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#UNC's Lexi Donarski, Maria Gakdeng, Indya Nivar and Lanie Grant after win over FSU
Mar 7, 2025
#UNC's Lexi Donarski, Maria Gakdeng, Indya Nivar and Lanie Grant after win over FSU
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0:00
about the defense on Watson
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today yeah I mean she's a really good
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player and I wish we could have kept off
0:08
the free throw line a little bit more
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but I feel like we did a good job
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forcing her into tough shots and into
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shots that were contested in not just
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straight line drives to the basket I
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mean she she's one of the most prolific
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scorers in the country and you held her
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down I mean that was that just a big
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challenge for you particularly
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remembering how the game Ed in Chapel
0:30
Hill yeah for sure I mean that was
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something that definitely stuck with all
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of us as we were prepping for this game
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and just thinking about what we need to
0:37
do differently and I feel like a big
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thing was just toughness altogether and
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I feel like we really showed up with
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that tonight just being tough and not
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letting her do what she wants to do but
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making her take the shots that we want
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her to take how's how's the offense with
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Rah back how how how different is it
0:53
with yeah I mean she's she's awesome
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we're really happy to have her back she
0:57
did a great job today just controlling a
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lot of things big shots and making big
1:01
plays when we needed
1:02
them um what did it mean just for the
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rhythm of this team to have both Ria and
1:06
Alyssa back for the first time 16 yeah I
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mean they both have worked really really
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hard to be back this soon um so our
1:15
Sports Performance staff and both of
1:17
them just collectively putting it all
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together was really really awesome it's
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just fun to have them back it's fun to
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have everyone healthy again and just
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yeah playing together how' that hey and
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another I mean just stacking the big
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wins big uh games together uh what keeps
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working for you um just playing tough
1:37
finding ways to attack finding space to
1:39
attack and then I just trusting my team
1:41
I feel like we always come together at
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the end when we need it most to pull out
1:44
these games seem to be able to find the
1:45
driving lead get them today uh is that
1:49
just plays worked out well or you just
1:52
find the openings yeah I think his
1:54
mentality I feel like they were there I
1:55
just wasn't being as aggressive earlier
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on in the season but what I just been
1:59
working on the past couple weeks was
2:01
finding those lean and then being able
2:03
to convert with them cuz I feel like I
2:05
can also finish and convert Pon for team
2:07
or or even other better shots for a team
2:09
for the kick out how much has the way
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that game ended in Chapel hille been on
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you you guys' Minds coming into the day
2:16
oh yeah it was it was on our hearts for
2:18
a long time because we knew we could
2:19
have won that game and it was it was
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that last play at the end we felt like
2:22
we could have done better but yeah we
2:24
finally we got our get back basic what
2:27
what the defense on particular last and
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and and holding their big guns down how
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are you guys were able to do that oh
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yeah she's a good player so we had a lot
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of attention on her making sure we're
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not we're helping the primary Defender
2:40
the secondary defense was as important
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making sure we're in the
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Gap helping on the drive make sure it's
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looking cloged so it
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doesn't and I feel like we did a pretty
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good job of that
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problem look at that that match
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attention I mean had eight blocks it
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just that's a hard match but you grinded
3:00
with her yeah yeah I think late in the
3:03
game I I really showed up defensively
3:05
for us um getting some getting rebounds
3:07
getting board showing up that way my
3:09
shot was really falling on the offensive
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end and and I was okay I feel like it'll
3:12
come back tomorrow you know just s that
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one off but she's a great player she's a
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great shot blocker um she showed that
3:17
today so yeah I pr to her but we came
3:20
out with the win so that's what what's
3:21
important for us the rebound you had
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double digit rebounding but but having
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Alysa back how much has that help
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everybody rebounding wise it helps it
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really does help especially knowing that
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she's like kind of our exactor she likes
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to you know she's very physical gets on
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the board she's a she's a hustle player
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so knowing that and having her um you
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know fight on the glass with me is
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really important um we know rebounding
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wins championships so and that's what we
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want this weekend so that's how we're
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getting there thank you yeah you got
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this we believe in you all of my coaches
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coach coach didn't even entertain the
3:54
the thought of me not making them so
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like all right I have the choice but no
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um it's just all the work that I put in
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countless I've just spent at the line
4:03
shooting just pulling conf from the work
4:05
that I put in yeah seven different
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scores in the first score alone for you
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guys and obviously four in double
4:12
figura Maria and India so I mean how
4:15
balanced is is scoring for this team
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that makes you guys so dangerous yeah I
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think that's one of our biggest
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strengths is the ability on any given
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night for somebody to have a really good
4:24
night and like that you can go down the
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list of people we all contribut
4:28
contributors in different ways but all
4:29
us can score we know that and you know
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on nights maybe I'm not hitting shots
4:33
Lexi is and maybe on nights that India
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isn't hitting shots Ria is so it's like
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you know it's very interchangeable
4:39
there's no egos in this team and nobody
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cares as long as we get out of here with
4:42
the win nobody we we look at the sa
4:44
sheet and doesn't even matter to us yeah
4:46
that stretch in the second quarter where
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you guys went on a 14 or 0 and 14
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drought I know it's sometimes hard to
4:52
just when you keep compounding we just
4:54
don't see the ball it what do you what
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do you say to yourselves what was going
4:57
through the Huddle what is going through
4:58
your mind in a time like that yeah
5:00
Florida state did a really good job of
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disrupting our actions so we knew going
5:03
into half time that we're going to have
5:04
to change up some play calls and like
5:06
pull their bigs out of the paint so we
5:08
could as guards get some land like get
5:10
Maria one-onone coverage in the queen um
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so it's just like in the past when we've
5:15
been hit like that sometimes we like
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take it as a wo
5:19
but uh We've allowed ourselves like
5:22
confidence in each other like knowing
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that okay like they're punching now but
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we can take the hit and we're going to
5:27
punch back minutes thank you yeah I
5:29
think you you were talking about it when
5:31
I walked up so I want ask you
5:33
again crucial free throws at the end of
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the game uh you you confident that you
5:39
can make them right talk about that of
5:40
course um right when I got F all my
5:42
teammates come up to me and they were
5:43
like you got this we believe in you all
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of my coaches you know Courtney wasn't
5:47
even entertaining the notion that I
5:48
wouldn't make them like so everyone
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believed in me so like they had
5:51
confidence in me I had confidence in
5:53
myself so it was pretty easy to step up
5:54
and knock him down and you were 6 years
5:57
old the last time they made the
5:58
semifinals the tour how crazy is that
6:02
that's insane wow that's a fun fact
6:04
right there
6:06
wow it's a for the program it's huge to
6:10
get to this level how how much does it
6:12
mean to be a part of the team that
6:14
breaks through mean means everything
6:16
it's why I skip my senior year of high
6:17
schools CU I believed in this team and I
6:19
believe we can do special things and
6:20
we're going to continue to show that how
6:23
how much did the way that game ended in
6:25
Chapel Hill get the noes play into the
6:27
your minds coming into this one yeah
6:29
knew that we played them decently well
6:31
with a couple exceptions back home and
6:33
you know when you lose in a buzzer
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beater at home like it doesn't fit well
6:37
like I know Alyssa may have like made a
6:39
comment like uh yesterday about it but
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that was just another like fuel of the
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fire for us to go ahead and get the win
6:44
thank you yeah of course congratulations
6:46
thank you
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