Louisville - 63, Nebraska - 58
THE MODERATOR: We have Coach Amy Williams and student-athletes Alexis Markowski and Logan Nissley.
Coach, if you wouldn't mind giving an opening statement.
AMY WILLIAMS: This is a team that's really disappointed right now. We came here to win in this tournament. They did that. They've raised the expectations for this program. I couldn't be more proud of that.
Yeah, we're disappointed, but we're holding our heads high. This is a team that I would go to war with all day, every day, and I've just been blessed to be their coach.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.
Q. Lex, how were you able to get back in the game in the second half after going six, seven minutes without scoring earlier in the game?
ALEXIS MARKOWSKI: I think we knew that they were going to throw a punch, but we were going to have to respond, and we just said, like, keep fighting, keep fighting to one another. I thought Logan just really helped keep that message alive and going.
I think it just started with rebounding and being more physical. I thought that we did that and kind of let off the gas in the fourth there.
Q. In the locker room, Britt was second-guessing herself and after that last foul call. What is your message to her after this one?
ALEXIS MARKOWSKI: I think this is her first time experiencing all of this, and she's doing it at such a high level. She's an amazing player, and one play doesn't determine the game. The shot was supposed to be for me on the block, and I felt like she had a better look so I told her to take the shot. I was, like, go take it, take it. So I want her to take that shot every time. It's kind of a 50/50 call there. It's March Madness.
OLIVIA COCHRAN: I think too pouring our confidence into Britt, I think we can pour our confidence and trust into her. We want her taking that shot. And reminding her that we trust her and that's the shot we want her to take so, moving forward, not to second guess herself. We want her in that moment.
Another reason I think she's probably doing that is because she wants to be on the floor so bad. So for that to take her out of the game hurts our team, and she's a competitor so that just stung for her.
Q. What are the ways that Louisville is one of the hardest teams you've played in your career? What are the things they do that make it tough.
ALEXIS MARKOWSKI: They're, like, really aggressive. They press a lot. Hedge ball screens, they're double-teaming out of the ball screens, and we don't see that as much. I thought they had a few really good players and really good offensive rebounding team. We knew if we were going to win this game, we couldn't let them have more than their average of rebounding. They had 18, so ...
Q. Lex, when coach points at you and says that you've helped raise the expectations for this program, how does that make you feel?
ALEXIS MARKOWSKI: You know, when I came to Nebraska, I remember my first meeting with Coach Williams and, like, the only thing I said was I'm just here to win, Coach. I just want to win. Like that's all I want to do.
I feel like we brought kind of winning back together in Nebraska, and it's not just me. It's everyone in the program just pouring into everyone. And there's been so many past players and even just younger girls that have helped me get to the point that I am and the coaches. I mean, it takes a village. It really does.
Every person in that locker room pours into each and every one of us to get us back to the tournament winning games. Winning games in the Big Ten tournament, getting to the Big Ten championship game. So I guess I kind of just did the one thing I wanted to do.
Q. As a guard, what was it like? How would you describe the experience of playing against Louisville and what they were doing on the perimeter?
OLIVIA COCHRAN: Like Lex said, they were really aggressive. Once they went to switching every screen and every handoff, we were taken aback by it because that's what we wanted to do. Once we figured it out, when we played with pace, it was good for us. That's kind of what got us back in the game.
But, yeah, they were just really physical and they were aggressive. They wanted to win too. I think it was a good battle.
THE MODERATOR: Ladies, thank you so much for your time. Congratulations on a great season.
We'll open it up, questions to the head coach.
Q. Same question that I asked Alexis and Logan. Just in the locker room, Britt second-guessing herself, hindsight on the last shot. What do you tell her as we move forward?
AMY WILLIAMS: I tell her just how incredibly proud I am for her to just have the confidence that she had to be able to make the plays that she did all night long and to want the ball in her hands to go to the basket in that moment.
She's a winner. They're all winners. These two young ladies sitting up next to me, Lex talked about how she came to that first meeting. I just want to win, after winning a couple of state championships. Logan was a state champion. Britt was a four-time state champion.
They're champions that know how to win and want to be in positions to want to make plays to help their team win, and this was no different.
I mean, I look at the box score. We gave up 18 offensive rebounds. They had 27 points off of our 24 turnovers. By all accounts, it should be probably a tail-kickin'. It wasn't a tail-kickin'. It was a game, and we had a chance to win this game.
It's because those kids believe in themselves as winners. They compete. They play with each other and for each other. It's a special thing that I wish I could just bottle up. But something I'm incredibly proud of all of them for, including Britt Prince.
Q. What happened there at the second quarter where you just couldn't get them shut down going into halftime?
AMY WILLIAMS: I thought that little run right at the end of the second quarter, where we had a turnover that led to kind of an and-1 wasn't the way we wanted to close out the half.
And then we came out at halftime, and I thought they amped up their defensive pressure just a little bit more. They were trying to make things difficult to get the ball to our guards to initiate offense. But when we settled in and just said, guys, just go play with some pace, get the ball and push tempo, we started to get back to what we do and were able to come back and take a lead and give ourselves a chance to win an NCAA Tournament game.
I think that fight, that resolve, that ability to stay locked in and never, never say die, never count us out is something that this team, I feel like, has been known for and a strong characteristic trait for the individual players in the group and the team as a whole.
Q. Amy, you just talked about never say die. This team was counted out at times during the season. But just looking at, obviously, this is not the result you wanted today, but just the fight that you guys put up, how proud are you of this team and just what does it say about the program going forward?
AMY WILLIAMS: Yeah. It's just the strangest emotion to feel like we're not just happy to be here so there's a strong disappointment and just bad taste in our mouth because this is a team that came to win.
But just coupled with just pride and the pride that I have, and I just feel so fortunate and blessed to coach this group because they have been really resilient. When you spend a lot of time as a program talking about response and how you respond to the things that come your way and then to watch this team just continuously respond in a way that they can be proud of, their families can be proud of, our program can be proud of, the University of Nebraska, our athletic department, the state of Nebraska, our fan base, everybody can be proud of, it just swells me with pride.
THE MODERATOR: Coach Williams, thank you for your time.
AMY WILLIAMS: Thank you all for coming. Appreciate you being here.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports