Richmond 74, Georgia Tech 49.
THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Georgia Tech head coach Nell Fortner and student-athletes Kayla Blackshear and Kara Dunn.
Coach?
NELL FORTNER: Congratulations to Richmond. I thought they played a fine ball game. Tough team to guard. Just our best wishes to them as they move forward.
Just a tough night for us. I thought we started out pretty good and it just got away from us and we just couldn't get it back. But we have a senior here that's just finishing up her career and really came to Georgia Tech and did a really good job and we're going to miss her a lot. So we appreciate everything that she's done, and that's Kayla Blackshear.
You know, it was just a tough night for us. Couldn't find the basket and I thought we had some good looks and couldn't find the basket. I thought we maybe lost some confidence along the way. We have to learn from it and move on.
Q. Kara, was it just a poor shooting night or more than that?
KARA DUNN: Sometimes you can't control whether the ball goes in or not, but I felt like there were moments that we knew our shot wasn't going in, but we stepped it up on defense, but at that point it was just too late. We were too far in the hole. So when things aren't going the way we want them to, we need to control the other things we can control. Like I said, we just waited too late to do that.
Q. How tough was Doogan, number 44 tonight to handle?
KARA DUNN: You guarded her more.
Q. Go ahead, Kayla.
KAYLA BLACKSHEAR: She's a very good player. I think she got Player of the Year for our conference. She's a very good player. Everything she did is what she's been doing all year and we guarded her to the best of our abilities. She just had a great night tonight.
Q. Kayla, Coach was just saying you're a senior. How proud are you of this group and how far they they've come and getting this team back to the tournament?
KAYLA BLACKSHEAR: Can you say that again?
Q. How proud are you of this group to get back to the NCAA Tournament and leave on this legacy that you have?
KAYLA BLACKSHEAR: I'm very proud because my freshman year I was able to sit on the sidelines and watch and get the experience of just seeing everything and taking it all in, and then now my senior year, being able to lead this younger group and this veteran group that's been with me and just make sure that we just take it all in and leave something better how I found it.
And so I hope that they can continue that on and go further next year because they're a really good bunch of players.
Q. Kara, how much will this drive you in the offseason headed into next year to get back to this point?
KARA DUNN: I think we're definitely going to use this as fuel, me personally. I know that I didn't play the way I wanted to for my team tonight. I'm definitely using it as fuel for next year. And we want to make it back. This was a great opportunity to be able to make it, and it's not easy. It's not given. So next year, we definitely need to work for it again, but also when we get here, actually make it worth it.
THE MODERATOR: Any more questions in the room?
Coach, any last closing remarks on the seniors?
NELL FORTNER: No.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports