we are joined by Iowa coach Lisa bler and the student athletes cydney a halter Caitlyn Clark and Kate Martin we'll start with opening comments from coach yeah I'm just um extremely grateful for this group of young women we have they're just amazing you know everybody at beginning of the year kept saying oh you know Iowa lost so much they lost all this offense and two starters and everybody kept focusing on that and we kept focusing on what we had and even when we had an injury with Molly Davis g
oing out of the lineup you know Sid just came in there seamlessly and I'm really just proud of this group they kept the focus all the time on on us and I'm really um I I couldn't be more happy for such a great group of young women than this so thank you we'll open it up now for questions for the student athletes start in the front uh Doug fber the AP Kaitlyn to get back to the final four again to beat the team that knocked you guys out last year what does it mean to have I in the spot to still b
e play chance to win a National Championship yeah like you said I feel like you know it's amazing to be back in the final four it's so hard to get there especially with this region and how loaded this region was but you know we told our we're the one seed for a reason you know we've earned this we deserve to be in these moments we're prepared for these moments um but I think we came out here and you know our second and third quarters we played really really good basketball and LSU is a really go
od team they're hard to guard they're such good one-on-one players um you know they break you down they make tough shots they killed us on the glass um but we were just resilient you know we never hung our head when things didn't go our way and um you know that can get you a long way and you know I'm just proud of this group to go back to the final four and you know you enjoy this and then you get to Cleveland and you start prepping for your next game you know we want to win two more and you kno
w I think we have the power to do that oh hold on go ahead Howard mall at the next congratulations to all of you for reaching the final four um see this is for you it's a kind of a two-parter the first um the amount of time you were defending an samaro and just take me through through that battle the approach you took uh to it and then at the conclusion of the game if you'd take me through you know I know you had family in the stands what that moment was like for you if you take you know moments
from that yeah first off um an Amar is a great player and you know I think me and Kate both guarded her um K guarded her a lot of the game and she's a great post and we know what they like to do you know they like to get down on the post post up and we're a bit smaller than them but we battled down there and that was most important um they beat us on the glass but I think really in the second half um we really stepped it up and focused on our box outs and defense um but overall when I got to ce
lebrate with my family that was a super special moment for them to be here and share this moment with them you know my parents and my brother have been with me and through everything so I'm just so grateful to have them here with me Ken shot from the connect Gazette for the players was revenge on your mind coming to this game for what happened last year to be honest no I feel like we prepare for this game we focus on Iowa we do what Iowa does and we'll come out on top and that was kind of Coach
bl's message it's it's not about last year you worri too much about the past you know you're going to get caught up in that it's about being present being where your feet are don't worry about being in the final four being this moment being the lead eight um you know enjoy that and soak that in and you know that's what's going to allow you to win 40 minutes and that's exactly what we did and you know I thought we just played a really good basketball game when they went on their runs we always ha
d an answer um and that's that's all you can ask of your team Nancy arm yes go ahead go ahead Nancy Nancy armmer USA Today sport uh for Caitlyn and and Kate how you've been there before um so how much more incentive is it to take the step that you didn't you know that you came up one step short last year yeah I think that's obviously our goal that's where we want to be but you got to win one at a time there's still two more there to get and um that's what makes the final four so fun you know any
body can take it anybody can win it and um I mean yes we want to win the national title that's probably what 100 other division one basketball team said when they started their season and um there's only one team of 360 that get to end their season and happy and to me that's what makes this sport so fun you know a lot of people end disappointed and you know being so close last year I think that's what just drives you um but I I know our group has given everything we got and you know at the end o
f the day you win you lose I feel like our group has given so much to this to this game and to this program that you can always hold your head high but I think at the same time that's the reason we have been able to play such good basketballs we don't want this to end and we want to keep coming back and working hard with each other and fighting for one more week and you know extend it as long as you possibly can I guess Shantel Jennings with the athletic Caitlyn after your a freshman year the lo
st to Yukon you said something in the press conference then about like you know I wanted to get to a final four I didn't say it was going to be my freshman year thinking back then like what was missing in you and that team to make that step and what is it that you guys have now that you were able to do it twice honestly like I feel like well first of all we were a young team we had no experience um playing with a young point guard like I was a freshman I think the biggest thing has just been lik
e my maturity and being able to move on from things when it doesn't go my way and I feel like that's what I'm the most proud of the over the course of these last two games just being calm cool collected and dialed into what we need to do I'm not worried about what the other team's doing I'm not worried about what call The Ref is making I'm worried about what Iowa needs and you know when I'm able to do that I feel like that helps my teammates a lot and I feel like that's the biggest way that I've
grown over the course of the last two years I'm not sure I really even did that my sophomore year and you know I've I've always had the basketball skills just been my mind and you know making my mind better and um you know lucky enough I've had really good teammates that have hold held me accountable and you know also been my biggest fans and been there to support me you know the entire way uh Jeff Linder C Rapids Gazette uh Caitlyn you had a kind of a no lose proposition here either you were g
oing to go to Cleveland for the final four you're going to try out for the uh the Olympic team just how um you know how much greater is this than than that have been yeah that's tough I mean obviously like the Olympics are always your dream but to be here with this team and to be able to do what we've done and to extend that out another week is all I could have really asked that's all I wanted is to win this game tonight and be going back to Cleveland with you know the people I love and get to p
lay for Iowa that's across my chest every single time so um for me it's yeah it was like a win-win I guess I mean I don't know but more than anything like my focus is 100% on making Iowa really good and um not really too focused on all that other stuff I know that'll be there when you know my career ends and hopefully that's with a win right here hi uh mler from the next Caitlyn good question it were you surprised that flow J uh you know you didn't get more reps against her uh her defending you
it seemed like her length was a little bit of an issue in the L later in the game yeah I mean I wouldn't I wouldn't say it was too much of an issue I mean honestly like like no matter what they threw at me I thought we always had a good answer I think our goal coming into this game was to set a ton of ball screens and that's exactly what we did and um you know I think they started showing late at the end of the game which can sometimes be a little bit better on me rather than drop coverage but u
m coming into this game I did expect her to guard me I will say that um but at the same time every team we play throws multiple Defenders at us I don't see one person for 40 minutes and that's what they did um they brought somebody in Off the Bench that guarded me too she guarded me a little bit um but also you don't want your best some of your best players to get in foul trouble so I don't know if that was the reasoning behind it but um yeah I think coming into this game that was what I was mor
e prepared for but you know you you don't get to know what the other team's going to do so CLA Hannah with TSN first of all congratulations on the win tonight Caitlyn this one's for you at the end of the fourth quarter I think there was about five minutes left you hit a three and you pounded your chest and you looked at the crowd what was going through your head in that moment I think I just got hyped for a second and honestly I was trying to be like pretty calm and cool like when you're playing
a team like LSU like they're never out of the game no matter what time and score is i' never wanted to and that's what I told our girls with I think there was 4:45 on the clock and we were up 11 I'm like do not start celebrating do not start start getting too emotional like this game is not over they're going to fight till the end and that's exactly what they did and but sometimes you get a little hype for yourself and you do things that you don't even realize you're doing but uh I think that w
as the only three I celebrated so yeah Michael V from espn.com Caitlyn um the 3o percentage has been a little lower during the postseason but tonight nine um which ties an NCAA tournament record single game he also passed Diana dzi for most threes in the inbl tournament I wonder if you could talk about were you really feeling it from three-point range and how big that was especially in the third quarter yeah I think for myself like I probably haven't been shooting it as good from three over the
course of the last five or so games but even if you told me that I would like I would still have 110% belief in myself and what I've been able to do this year and um to me like everything averages out over the course of the year you know I've had games where I've been two for 16 I've had games where I've been nine of 15 like it all averages out and I think that just speaks to the confidence that I have in myself and the time I put in the gym like I know I'm ready for this moment um I thought my
shot felt good in warm-ups and it certainly helps when you make your first three as a shooter when you can see the ball go in I think I was two of my first three and um and then I made my first to start the second half and that that certainly helped too and I thought I got some some good looks off the dribble and I'm really comfortable shooting off the dribble that's what I prefer rather than catch and shoot so um it was nice to have a game where I I got some some good looks at three for sure Na
ncy armmer USA today's sports Kate um how good is this rivalry or has this rivalry been for women's basketball and how much did you think that angel getting hurt hobbled whatever you want to call it affected not just her but all of LSU well we really didn't look at it as a rivalry honestly um to us you know it didn't really matter who was you know our opponent for this game um we were really just focused on ourselves but like to have stars that you know LSU has and to have stars that you know li
ke Caitlyn on our team I think that just really grows the game so in that aspect I think it's really it's really cool I'm sure we got some great viewership tonight in this game um I think a lot of people were looking forward to this game um and uh I'm not I I don't know for Angel I can't speak for her and uh obviously you never want to see an opponent go down you never want to see somebody get injured I don't know if it affected her or not I mean she came back in the game and she played pretty w
ell so um I'm not I'm not quite sure on that one uh Nicole hour back from the athletic for for all three of you but start with Caitlyn um there was a lot of anticipation around this game um in part because of the matchup but just uh I know you guys are obviously in a winter go home situation but could you feel it what did it feel like to be on that court tonight and and just knowing how many people cared and and we going to be paying attention to be honest like when you step on the court and you
're a competitor like you don't feel that like you just you're there competing it's 5v5 like there could have been nobody in the gym and we would have both teams would have competed the exact same way and yeah you're playing for a little more with a final four on the line but to me like I'm not think thinking like oh my God there's 15 million people at home watching this game right now like no like that's not what's happening it's like what can I do for my team to help me win this G win the game
right now um that's what's going through your mind if you're too worried about everything else you're not going to be successful you got to be completely locked in on you know what's happening between the lines and I thought our team did a really good job of that you know it wasn't so and so made a bad call it wasn't like oh my God they've made three shots in a row it was all about us and what we need to do and um I think that's one of the reasons we won the game honestly last one here for the
athletes hi y'all Isabelle Rodriguez with the next um I'm just curious I mean Gabby Marshall is not a player whose stats necessarily pop off the page but I think for anybody who's watching her play she she certainly does so I'm just wondering if you could speak about her and what she's meant to the program and especially today I mean she played 40 minutes so yeah I mean looking at Gabby and nothing pops off the page but besides she never got a sub the entire game and she is working her tail off
on defense constantly so I mean if she was tired we never knew it and that's pretty impressive and so you know I mean Gabby she's going to catch fire one for three she didn't get too many opportunities from three tonight but I mean we believe in her full confidence 100% she's an amazing shooter um and every single person on our team would say that and so you know she she's probably mad that she shot 33% from the field but I mean we know we're going to need her in later games and um I'm I'm reall
y proud of the way how she never never G gives up on the defensive end even if her you know she's not getting all the scoring or all the you know glory on the offensive end so um she's meant the world to this team and she's one of the reasons why we are back to the final four again this year student athletes thank you so much for the time with us this week and best of luck in the final four thank you so much thank you thank you we'll now open it up for lots of questions for the coach start right
here front row you Melos SE ret Gazette Lee if you would uh describe what your uh defensive strategy was coming into this game and how the players executed it actually um we thought we would be playing a whole lot more Zone than we did uh we started out in zone it was good for the first couple of minutes had to call they had to call a timeout um and then we tried trapping in our Zone uh and that really wasn't working um and after that we went to our player-to-player defense and I I was so impre
ssed with how hard our players worked um in there especially in the paint it was you know they they're a hard group to to defend in the paint when you have both Angel and uh and Marrow in there it just it's a lot to guarden the paint go ahead go ahead over here Sam ohaj with wvfi Quail um the third quarter you guys were able to pull away what defensive adjustments were made in the locker room at half that led to the great defensive showing we saw in the third quarter you know there was wasn't a
lot of adjustments that we made we just talked about how we needed to box out we didn't really do that um as you can tell here but it's ironic they had 23 turn rebounds and only 14 Second Chance points that's a really low number for 23 but a lot of it was kind of like you know just kind of bouncing it off the backboard a couple times to yourself almost um but um you know I think when we came out the game's tied we come out Caitlyn hits that deep three and it just gave us a lot of momentum it jus
t you know and then we get a stop and then another score and all of a sudden you know they have to call timeout after two minutes again I just think we we started the game and we started the third quarter with a punch and uh that really helped us a lot gave us a lot of confidence on the defensive end hey coach Doug fber dap I asked you other day if there any more wow moments left from Caitlyn and then she drops 41 and 12 today and again the regional final I think she 41 last draw so can you put
in perspective what she did tonight for you guys to get you back to the final four yeah that I mean Caitlyn I feel like I've talked about her like used every word imaginable to describe her but I you know I thought what she said today about her maturity has just grown so much over four years I really saw that tonight I mean it really it could have been a highly emotional game it could have been a you know a lot of talking going on out there just from what happened at the end of last year and hon
estly she put it aside she put everything aside and so I think her maturity um her just her communication with her teammates was really good tonight I mean she was in the Huddle really building others up which I love when she does that because it means so much coming from her rather than me um but I mean her her her her distant shots were amazing tonight her logo 3es were incredible you know I mean that just how do you defend that right it's like it is nearly impossible and uh So that obviously
gave us some great momentum Lisa Howard my Doan n congratulations um two things if I could the First on on Caitlyn she mentioned ball screens ball screens ball screens being a critical part of this and you talked about we're going to find ways of getting her to the basket which is not a thing against LSU that she did but she did right away here tonight how much of that is a schematic change how much of that is um just even her maturing and getting that much better again to the Rim Yeah I was rea
lly happy in the first quarter she got to the rim quite a bit and uh came off ball screens and we really encouraged her to do that because we didn't want her to start out with the logo 3es we wanted her we thought she could get to the rim and we wanted the higher percentage shots to begin with and so I was um pretty happy that she did that and then I'm telling you third quarter though she came out with a different look in her eye and I there's no you I could tell her all I wanted to that time to
get to the room and it wasn't going to happen so right here Lisa uh M Adler from the next you know between this game the West Virginia game a couple rounds ago you've had to your team has had to really be incredibly physical and play sort of like above your height especially in the paint defense has that been for you A big sort of learning point and growth from last year you know we've had to play that way all year I mean um you know adio Grady went in and played some good minutes tonight for u
s she had 15 minutes I think um she did a nice job in there when Hannah got into some file trouble but we've been undersized all year and you know it just the way it is you know it's you can't do anything about it and so don't gripe about it right just go out there and play and use your use what you do have do you have speed do you have agility you know do you have hops use those things instead of focusing on oh I wish I was four inches taller uh Nicole arbach the athletic uh Lisa you mentioned
you know throwing punches they threw punches back I it was such a high level game and it was so frenetic in the first quarter in particular what is that like to experience to be part of as the game's unfolding and then obviously to to come out Victorious but what what does it feel like to be in a game like that yeah you know we we always tell our players basketball is usually a game of momentum swings and you know you got to make yours ride as long long as you can and and and hang on during thei
rs and they had a really good momentum swing there in the what the second quarter was it um they had a really nice momentum swing I was just happy that I thought we were going to go up to you know to go into the locker room and I was thrilled with that but then we ended up being a tied and um you know we just went in there and said hey we got 20 more minutes um they they were very locked in at halftime I there was a lot of belief in that locker room there really was coach Al kop from The Daily G
azette connected he I'll ask the same question I asked the players how important was it not to focus on what happened last year and just keep the focus on this year and getting winning the game get to the final four again I can tell you we didn't talk about last year's game at all we did not talk about it at all it just wasn't important to us that was last year different teams different scenario um we just kept focusing on this this time we get to you know play we get a play today um we focused
on ourselves and I know it sounds Elementary and it's just what they said but that's truly we really believed I mean we were just focusing on ourselves and not focusing on LSU going into this game Lisa Nancy armor USA Today sports um Kate said it's not really a rivalry but obviously you've had these two huge games how good is this back and forth between LSU and Iowa well I mean we talked about that last night and I told the team this is not a rivalry this is a competition it's a competition agai
nst an opponent it is not a rivalry I just don't feel like we've played them that many times that you consider it a rivalry um but I mean I think people were highly interested in this game and so I I think people were excited to see this play to see this matchup again um so I think that was there the excitement around the game but it certainly wasn't one that we feel like is a rivalry it was just going out to compete last one here hey coach Isabelle Rodriguez with the next um I just to bring it
back to Gabby Marshall I mean for you from the coaching perspective I mean it's different to when you're like a teammate to have somebody who's that consistent but for you as a coach like what does it mean to have somebody who can go out there and put 40 minutes on the floor the way that she does so consistently and and with so much energy I'm so glad that you noticed her because I think she doesn't get enough credit for how hard she plays first of all yes she has a sniper she can't I mean she s
hoots you know one out of three tonight you know it's 50% adjusted but she has two steals she has a block shot I mean she's the shortest person out there and she has a block shot she consistently guards the toughest person she consistently gives it all that she has defensively whether it's you know getting out and denying or understanding to get her hands up something as simple as that she is a great defensive player and I'm so proud of her effort and I'm glad that you recognize that as well so
thank you coach thank you for your time with us this week and best of luck in Cleveland thank you thank you everyone and safe travels thank you app it very no
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