THE MODERATOR: I will turn our first question over.
Q. Has it been long enough? Have you taken a look at Ole Miss, what do you see from them?
JADA WALKER: See a lot of athleticism, a lot of physical. They have a lot of bigs so really just going to have to hone in on post defense, getting a lot of rebounds, boxing out, just taking care of the paint for us.
Q. Kyla, how much can you take from that Grand Canyon game and move it into Ole Miss or is it a different scheme with the different bigs?
KYLA ABRAHAM: We're focusing... I don't know how to really explain it. I'm sorry. A lot of the schemes that we worked on in the GCU game we are transferring over, primarily working on our transition defense. That's our biggest one. But other than that, it's a totally different team that we have to prepare for, totally different mindset.
Q. Kyla, this being a quick turnaround, how do you go from one very good team to another that is, like you said, drastically different so quickly? How do you mentally get over that hump?
KYLA ABRAHAM: You have to realize that we're in March Madness, there's going to be a lot of games like that. Nobody in March Madness is going to be easy to beat or someone you can just take advantage of. We knew that coming into March Madness, when we heard our name being called, that every game was going to be like a dogfight and I think we were already prepared to switch our minds from one game to the next.
Q. Jada, Yaya has stepped into the starting lineup over the last month of the season or so and y'all haven't really skipped a beat. What is it about her that has allowed her to so seamlessly step into that larger role?
JADA WALKER: Really just her tenacity, her energy. As soon as she came off the bench, we have a lot of players that could be starters. We can interchange them at any time, so really just giving them that mindset that when you come into the game, no matter if you're the first one off the bench, first one in the game, just keep bringing in that mindset, keep going hard and she gave us direct buckets off the bench so now she's just in the starting lineup still doing what she does and making a big impact for us on offense and defense.
Q. Jada, what was it like to have that home crowd yesterday and be hosting here? Did that pay off? Did it make a difference?
JADA WALKER: It was great. It was super loud, though. Super loud. Really just trying to talk to Coach Nicki about what we can run when we're on the opposite side of her and some things I can get in my head already so we already have a plan for what to do when it does get loud so in the second half when we come back down towards her end it's easier so we can hear and function better but really just adjusting to that but still having our home fans still being in Waco and being able to experience foster one last time before we leave, so.
Q. Kyla, Jada talked about it. Their bigs are different than what you just faced. Watching that game, I don't know what the final numbers were but they were killing them on the offensive glass. How much of an emphasis is that for this one? Boxing out, keeping them off the glass and how much does it help having Buggs back if there to help you with that?
KYLA ABRAHAM: They have honed very, very -- they've said a lot that they score off of their offensive rebounds so we are very honed in on it. We have to box out. We have to get rebounds. We talked about it earlier in the season that there are people, those box-outers and those people who will go-getters but I think everyone's going to have to be a little bit of both. It helps having Buggs back because she was our leading rebounder and losing her, we lost a big chunk of that so it's nice to have her back because we know that if anybody else is going to crash, Buggs will.
Q. Jada, started a little slow yesterday. Do you feel like the nerves are out and you'll be ready coming out the gate against Ole Miss?
JADA WALKER: Definitely. If we start better this first quarter an translate that throughout the whole game, first through fourth, not just, okay, first half, it was rough, but now we're getting in the second half, really just start locked in, know our game plan, know we have to box out, crash, rebound. When a shot goes up, we shouldn't be standing around looking. We need to true to get a rebound wherever it is because we know they are. Just be first to the ball, be more physical and I feel like we'll win the game.
THE MODERATOR: All right. Any questions from Zoom? All right, go ahead.
Q. Jada, you weren't there three years ago when they lost in the second round and didn't go to the Sweet 16. There's a long history of Baylor using Waco as sort of a launching bad at Sweet 16. How important is it for you all to establish that and get Baylor back on that track of using this home court to get into the deeper rounds of the tournament?
JADA WALKER: Really just knowing that Foster is a great place to be. It's new. We've had a lot of new experiences and opportunities, so really we're making history for the first time here. We need to go out strong. We want to get two great wins. For our seniors, we want to end our season right in this new home court and for the young ones, they get to continue that legacy with their next team, the next following year so really just making a statement and trying to keep hosting, being good enough next year to come back here and host next year and continue to win and just make Foster a winning place to be, just like Ferrell was.
THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? All right. I believe this concludes it. Thank you so much.
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