THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Have you all talked about being in Birmingham at all, the historical significance of the city, and do you know if the team has any plans on visiting any of the historical sites here?
CHLOE KITTS: Not really, and I don't think we're going to be able to visit stuff even if we want to because we don't have much time. Just focussed on the game.
TE-HINA PAOPAO: Yeah, agreed.
MILAYSIA FULWILEY: Yeah. I have been here a few times. I love it here, but...
Q. Chloe, you've elevated your game for the last few games. I mean, you're averaging 12 points per game, and shooting, probably 60 or 65% of the field. Can you just talk about what's been on your mind, just how you've been able to kind of take that step, especially in the postseason?
CHLOE KITTS: I just want to win and do what my team needs me to do. I just feel really confident and comfortable out there, and that's because my teammates feed me with confidence as well as my coaches.
I just want to win.
Q. Dawn was just in here talking about the year after you guys win one, the hardest thing for some players is to remember how hard the challenge that it took to get there in the first place. My question is, how did you guys kind of keep that edge throughout the year? Was that part a challenge?
TE-HINA PAOPAO: We just had to keep reminding ourselves the grind that we had to get back to where we want to be at. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that it's not going to be easy. Every team is out to get us, so we just have to bring our A game every night because everybody is going to bring their A game. We just have to keep our heads high and play our game and continue to be aggressive, be physical, and just play our game.
MILAYSIA FULWILEY: Yeah, I think Pao said exactly what I was going to say. I think when you are winning a lot, it's kind of hard to remember that you can lose. I think this year showed us that. It just made us want to even more, honestly. Now we understand how it goes. We just want to win, and we remember what we did last year to help us win, and we just have to bring some of those habits with us this year.
CHLOE KITTS: Yeah, what they said.
Q. For you, MiLaysia, I'm curious, how would you characterize your growth from your freshman year now, and when you come into a program like South Carolina as highly recruited as you were, how much does just the standard that Dawn has set on this program and puts on you guys, how much has that helped you as well?
MILAYSIA FULWILEY: I think my growth has been tremendous. I think I've grown in lots of places where I didn't even know I could grow in. I'm just glad to be here in a program where the coaches are kind of very open and very direct with what they want and what they need from each and every one of us.
I think I kind of just took what they were saying, and I had to understand that it's either I do it or I don't. I felt like I wanted to do it. It's been working for me lately. So the standard that Dawn has got here is great, and I think every player should want to play under this standard.
It just brings out the best in each and every one of us, and I think it definitely brings out the best in me.
Q. Te-Hina, you were a transfer portal success story coming to South Carolina. There's already 900 kids in the portal already, three days in. If you were in charge of the process, is there something you would change, that was good, that was bad for those coming in, the timing of it all? Would you change anything in the way the portal works if you were in charge of anything?
TE-HINA PAOPAO: Well, I'm one of the few that has a great successful portal story. You know, when you come into a program like South Carolina, and how I came in last year, I had no idea what was going to happen. It was the best decision of my life.
Probably one of the things I probably would want to change is the NIL about it. You know, a lot of kids are leaving because of it, and I just think that -- I mean, yeah, you can help, but at the same time, I feel like you have to follow your heart instead of the money and just be able to have fun with the game and create those relationships that I've created and just be able to fall in love with the game back again, and continue to play the game that you love.
Q. Chloe, as you guys are doing your scout, a couple of things that stand out about Maryland to you and a couple of things that you guys got to make sure you take care of?
CHLOE KITTS: They're a really good team. They're here for a reason. As you see in the Alabama game, when they played Alabama, they just fought really hard. So we need to be ready for everything. I mean, they good shooters, good post players. So we just need to follow our scout like our coach told us to do and, you know, go out there and play with heart. Go out there and play like it's our last game. It's not going to be, but yeah (smiling).
Q. I wanted to ask you, when I asked MiLaysia about her growth, you were nodding heavily. I'm curious, your thoughts on where she's grown the most right now and how that helps impact you guys?
TE-HINA PAOPAO: Yeah, she's grown tremendously. It's such a great thing to see. You know, when you have that jump from being a freshman to a sophomore, it's been a, really, blessing to see, and she's been taking everything to heart and just listening and just having fun with it.
She's changed a lot. She's using her voice a lot more this year than she did last year, which normally, as a freshman, you don't really know what to say. You're just now getting to the college scene.
So just being able to hear her voice and see what she's doing out there on the court is great. I know her journey is not done yet. She's still growing, and her confidence is growing with her as well. She's becoming a leader for our team, and she's playing a really big role this year. She's got to keep moving and grooving and doing what she does and just keep playing with the confidence that she's been playing with.
Q. You guys watched Maryland play a really good Alabama team and played them really hard to a double overtime game. What did you learn from that game specifically about playing a team that you guys are really familiar with in Alabama?
TE-HINA PAOPAO: They're just a team that gives multiple efforts. We're a team that also plays with multiple efforts as well. They're a really good rebounding team, so we're going to have to key on boxing out and not letting them get offensive boards and just being real physical and real aggressive from the start of the game until the end of the game and just playing a full 40 minutes on both ends of the court.
MILAYSIA FULWILEY: Yeah, what she said.
CHLOE KITTS: Yeah.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports