Seniors Madison Kellione (17 points, seven rebounds), Dasia Thornton (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Kennedi Stacy (8 points, 11 rebounds, eight steals) came up big Saturday when Transylvania beat No. 1 Christopher Newport 57-52 to win the Division III national championship in Dallas.
Here is what the trio had to say after the win that gave them a national title and 33-0 season.
Q. You guys made those (national championship) cards sometime last year. What does it mean to actually be here and to actually pull it off as national champions?
MADISON KELLIONE: I mean, it means the world to us to actually see a dream come to fruition and to see all our hard work pay off. It’s something we’ve talked about all year, and it’s never been out of our minds. It’s always been brought up. Nearly every day in practice we’re talking about our goal, and we did everything we could to reach it. And we’re really proud of this team that we were able to pull it off.
DASIA THORNTON: Yeah, at the beginning of the year, we said that we wanted to win a National Championship, and we just kept that goal in mind the whole time, and there was really no doubt pretty much the whole time.
We’re just glad that we pulled it off.
KENNEDI STACY: Yeah, so the whole year we’ve had two mottos, really, Join the Journey and Texas to Texas. I think it’s crazy to be here right now.
Q. Madison, I’m wondering if you were able to envision this dating back to your freshman year when you went through so much with the ACL, with all of the illnesses, and whether you flash back to that time as you’ve been celebrated here afternoon?
MADISON KELLIONE: I actually told Kennedi in the locker room, Did you ever dream of this when we stepped foot on campus four years ago? But I mean, even when I committed to the program, I knew they were growing and it was a strong program. And at that point it wasn’t a National Championship level program, but our senior class has really done well with putting the program on the map nationally. I mean, especially I agree, like myself after everything I’ve battled and went through my freshman year and up until this point, it’s the best way you could ever cap off a career, and I’m super thankful that I got to be a part of it.
Q. You guys hadn’t played a ton of close games this season in terms of final score-wise. And I think there was a minute 40 left, game was tied, you guys broke your time-out early and it was just you three as part of the huddle with Juli coming over. What were you talking about and leaning on in this close game with all this on the line?
DASIA THORNTON: I don’t actually quite remember the exact words, but it was probably something along the lines of just take it one possession at a time. We still have time, as long as we get a stop, we’ll be able to play off of that and use our offense and make sure that we rebound. Rebound, that’s all I heard.
MADISON KELLIONE: We also talked about anytime we’ve ever been in a close game along our careers, we’ve always said we’re not losing this game. And we stuck by that, and we used that to drive it. And we talked about they don’t get any more rebounds the rest of this game. We knew that was going to propel us to finish the game and get the win.
KENNEDI STACY: While we’ve not been in close games this year, we’ve always prepared for that in practice. They make us play 5 on 5 and what0ifs. It’s always the what-ifs. We always go through those scenarios and we know what were going to do when it happens.
Q. Inside American Airlines Center, what are some of the challenges you guys face as players and shooters inside an arena this large?
MADISON KELLIONE: I think it was kind of a culture shock to all of us. We’ve never really played in a big arena like that, so getting used to it. We spent our whole practice here two days ago just shooting and getting used to the backdrop where there aren’t walls around and all that like our gym back home. It took a second to adjust, but we really relied on pushing it in the paint because lay-ups are a lot easier in a big gym.
Q. Dasia, you talked about rebounds and then you pulled down that really critical one at the end of the game. You also hit the last lay-up. What was kind of going through your mind in that last minute, and what does it mean to bring back this title and the first appearance for the program?
DASIA THORNTON: Yeah, I was probably thinking like hopefully I don’t cramp, grabbing that rebound. I just didn’t want to cramp up. But I got the rebound, got it out to Maddy or Kennedi, and we could make something happen with that. I don’t really think of any rebounds as special or not, I just go for the rebound because it’s in my area. It’s something I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to dominate, so that’s what I did.
Q. You guys held Sondra Fan to 0 in the first half, 6 overall. Can you talk about the approach for planning to contain an explosive player like that?
KENNEDI STACY: Yeah, so we’ve had a couple players this year where we’ve had to be lock-down defense on them, and I think it’s really helped us. Those people were within our conference, so we’ve practiced a lot for those games and those people. We know what to do whenever she was on the three-point line. We had to be close.
MADISON KELLIONE: I think also the games in the tournament leading up to this, we played a lot of really good players and a lot of All-Americans. So having that under our belt and knowing how we needed to guard them in order to win, it was good for us, and we pulled the same game plan tonight.
Q. Dasia, with achieving this goal and winning the National Championship within a year’s time, how does this affect your confidence running for president later on in life?
DASIA THORNTON: It feels great, something that I can add on to my resume. I don’t think really any other Presidents played sports that we know of at the collegiate level. It’s just something that I can add to my resume, as well.
Q. Can each one of you talk a little bit about what it’s been like to play for Coach Fulks? She’s one of the most serene coaches on the sideline. Does that carry through to practices, as well?
DASIA THORNTON: Yeah, it’s been great playing for her for four years. She knows our best interests. She tries to develop us into becoming the players that we are today.
It definitely took some time for me personally. Freshman and sophomore year, I didn’t have as many minutes, but I knew that I could step up to the bar, step up to the plate, whatever it’s called. So we did. And she trusts us. She’s definitely worked with us not just on the court but off the court and made me become a better person overall.
MADISON KELLIONE: She is the most amazing coach I’ve ever played for. She’s a great role model and she’s there for us on the court, off the court. Just the effect she’s had on each of our lives is something we’re always going to remember, and I know we can call her any time when we’re done here and she’ll pick up the phone. As far as her coaching goes, I think she’s really skilled in knowing what each player needs, and she changes her coaching style to that and she fits each of us. And she’ll do it in practice, she does it in games. So even when she’s calm on the sidelines, if she needs to rip someone in time-out, she’s not afraid to do it.
KENNEDI STACY: I want to say that I’m grateful that she has bought into me as a person and as a player. She’s learned to trust me and I’ve learned to trust her, and I think that’s a big thing with me. She’s a great coach, and it follows on and off the court.
Q. The arena was very electric, so what did it mean to have those fans come out to Dallas to help support you today?
KENNEDI STACY: It means the world. I mean, I never imagined that we would have this many people here in Texas with us right now. It’s always a big deal in the Beck Center back home, but it was crazy to walk the red carpet today with hundreds of people here for us.
MADISON KELLIONE: Yeah, we had a really big support from back home and our volleyball team came down and supported us, and we’re super grateful for that. A lot of other student-athletes made the trip, as well. And the show-out from our parents and our community and even people from our lives back home made the trip. And it was super special for us to look up in the stands and see them there and support us, because they’ve been there every step of the journey. The championship is also a piece of theirs because they’ve been there with us all the along for the ride.
DASIA THORNTON: Yeah, we thought a lot of people traveled with us to Connecticut in the Final Four. But coming to Dallas and seeing all the people that came is just amazing. Like I never thought that we could be here and all of our fans traveled really well with us. We just appreciate them for being there every step of the way.
