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Duke's Kara Lawson, Reigan Richardson and Ashlon Jackson after the Blue Devils' season-ending loss
Mar 31, 2025
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0:25
Richardson ashin Jackson and Jackson
0:32
just really proud of my team um what a
0:34
battle it was and um you know just
0:38
fighting tooth and nail out there um to
0:40
try and see if we could you know finish
0:43
finish the game on top uh played so hard
0:46
dug out of a an early hole and um you
0:49
know possession game there late in the
0:50
fourth quarter and um you know just
0:52
weren't able to to to get it done um it
0:56
was uh just I just honestly throughout
0:59
the whole game I just had a great sense
1:01
of Pride uh walking the sidelines
1:03
watching them compete um at the highest
1:05
level and uh just you know big picture
1:08
really proud of the Season overall and
1:10
the things that we were able to
1:11
accomplish um when in the ACC for the
1:14
first time since
1:16
2013 um getting to the elite elite 8 for
1:18
the first time since
1:20
2013 uh just a lot of a lot of things
1:23
that this group was able to do um that
1:25
our program hadn't done in a long time
1:27
and it takes a special group to do that
1:29
and and that's the um sadness that you
1:32
feel after a loss is uh you won't have a
1:35
chance to coach this group together
1:37
again and that's why March is you know
1:40
euphoric when you win and it's crushing
1:42
when you lose and um but I I told our
1:45
group just hold your heads High man did
1:47
they represent themselves well uh did
1:49
they represent Duke well uh their
1:51
families well uh I think everyone that
1:53
watch the game today that is affiliated
1:56
with Duke is really proud of of the team
1:59
and the effort
2:01
okay now we'll take questions for Ashley
2:03
and Reagan please raise your hand and
2:04
we'll get a mic to
2:08
you we'll start at the front then go
2:12
here you know our Martin heinsman Duke
2:14
Chronicle um Reagan you know three years
2:17
ago um you're in the portal out of
2:19
Georgia uh what was it about about Duke
2:21
that spoke to you and you know what
2:22
brought you in here um you know when I
2:25
first came here on my visit I really
2:27
just love the the family a connection
2:30
that that this team had and I knew
2:33
coming from Georgia I wanted to have a
2:35
Another Place Another family away from
2:37
home another home away from home and I
2:38
knew I found this I knew I found it here
2:40
at Duke and you know just being able to
2:43
play for Coach car and knowing all the
2:46
knowledge that she has and where she's
2:47
been I knew she would she would be able
2:49
to prepare me not even just a player on
2:51
the court as a
2:54
person we're going to go to the front
2:56
right Anna Snider USA Today network uh
2:59
this could be for for both you girls but
3:00
coach spoke on it you know first Elite
3:02
appearance since 2013 ACC tournament
3:04
champions what is it about this team
3:07
that makes it so special and I know this
3:09
might be hard but how will you guys
3:10
remember this
3:13
season I'd
3:16
say we continue to grow we're never
3:19
satisfied with whatever the case may be
3:22
like we were we were happy about the the
3:25
elite eight but we were not satisfied
3:27
within it you know even though it's been
3:29
a long time
3:30
um since you know Duke has been there
3:33
obviously you know we wanted more um but
3:36
yeah that's one thing about this group
3:39
um our determination and like our
3:42
dedication to just be the best um in our
3:46
drive you know like that's one thing I
3:49
really really credit this group too um I
3:52
can say that like it's it's all genuine
3:56
with us too you know uh we want to
3:58
continue to get better we want to
3:59
continue to get each other better um so
4:03
we won't end up in a position like we
4:04
are in now even though it's been a great
4:07
season um like I said we're not really
4:10
satisfied with um you know the elite
4:12
eight but we're happy to be here we're
4:14
blessed to be here and yeah we just got
4:16
to continue to
4:18
grow back right yeah Mitch north of MP
4:22
Nation um I believe that's the lowest
4:23
South Carolina scored all year um
4:25
obviously you know the game didn't end
4:28
the way you wanted it to but can either
4:30
of you just speak to the defensive game
4:32
plan and your defensive effort today
4:35
yeah you know um South Carolina is a
4:36
tremendous tremendous team on both ends
4:38
of the floor uh our main goal was to was
4:41
to really just stop them in transition
4:43
you know they're a tremendous team just
4:45
just getting out and running and
4:47
ultimately we did we did a little bit of
4:49
that today and um you know we did the
4:52
best we could on the defensive end but
4:53
um um we're happy for South Carolina
5:00
any more
5:02
questions any questions from
5:05
Zoom right there oh one
5:09
question on I apologize if I U missed
5:13
this I walked in a little late uh car
5:15
two games here two slow starts questions
5:18
for players only
5:23
right okay ladies you're dismissed thank
5:26
you
5:34
so coach the the two slow starts I know
5:37
a lot of focus on the end of games but
5:39
when you put yourself in a hole early um
5:42
put you in a different situation do you
5:44
have an explanation or thoughts on why
5:46
it happened that
5:47
way I just think at this stage in the
5:49
tournament the teams are really good so
5:52
sometimes you're going to be down uh I
5:54
think it's just a part of the the 40
5:56
minutes uh I didn't think it impacted us
5:58
too much we're up four going into the
6:00
fourth um so the the deficit in the
6:03
first quarter wasn't um wasn't an impact
6:06
for us uh you know like I always say the
6:09
other guys are good too the other guys
6:11
are going to score too the other guys
6:12
are going to make plays too you don't
6:14
pit shutouts so um I thought our team
6:17
played really hard I thought we defended
6:20
uh at a high level at a level well
6:22
enough to to advance uh our offense was
6:27
not at a level high enough to advance
6:29
and certainly late it wasn't and um you
6:32
know that's that that I think was was a
6:34
difference in the
6:36
game far left yeah Cara the timeout with
6:39
29 seconds left what did you tell the
6:41
team what were you looking for and also
6:42
why was Toby not out on the floor for
6:44
that
6:45
possession uh just a just a coach's
6:49
decision um went with the ball in
6:52
ashlin's hands uh she'd been making
6:55
plays for us in that fourth quarter uh
6:57
out of the ball screen and um she tried
7:00
to make a play and and just missed
7:02
it to the right Cara um yeah that you
7:06
know like like I said to the players I
7:08
think it's the lowest point South
7:09
Carolina scored this year obviously the
7:12
game did not finish in your way but you
7:14
know just I guess what can you say about
7:16
how how they executed the defensive game
7:18
plan today you guys yeah I thought they
7:21
did a great job executing the game plan
7:23
I mean you heard the players talk about
7:25
their they Electric in transition and
7:27
you've got to try and keep them out of
7:29
it as much much as you can and um it
7:32
says on here they had nine fast break
7:34
points I don't know how accurate this is
7:36
but um I thought we did a good job of
7:38
keeping them out of transition and and
7:40
get him in in the half court and then uh
7:43
we really wanted to limit their second
7:44
chance opportunities too they have
7:46
really athletic front Court players and
7:48
they only got five second chance points
7:51
um and we outrebounded them by double
7:52
digits so a a lot of the things that we
7:56
asked our players to do uh man they
7:58
delivered they delivered in a in in a
8:01
big way um so like I said I'm just proud
8:03
of it it wasn't enough um but as I told
8:07
them hold your head high man you
8:08
competed and they they competed as hard
8:11
as they could and and that's as a coach
8:13
that's all you can ask when you go into
8:16
a game like this is that they're going
8:17
to compete um as hard as they can and
8:19
that's what they did front right hey
8:22
there coach my miles POI with a Duke
8:24
Chronicle um so out of halftime the team
8:27
kind of had a lot of momentum going into
8:28
half but it seemed like there was a new
8:30
energy in life coming out at halftime
8:31
can you kind of talk about what what
8:33
went into that well we just talked about
8:36
executing better uh I didn't feel like
8:38
in the first half we executed our
8:40
offense well um they did a great job of
8:43
keeping us out of transition as well I
8:44
don't just want to credit our defense we
8:46
only had five fast break points and so I
8:49
knew it was going to be a half court
8:50
execution game and I thought in that
8:53
third quarter we ran our actions and and
8:55
we got great looks and we we finished
8:58
them um certainly having a 20-point
9:00
quarter uh was good and the quality of
9:04
the looks we got we were pleased with
9:06
obviously would we would have loved to
9:08
have made more of them um five for 17
9:10
from three um seven for 13 from the free
9:13
throw line I mean you're just going to
9:15
have to make a little bit more than that
9:18
um only shot 30 31% from the field
9:20
you're just going to have to make more
9:21
than that the more it goes on in the
9:23
tournament so um that that has a tinge
9:26
of disappointment I think our offense is
9:27
a lot better than we've played here in
9:29
Birmingham it obviously wasn't very good
9:31
against North Carolina and it wasn't
9:33
good against South Carolina today I
9:34
think we're a better offensive team than
9:36
we showed but welcome to basketball Some
9:39
Nights the ball doesn't go in um with
9:41
great looks from from the players that
9:43
you want taking those shots and that's
9:45
what happened to us tonight um
9:47
particular in the first half we missed a
9:48
lot of layups we just kept missing them
9:50
and missing them and missing them and
9:52
that's the way it goes sometimes but
9:53
they just hung in there um it didn't let
9:55
it get them down and they fought their
9:56
way back into the game
9:59
right uh coach you know thinking about
10:02
ashleen you know she mostly comes off
10:03
the bench a freshman year and now you
10:04
know you're giving her the ball um you
10:06
know right at the end of the game here
10:07
how proud of you how proud of her are
10:09
you in the way she's grown um you know
10:11
during her time at Duke these three
10:13
years now yeah I'm really proud of ashy
10:15
she's played such a pivotal role in our
10:17
program uh you're right she was the 10th
10:19
player and the 10 player rotation of
10:21
freshman year and then last year the
10:23
Jesus gets hurt in the summer and she's
10:26
a wing and we're like hey you got to
10:27
play back up point guard and and she
10:29
became the leader of our team as a
10:31
sophomore um just her her knowledge of
10:33
the game she's so vocal she communicates
10:36
well and she's just a great teammate and
10:38
a great team player uh we're so lucky to
10:40
have her in our program and um you know
10:43
looking forward to one more year with
10:45
her and um seeing how she can keep
10:47
getting better um she's versatile she
10:50
can make plays for us and that's why I
10:52
put the ball in her hands late because
10:54
she's our best guard at making plays um
10:57
and I trust her to do that
10:59
in the back right uh carot you know that
11:02
the first time you guys played South
11:03
Carolina this season down in Columbia um
11:05
Toby didn't play all that well but today
11:07
I mean LED you guys in scoring it felt
11:09
like she really stepped up in at the
11:11
moment and has grown from that just your
11:13
impressions of of kind of how she played
11:15
today and and met the moment yeah I
11:17
thought Toby played fearlessly and we've
11:19
seen that at different um junctures of
11:22
the Season that she's been able to do
11:24
that and um I thought she she did a
11:26
great job today offensively and
11:28
defensively being aggressive attacking
11:30
getting to the free throw line blocking
11:32
shots competing I mean it's tough you
11:35
know to go against a Fagan you know
11:38
you're a freshman and she's a senior and
11:40
uh really strong uh it's tough to to go
11:42
against um kits who's upper classman and
11:45
really strong and and I thought she
11:47
fought I thought our our freshman
11:49
sophomores you know front Court I
11:50
thought they really fought against the
11:52
experience South Carolina front court
11:53
and and did a good job and um so she
11:56
battled and yeah I think this is just a
11:58
small small sample of what's to come for
12:00
her she's got uh great potential
12:03
obviously and a player that we played
12:04
through for a lot of the game to the
12:07
front um so coach you kind of got a
12:09
little twinkle in your eye when you're
12:10
talking about one more year of Ash and
12:11
obviously they're talking about long
12:13
long long while more of Toby but u i
12:16
mean this whole team's young pretty much
12:17
like can you just kind of talk about
12:18
what this experience is going to mean to
12:20
this mostly the same group heading into
12:22
next year and then still lot of
12:23
returners to the year after that yeah I
12:25
think this journey started a year ago
12:27
you know with eight of 11 freshman and
12:29
sophomores and we were able to kind of
12:31
get the right mix together uh and and
12:34
make a run to the Sweet 16 last year and
12:36
this year we have a little more um
12:39
experience and we were able to to to get
12:41
to the Elite 8 and uh you know Reagan is
12:44
the only player that's graduating on our
12:46
roster and so uh Vanessa has another
12:50
year yeah Vanessa has another year
12:52
because she has a CO year and then she
12:53
was injured last year so rean is the
12:56
only player in our roster out of
12:58
Eligibility um um so we lose we lose one
13:00
player and and then coming back we have
13:03
um you know some injured players that
13:05
are are going to be huge hugely
13:07
impactful uh to our team next year and
13:09
then we've signed a a great point guard
13:11
out of out of Utah Emily Skinner um that
13:14
we're excited about as well so we feel
13:16
like um you know we can continue this
13:19
momentum um there's things we know we
13:21
need to work on but having continuity of
13:23
a group and having the shared hunger and
13:25
desire um to continue to grow hopefully
13:28
helps us in the offseason Seas okay
13:30
thank you coach thank you
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