MODERATOR: We are ready to begin this press conference here from Austin, Texas, with our two student-athletes from the college of William & Mary. We are joined by Bella Nascimento and sophomore guard Cassidy Geddes.
Ladies, first of all, congratulations on your fantastic run through the conference tournament, and we are now going to turn to folks who are online asking questions on Zoom.
Q. For both of you all, great to see you all. Congratulations again. What has the last 48 hours been for you all since you got back to campus? Obviously you had the celebration, you had to pack, you had to fly to Austin, practice. What's all that been like? Describe that.
BELLA NASCIMENTO: Yeah. The last 48 hours have been very hectic, you know, celebrating, getting all the love from our fans. We had a quick turnaround the next day just to hop on a flight back here.
It's been amazing. This experience has been surreal, and we're in a blessed position to be here.
CASSIDY GEDDES: Yeah, I agree. It's been really incredible, I mean just all the support we've had from all the Tribe fans and everything. But yeah, it was a quick turnaround. We're here on business. We're here to win the next game. So it's also been a lot of locking in onto the next team.
Q. Like you said, you've all turned the page to High Point. How has that process been, and at what point did you all start focusing on High Point? Was it Sunday night when you learned your opponent? Was it when you got back to campus? How has that preparation been, like, okay, Sunday happened. We'll deal with that at our banquet. Now we got High Point?
BELLA NASCIMENTO: Yeah. So we tried -- we wanted to enjoy the moment as much as possible. So we enjoyed the moment. And then we -- as soon as we found out who we were playing, we locked in on High Point, and we knew that we could compete with anybody because that's what we've shown in our playoff run, and so locking in on the scout, knowing personnel is what we've been doing the past couple of days to give us an advantage to win tomorrow.
CASSIDY GEDDES: Yeah. I think also along with focusing on them, we're focusing a lot on ourselves. Like we know that we need to focus on what we do, keep going, focusing on the run that we've had and not focusing too much on the wins that we've had, but still celebrating the moments, celebrating everything that we've done to get here, and then using that to propel us forward.
MODERATOR: We'll turn to our media here in Austin.
Q. Bella, you have averaged over 16 three-points this season. How do you plan to bring your style of game play to the NCAA Tournament and bring your team success?
BELLA NASCIMENTO: Yeah. So I just plan on continuing to have my confidence that I've been having during our CAA run. My team, they fill me up with confidence. I fill them up right back. So just having confidence and having that belief in each other with help me succeed and help our team succeed.
Q. Bella, talk a little bit about as a veteran, as a leader of the team, seeing a couple of younger guards, like Cassidy, like Mo, have the CAA tournament like they did. How does that make you feel? How have you tried to lead them throughout this process?
BELLA NASCIMENTO: Yeah, I just keep telling them to keep going. This is a team of 14 players, and we need every single person to step up, whether that be on the bench cheering, on the court, getting buckets, rebounding, locking up your defender, that's what they do, and everybody steps up in their own way, and Cassidy and Mo played a huge part in that versus that NC A&T game, and we couldn't be here without that.
Q. And, Cassidy, for you, talk about the experience of having the veteran leadership this team has, like Bella, like KB, like Beck.
CASSIDY GEDDES: Yeah, I think all of them, like the biggest thing they've brought me like is every time we had adversity in the tournament, just saying stick together, weather the storm. There was multiple games we were down 12, 13 points in the third quarter and had to come all the way back to go into overtime or to win it. And having those voices there to really calm you down, because I mean, you make a mistake and you'll feel like it's going to cost you the entire game, and then they tell you, no, it's still the first quarter; there's a lot of game left, and that really helps us get through everything.
Q. Bella, in the championship game two really big momentum swings. You hit the 28-footer at the buzzer to end the first half, and then you kick to Beck for the three to end the third quarter. In a game in which you're trailing, how big was that? How big of an emotional lift was that for you guys to kind of get you forward and kind of see the path to victory?
BELLA NASCIMENTO: Yeah. Those were two like big shots that helped us regain our energy and regain our focus. We can't let up-and-downs happen a lot, and we can't focus on the downs. So when we made those two shots, me and Beck, that really helped uplift us and uplift our energy and our momentum swing and boost the confidence within each other, because once we see that ball in the net, it's up from there.
Q. Just was wondering for you two how does it feel different to be here than, I guess, during regular season play at a game?
BELLA NASCIMENTO: Yeah. This is an amazing opportunity. We walked in, we're like, dang, we're really here, like this is for real. This isn't a dream. Like we actually put in the work, we actually played hard, and we can do it. This just solidified us and knowing that we are capable and we are able to do anything we put our minds to.
CASSIDY GEDDES: Yeah, it's just been an incredible moment to like see all like where the belief that we had in ourselves got us, seeing whether it's the band being here with us, the dance team, like just the whole William & Mary community, administration, that got to come with us, like, just seeing how far like this run has impacted like the community has been a really cool moment.
Q. For both of you, as you're growing up, I'm sure you're both watching the NCAA Tournament on TV, dreaming about the possibility of playing in March Madness. What has it meant to you? Obviously I know we're still a day away from playing, but what has it meant to you to kind of see this and kind of have that dream kind of come to fruition?
BELLA NASCIMENTO: Yeah. This is fricking awesome. (Laughs). Growing up, 15 years old, I'm like, wow, these girls are really good. They're really competing. And I never thought I would be able to have this opportunity, be in this moment. And I'm super blessed that our team did this, because we are capable of doing it, like I said before. But it's just an amazing feeling. I never thought I would be here. You know, I did have my own beliefs. I do have my own personal goals, but this is awesome.
CASSIDY GEDDES: Yeah, I would agree, especially like with Selection Sunday, like you watch that like all the time, and just getting to like finally be a part of it was really cool.
MODERATOR: All right. I don't see anyone joining us virtually via Zoom that wants to ask any other questions. And so I just want to say to Bella and Cassidy that your run was tremendous in the Coastal Athletic Conference. Congratulations for being in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in history of the program, and congratulations on everything to date, and great success tomorrow night. Good luck to you both. Thank you for joining us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports