Coach Jonathan Tsipis
Opening Statement: "We found a way. I thought we did a great job to start the second half, and then all of a sudden we were back on our heels a little bit struggling to score. We gave up 21 points and let a team shoot 62 percent in the third quarter. But when the team sat down and talked, it was 1-0. We were down 1-0 to start the last 10 minutes and continuing to be aggressive in the fourth quarter. It's two games in a row where we've been able to finish games by getting to the free-throw line. It was great.

"Congratulations to Avy (Young) on her 1000th point. I think the most important part Avy understood that we were in foul trouble, and in the end we were going to try and sneak her in and out, and at the end I felt comfortable putting her on Alex Wittinger. But to be able to make changes, I was really proud.

"Obviously we didn't handle the press well to start the third quarter but we adapted. I think we turned it over five times by the first media timeout, but we took better care of the basketball to finish the game. 

"At the end, the two biggest plays to me that had a sense of urgency are Malayna Johnson's shot at the end of the shot clock, and I'm thankful it went in but that awareness because then we could rebound that too. There's always that sense defensively when it gets deep in the shot clock that you hope it goes off.

"And then obviously the shot with 4.5 seconds left, to just make a play. We came out of that timeout wondering if they would try to foul right away. We thought that deep in the shot clock they might not, and we were going to stretch the action and I was proud that our kids got to a position. Kendra (Van Leeuwen) got the spot we were trying to get to. Avy was in great rebounding position, so I'll tell you right now that she would've gotten the rebound if Kendra had missed it. 

"And then just the understanding in the end of what our seniors get to leave with. Winning their last three home games, walking off the Kohl Center floor, you're not going to remember certain plays in the game but you're going to remember that feeling to walk off as a senior with a win. And there's irony in having a freshman make the game-winning shot, but that's tied in."

On what he drew up for the final play: "We had had something to kind of go downhill off the top of the timeout if they were going to try and foul quickly and be aggressive with it. We were also running somebody with it way in the backcourt if they stayed in the 2-3 (zone defense). Ashley [Kelsick] went in the backcourt and once we got it in, we saw that they stayed in the zone so we stayed with the action. It wasn't necessarily the exact play, but people ended up in the spots that we would have wanted: Avyanna gets the pin, we get somebody in the middle of the floor trying to make them make a decision if they're going to guard the 3-point line or if they're going to guard it at the high post. That's a credit to Kendra because she's usually not in that spot, but we've probably had two or three practices where there's been situations like that and she's figured out how to get it off at the precise moment."

"I thought with 4.5 seconds--that's a small margin of error--that they'd try to trap one or two times, so that's why we put Cayla (McMorris] on the floor to try and get the ball in her hands but when they played it out, we were out of timeouts) At that point, I think we had run that set enough times in the game that we had gotten fouled two other times we had run it on some high-low action, so I thought Kendra made the right read. They collapsed back when she got it in the high post so I'm very thankful that it went in."
 
On the seniors: "With Taylor (Kuhn) and Avyanna, I think a big part of the college experience is learning throughout and I think they had two atypical experiences with transferring and joining the team late in her regular senior year the way Taylor did. I'm very proud because the road may have been bumpy, but they took the opportunity.

"It's going to be really fun to watch them and one thing I've learned from senior night--as emotional as it can be--it's also the beginning of another chapter. Now that's another chapter that can wait a while longer to start here, but I think as a coach that's where I take a great amount of pride. I'm excited to see what Taylor and Avyanna do in the future."

Senior Avyanna Young
On finishing the season strong: "It's important, but all I think about is just the win today. I never think about the losses, just about what's happening right now and we're making a turn now when it really counts at the end of February and early March. We're just trying to do everything for the team."

On being able to close games: "It's confidence and progress because I feel like in the beginning of February or maybe January, we wouldn't have finished out games like this. We're definitely making progress and having more confidence in each and every one of us that we can finish out these games. Our coaches believe in us, our team believes in us and we're just doing it now."

On what her career at Wisconsin has meant to her: "Opportunity. It's been an opportunity that I never imagined I would have had and I'm so thankful and blessed to be at such an elite college playing this type of basketball. This is different than the Horizon League, it's much more aggressive and once again it's a better opportunity so if I want to do something in basketball afterwards, I maybe could. But just being at Wisconsin has meant so much to me. I'm just so thankful and blessed to say that I represented Wisconsin."

Senior Taylor Kuhn
On going out with a win on senior night: "It's just awesome and I'm thankful for every opportunity that I have. I've seen the hard work that we've put in day in and day out regardless of the outcomes that we've had this season so it's awesome to finish with a win on our home floor."

Freshman Kendra Van Leeuwen
On having Avyanna Young ready to grab the rebound if her shot missed: "I'm thankful because I knew she was going to be there, even if I missed, I knew that she was going to get that board and make it."

On what her thought-process was during the game-winning shot: "It's a tight game and when you're in the moment it just comes naturally. When I got the opportunity to take it at the end with the ball in my hands, it was just natural."

On what she's learned from the seniors: "The seniors on our team are role models to all of us and coming in as freshman, we need some guidance and someone to be there for us. I think they are true examples of how important it is to have a team where you feel that you can talk to everyone and have that family atmosphere where we can all push each other to get better and our team is better because of it."