do you think changed in that first half, whether it was something they were doing on the offensive end or something you guys were doing on defense?
TINA LANGLEY: Michigan obviously went in at halftime, and they did a nice job adjusting, made some good set calls, I thought, and we struggled with some two-man actions. So just had some miscommunications.
I thought the offensive end of the floor, when we struggled a little bit, we let the transition D get us. So they came out running off of our decisions on offense.
Q. You were in this game to win it today. What went well for you today? It looked like from the box score everything went well for you today.
TINA LANGLEY: Thank you for asking that. I thought there were some great moments. We did have such a battle. I appreciate you saying that.
Again, just really proud of them. It was a quick turnaround and scout, they stayed up late, got up early, and tried to prepare. I thought we did a good job with that.
After timeouts, baseline on out of bounds, those were some things that got us. In the end, I think that, when we needed to execute, we were able to execute on the offensive end of the floor, understand the pressure and the denial reads, and that's what was really hard. They're a physical team that gets up and denies and switches aggressively. So you've got to go to your second set of reads. I thought once we got comfortable with that, we made good reads.
On the defensive end of the floor, I think when we just communicated well in their screening actions, we were a lot more effective.
Q. Michigan's Olivia Olson had 21 points tonight. What was the defensive game plan going to guard her, or what made her hard to guard?
DALAYAH DANIELS: I think we always pride ourselves just not putting each other on islands. I think just being good gaps but bringing the aggression first. We know that they're a very physical team, so we just wanted to show them that we're physical too.
At the end of the day, I think we could have done a better job of keeping her out of the paint, but you've just got to learn from that.
Q. Yesterday we talked about turnovers, and we talked about how well you shot the ball. Today is kind of like reversed.
TINA LANGLEY: It is.
Q. Talk a little bit about that and then that 13-0 run in the third quarter when you guys cut it down to like three points.
TINA LANGLEY: We knew Michigan was -- obviously we played them earlier in the season. We had a different lineup at the time. Because of being able to have four guards on the floor, I thought it helps us spread the floor out a little bit.
I had a feeling we would need to drive it and make driving decisions, so we made some decisions that were difficult to start the game, turned it over a little bit. I thought we settled in and understood that the actions can give us a good read. I think that was part of our run.
When we saw the ball go through the basket, I think that also helped our defense a little bit, which we hope that doesn't happen, but continue to improve in that area.
Q. Just your thoughts and opinions on Washington in the Big Ten Conference?
TINA LANGLEY: It's such an honor to be in this conference. The competitiveness is unreal, and it's fun. If you love to play at the highest level basketball-wise, you want to be in the Big Ten, and every night is a battle.
I think Washington, obviously they put us in a great position to have success at Washington, so we've been able to recruit some incredible young ladies. Everything is built around our young women. Our young women are special. I'm so proud of the culture of their locker room. They're so accountable and thoughtful. They're honestly a really, really kind group.
So the way they approached even this game as we sat in the locker room, and everyone is saying, I need to have done this, I needed to do this. That's when we were really able to take a rise this year is accountability in the locker room and the work ethic. Really proud of them.
Q. Michigan's Coach Kim Barnes Arico mentioned that isolating No. 14, Dalayah Daniels, putting her in one-on-one scenarios really helped them in guarding the three. Is that something you noticed during the game? How did you attack that as it went on?
TINA LANGLEY: You're asking if them putting Dalayah in a one-on-one situation helped them with the three?
Q. Just how you saw that impact your offense.
TINA LANGLEY: No, it usually helps us a lot. Dalayah was pretty efficient tonight. She was 10 for 13 from the floor, so one-on-one I thought went well for her.
Did it impact the 3-point shooting? I think some of the things that they did from the way they physically deny and try to blow up things definitely hurt us from the 3-point line.
Q. Michigan subbed in Brooke Quarles Daniels halfway through the second quarter when they were in that drought that you put them in defensively. It seemed like she provided a defensive spark for them. Did you see her defense impact the game particularly around the 3-point line?
TINA LANGLEY: Yeah, she does a great job. I also thought her four O-boards hurt us. That's probably what hurt us the most.
Usually when she comes in the game, sometimes you'll provide some heavy help, and that gives her a chance to get O-boards. On the defensive end of the floor, I think she does a great job, defends well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports