LISA BLUDER: Couldn’t be happier with our performance tonight in the second half. First half was a little rough for us, but you know, we really kept believing, and I’m just so proud of the character of these young women to maintain their composure through some pretty tough times in the first half. And we got it to within six at halftime and we felt good about that.
I thought Hannah Stuelke was amazing tonight. But we’re really thrilled to be playing in the championship game for the second year in a row.
CAITLIN CLARK: I think Hannah’s tremendous. I think it’s just the confidence and belief. I think tonight she played with an energy about herself of she really could go in there and dominate. She goes toe to toe with Aaliyah Edwards, who in my mind is one of the best players in the country. It was physical with her. Guarded her well. Boxed her out. And she wasn’t afraid to take it at her either, I thought.
When they subbed in some post players off the bench, Hannah continued to go at them. And I’m just super happy for Hannah. She’s worked so hard to be in this moment. She goes 5-for-7 from the free-throw line, made some big free throws for us. She was definitely a difference maker.
I think this the Hannah we all know, just having that confidence within herself because we all have it in her. Just super happy for her.
HANNAH STUELKE: I think the confidence is everything. Especially hearing Caitlin Clark talk about me like that, it gives me a confidence boost. I think anyone would say that. But they just fed me the ball very well. And the ball was going in for me tonight.
CAITLIN CLARK: Honestly, like, UConn is a really good defensive team, one of the best defensive teams we’ve seen all year. I think Nika did a tremendous job guarding me.
We got some good looks. They just didn’t go in. And sometimes that’s just what happens. We missed some easy bunnies around the rim.
But I think the best thing about our group is we went into the locker room at halftime and it wasn’t, like, oh, come on, you’ve got to make shots. It was, no, stop turning the ball over and you’re going to be perfectly fine.
We knew at some point our shots would go down. We put up 45 points in the second half, 25 in the third quarter. Came out in the fourth quarter, started really hot.
So I don’t think it was like a freaking out about offense not working. I think it was just a it will come around. We didn’t execute great, and we were only down six. We felt really confident in that. Nobody panicked. Everybody knew we just needed to clean it up a little bit, and that’s exactly what we did.
