Iowa Women's Basketball
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 - Alright, well I thought we beat a really good Penn State team tonight.
00:04 A Penn State team that's really playing hard despite injuries
00:08 that they've had to their starters.
00:12 We had so many good performances tonight, but I'll start with Hannah Stahlke.
00:16 85% shooting from the field.
00:20 She had the second most points of anybody in an Iowa jersey.
00:24 Megan had one more. She missed that one free throw.
00:28 - She was tired. - Yeah, yeah.
00:32 You know, Kate Martin I thought played really well. 75%
00:36 shooting, 16 points, 16 rebounds. That's amazing.
00:40 Kaitlyn sets a Carver-Hawkeye arena record for most
00:44 assists in a game. I thought Sydda Fulter
00:48 played really well. Has 10 rebounds for us. Is perfect from the line.
00:52 Had some really tough defensive assignments that she did a really good job with.
00:56 Some really great individual performances
01:00 out here tonight. Just a lot of fouls. Long game.
01:04 - How's Molly? - Molly's been
01:08 sick. She didn't practice yesterday.
01:12 We thought she might be able to go today, but you could just tell in her eyes she couldn't do it.
01:16 Syd went in and did a really good job. Kylie got a lot of extra
01:20 minutes tonight too. Both of them did well.
01:24 - You were kind of frustrated after Ohio State just because free throws and everything.
01:28 What does this do for your confidence this game?
01:32 - I think my confidence is going to come up a lot. I know now I can be more
01:36 aggressive offensively. That's exciting. My free throws
01:41 still aren't where I want them to be, but I can keep working on that every day.
01:45 - You grew up coming to a lot of games here at Carver-Hawkeye arena. For you to have a night
01:49 like this where you set the Carver-Hawkeye arena record for the women's basketball team.
01:53 What does it mean for you to do this personally in a place where you watched a lot of games growing up?
01:57 - I think it's really cool. I remember watching Megan and
02:01 seeing her score so many points. Now I'm the one that the little girls
02:05 look up to. I think that that's just amazing.
02:09 - You looked a little rough down there. Were you going to be sore tomorrow? - Oh yeah.
02:13 I'm sore already. - There was a good stretch there where it seemed like
02:17 every possession was going to you. What is that like when you're just
02:21 putting up fast? I think you had like 15 points at halftime, so over 30 in the
02:25 second half. What was that stretch of time like where you're just getting the ball to your possession?
02:29 - It was a lot of fun. My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball. I had
02:33 some mismatches in there. It was fun.
02:37 - Hannah, you were one point away from the program record.
02:41 On the last play, it seemed like you weren't really looking
02:45 for the ball. One, did you know that you were that close to the program record?
02:49 Did you want the ball at that last point?
02:53 - No, I didn't know. - Now that you know, did you want it now?
02:57 - Yeah, let's go back.
03:01 - Hannah, to refresh my memory, 44 against Kennedy was your
03:05 high school best? - Yes, 44 in high school. - Senior year? - Yes.
03:09 - How does this compare to just a bigger crowd
03:13 and different circumstances?
03:17 - It's just crazy. This is such a bigger
03:22 stage.
03:26 - Lisa, everyone is tracking
03:30 Kaitlyn's record so closely. Do you tell her today, pregame, "Hey, why don't we
03:34 focus on passing the ball inside?" - No.
03:38 I didn't say anything to her like that. We were just really trying to win a game.
03:42 That's all that was on our mind. I don't even know how many more points.
03:46 I can do the math. I can do that afterwards. - Everyone in this room picked up.
03:50 - It's going to happen.
03:54 To me, that's not important. It's important to win this game.
03:58 - Lisa, if Kaitlyn was in here, the first thing she'd mention would be her 12 turnovers.
04:02 Probably not her best game this season. What can you say about the rest of your team,
04:06 whether it was Hannah or you mentioned Kate, Sid, everyone else being able to step up
04:10 in a really high scoring game. In other years, in this high scoring game, Kaitlyn had to go
04:14 over 45. - I'm so pleased with all of them, but
04:18 Kaitlyn, again, had some amazing assists. Running the floor, Hannah
04:22 was incredible running the floor.
04:26 We just have people stepping up. Addie went in and did some
04:30 good things. Sid did some good things. Gabby had a big
04:34 three for us. It's really good to see us be able to have
04:38 contributions from other people other than just Kaitlyn.
04:42 - If you had your brothers, would you rather she break it
04:46 to national TV on the road or
04:50 on Peacock at home? - I would rather have her break it at home just because I think
04:54 our Carver Hawkeye fans deserve that. But believe me,
04:58 our number one priority will be to win the game at Nebraska.
05:03 - Lisa, any special plans in place
05:07 once Kaitlyn breaks that record? Everybody's closely tracking it. They're saying
05:11 possibly February 15th. Any big plans in place just in case?
05:15 - There are things, and I can't remember what they are right now,
05:19 but we do have some things. Again, that's just so far back in my mind. But I know
05:23 our marketing department has been preparing.
05:27 We've kind of been advised that we shouldn't stop the game.
05:31 We've been advised that by the officials. We'll live with that.
05:35 Maybe I'll call a time out. Who knows? - I was told in the
05:39 hallway after the game that Sharon was gonna come in late in the game, but she said no.
05:43 She wanted to see if Hannah could hit 50. That says something about this team, right?
05:47 - That's the culture of our program. Sharon here, she has
05:51 an opportunity to go in. She was a starter at the beginning of the year, and she instead wants
05:55 Hannah to have this record. I can't express to you enough
05:59 how much this team cares about each other, looks out for each other,
06:03 and that's what makes it so fun to coach them. - Lisa, you guys held Ashley. We've seen
06:07 her play 415. She really played good defense overall in terms of their shooting.
06:11 Just what did you guys feel like you did well in the defensive end tonight?
06:15 - I thought we did a good job until we started fouling in the fourth quarter.
06:19 There's 71 free throw shot in this game, 38
06:23 in the fourth quarter. I don't know. I felt like
06:27 it changed the way the game was being called.
06:31 It's a little bit frustrating. Again,
06:35 I think we made her work for her points. There was no way she was scoring unless she got to the
06:39 free throw line, basically. - Hannah, how were you able to get down
06:44 way before the head state kids could turn and get there?
06:48 - I kind of just turn and go. I did track in high school, and I was
06:52 really fast. Just turn and go and
06:56 get down there as fast as I can. - Hannah, Caitlin's...
07:00 Caitlin's record is 46 when you got to 47.
07:04 It looked like she mentioned something to you, what'd she say? - No. She just has
07:08 a lot of confidence in me, and she wants me to keep playing at my best.
07:12 She just keeps building me up. - Can you tell us what she did say to you? I saw her kind of getting your face
07:16 there as you walked out of the game. What'd she say to you in that moment? - She said, "I expect you to do this every game."
07:20 [laughter]
07:24 - You talked a little bit, and you've talked all season, actually maybe your whole career,
07:28 about culture and how big that is. The fact that you have
07:32 this superstar player doing something, has so many people, and yet
07:36 this team just embraces her. There's no
07:40 "Oh, she gets so much attention." I know that's a lot to do with your culture,
07:44 her personality, but I saw some of the personality of your kids. I wonder if you could kind of reflect on that.
07:48 - Yeah, there's so many things that go into that, Michael. It's not only
07:52 I think it's our culture. We really praise the assist.
07:56 We really... I mean, one of our values is everyone matters.
08:00 It doesn't matter to us if you're the leading scorer or if you're a person that seldom
08:04 gets off the bench. To me, everyone matters. It's one thing
08:08 to have that pasted on your wallet. It's another thing to live it. I think our team lives it.
08:12 We really, in the recruiting process, talk a lot about that with our
08:16 recruits so that we recruit the same type of value
08:20 kids. We don't want kids to want to come in here and just
08:25 want to be a basketball player and have everything run around them and
08:29 not really care about the touchy-feely stuff. We like the
08:33 touchy-feely stuff. We think that when players are emotionally
08:37 invested that they will play harder, that they will look out
08:41 for each other a little bit more. I think that's what we try to tap into
08:45 is the emotional part of this game, not just the skill
08:49 part. Certainly that's a huge part of it.
08:53 I give so much credit to Kaitlyn for that, though. She is the...
08:57 First of all, she earns every respect by the way that she performs and the way that she
09:01 practices. Her extra shots that she gets in.
09:05 She doesn't act like a premium Madonna. She just doesn't.
09:09 I just wish that everybody could see
09:13 behind the scenes how she is because she's so far from a premium
09:17 Madonna. I think that everybody on our team
09:21 respects her and just admires the way that she treats them.
09:25 For example, on her birthday she got everybody else shoes. Nike
09:29 shoes. She's just a very thoughtful, thoughtful individual.
09:33 -Along those same lines, since she only had six second half points today, did you feel like maybe a switch
09:37 was flipped where she felt like this was maybe Hannah's night so she started to defer to her there
09:41 in the second half? -I don't know if she thought that. Knowing her, she could have
09:45 because she remembers everything about a game. I've never known a person
09:49 that has such a good memory about how a game flows and what they...
09:53 the sequence of a game. Possibly
09:57 she also wasn't shooting the ball as well as she's capable of shooting.
10:01 Went to do some other things. Got to the free throw line. Got her assists. Got other
10:06 people involved, which you love to see out of a player. -Lisa, you mentioned the fouls,
10:10 especially late in the game. How did you feel like your team handled all the stops and starts? Penn State
10:14 kept it right around ten points for a while. How did you feel like they handled being able to
10:18 still close out the game? -I think it was getting like... It's getting late.
10:22 Everybody's thinking that. It's getting late. This is
10:26 really long. It was kind of a little bit frustrating but I think
10:30 our team, we just kept talking about just stay in the moment.
10:34 We can't control... Control what you can control and that is staying in the moment and not
10:38 worrying about the officiating or anything like that.
10:42 Nobody likes to watch a game that there's that many free throws shot.
10:46 It's not fun. But at the same time
10:50 again, we can't control that. -What enabled you guys to finally
10:54 just sort of pull away enough? -Say that again, Susan? -What
10:58 enabled you guys to get separation from them?
11:02 -They hit a lot of threes in the first half. Did they have 11
11:06 in the first half? They averaged nine. They had people step up and make threes
11:10 that don't make threes. You go by statistics.
11:14 Number one, Allie had made one three all year. She hits
11:18 two against us. There's another player that had went 0 for
11:22 number seven, Grace Hall. She had not made a three all year. She makes one.
11:26 Number 10 had made five on the entire year. She makes
11:30 two on us. It's one of those things you go statistically. You
11:34 try to play statistics a little bit.
11:38 It didn't pan out in the first half, in the first quarter. It did for the rest
11:43 of the game pretty much. -Lisa, I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself but at one point
11:47 you're gonna have to decide whether to stay or go professional. Once she
11:51 becomes a lead scorer, what legacy will she be leaving behind for this basketball team?
11:55 -Her legacy. Obviously, when
11:59 I fully intend that she will be the leading scorer of all time,
12:03 that's amazing. I think people are gonna remember her not only for her
12:07 scoring but her passing. She's almost reached 1,000 assists. I think
12:11 there's only five other players ever that they've accomplished that.
12:15 Being an all around player like that is what's amazing.
12:19 I also think the specialness of the way she
12:23 scores, the logo threes, people are gonna remember that. It's just unique.
12:27 I also think people will remember how she's elevated
12:31 our game, how she has been a role model for all these kids
12:35 that love to watch her play, and how she's just brought an
12:39 excitement to women's basketball like no other. -Lisa, before
12:43 you even got here, this state has supported women's basketball. You know that
12:47 too, Hannah, because you're a native. Why does Iowa love
12:51 women's and girls' basketball so much? Not just here, but everywhere. -I think
12:55 it goes back to... It's
12:59 ingrained in our culture here in Iowa because we've had
13:03 basketball here since the 1920s. That's unheard of.
13:07 Then there was the six on six. That was very, very popular.
13:11 Also, you have Christine Grant, who was gender equity, Title
13:15 IX, and really promoted women's sports. I think there's a lot of
13:19 reasons why this state embraces women's basketball and women's
13:24 sports. -What do you think, Hannah? -Yeah, I totally agree.
13:28 [laughter] -You said that beautifully.
13:32 [laughter] -Coach Glader, you were yourself in the
13:36 Valley, I believe for Jackie Stelz's first three years. -Yes.
13:40 -It was nice to talk to her the other day and all of us talked to Kelsey Plum. Both of them
13:44 talked about nerves. Kelsey even said that Chase was
13:48 one of the worst times of her life.
13:52 None of that's the truth. Almost like she's having the time of her life doing it.
13:56 Why do you think she's been able to not... The nerves
14:00 and the negative of it hasn't seemed to got to her? -No. This is the
14:04 time of her life. She's enjoying every minute of it.
14:08 I don't want to take anything away from Kelsey or Jackie because I respect both of them
14:12 so much. I coached Kelsey in USA Basketball.
14:16 I coached against Jackie many, many times. I respect
14:20 both those players, but I think individually we're all different.
14:24 Some people may find that as a pressure,
14:28 but there has been no burden to Kaitlyn with this.
14:32 She's just busting it down. It's no burden. She's having fun with it.
14:36 I credit her maturity so
14:40 much for that. -Describe what it's been like on the road.
14:44 They support women's basketball here, but to see
14:48 people in Wisconsin wait for hours in 28 degree weather, to see
14:52 DC wait in line for hours, to see viewership at a record,
14:56 to see attendance at a record, to see sold out arenas. What has that been like?
15:01 -It has been so much fun. We get the opportunity to
15:05 do this. Our team is kind of like the Beatles and it's fun.
15:09 It's really fun. Who would not want to enjoy that?
15:13 A little bit of a tangent on this though,
15:17 why do people not reserve ticket like Iowa? At Iowa I'm so proud of us
15:21 the way we handle our fans. We embrace our
15:25 fans. We have reserved seating for our fans. You go to other places
15:29 and it's all general admission. People have to line up eight hours, six hours before a game.
15:33 That's not treating your fans very well. If you want
15:37 fans to come to your game you gotta cater to them a little bit. At Iowa
15:41 we do. And we have the best carver cones too. -Tana, are you
15:45 too young to understand the Beatles reference? -No.
15:49 I know who the Beatles are.
15:53 -Speaking of fans, your parents are two of the most entertaining people
15:57 in the stands. One, do you ever glance up at them? And two, what
16:01 does it mean? Everyone says I'm the biggest fan of their kid but those two are
16:05 Hannah Stolke fanatics. What does it mean to have them? -I think it means a lot.
16:09 They've been like that since I was little. They've always supported me and
16:13 supported the rest of our teammates too. They cheer for everybody.
16:17 They're amazing. I love them a lot.
16:21 -Did you hear the crowd chanting your name? -Yes. -What was that?
16:25 -I was trying not to smile out there on defense.
16:29 I think I felt special.
16:33 I think it was really cool. -When during the game did it feel like
16:37 this was a really special game for you?
16:42 -I don't know.
16:46 I just don't think it has yet. Maybe tomorrow
16:50 I'll be like oh my goodness I did that. -A lot of players get in the zone
16:54 and they just don't remember what they did the whole game? -No.
16:58 I don't remember the whole game. -Hannah you said, Kaitlin said to you
17:02 do this every game. Do you see her as a mentor?
17:06 -Yes absolutely. I think she has the most confidence in me
17:10 as anyone. She always wants me to be at my best
17:14 and we just have that love. -Lisa I think
17:18 this is the first time since November of 2022
17:22 that Kaitlin hasn't been your leadings for. -Wow.
17:26 -What have you talked about
17:30 about this to have the consistency? Not just
17:34 to be spectacular sometimes but night after night.
17:38 -It's amazing.
17:42 There's so many things that impress everybody about Kaitlin but her consistency
17:46 is off the charts. For her to
17:50 do this day after day, night after night, sold out
17:54 arenas, chasing records, for her to be this consistent is
17:58 incredible. Everybody has a bad night
18:02 right? We all have bad nights. Kaitlin doesn't have any bad nights.
18:06 -Thank you. -Thank you.