Iowa’s Lisa Bluder, Kathleen Doyle, and Megan Gustafson took the podium on March 23 to discuss their first-round victory over Mercer, as well as the Sunday matchup against Missouri.

Gustafson on being heavily guarded against Mercer

“Yeah, you know, seeing double and triple teams being physical is something I’ve been used to all year long, and so I think especially in the Big Ten conference they’ve been very physical, and I think it’s prepared me well, especially going into this postseason play.”

Doyle on fixing the turnover issues from the Round of 64

 “I think just being a triple threat is really important, and like Coach said it’s going to be even more of a physical game, so us guards need to be prepared out on the perimeter staying in triple threat and making sure we have all of our options.”

 Gustafson on Missouri’s Sophie Cunningham

“She’s a really good player. She’s a tall guard, too, and that’s always hard to have. It’s one thing if you’re a really good guard, but if you have length and size, that’s pretty hard. Again, hats off to her, she’s a great player, and we’re going to have to be ready on her defensively.”

 Bluder on the difficulty of guarding Cunningham

 “She can just score in so many different ways. She’s shooting 50 percent from the three-point line, but she’ll beat you off the drive. They do a great job of setting ball screens for her and getting her open for the drive, and then she can post up and do a great job drawing fouls on the block. So she is a very tough assignment. Yeah, just a really good — and you know, senior. She’s got all this experience. She’s been playing there since her freshman year she’s been a starter, and obviously, just like all seniors, they don’t want to see their seasons come to an end right now, so they play with a little different urgency.”

 Gustafson on Cunningham and Cierra Porter as a scoring tandem

 “It’s kind of a one-two punch there, so we’ve got to be ready for that. They both work pretty well together. Again, we just have to be ready, be prepared and to be able to play our principles defensively. They’re both really longer, especially guard, and then post, she’s about 6’4″, so we’ve got to be ready for that play, and just be ready for that match-up.”

 Gustafson on what will be her final game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena

 “I think I’m just going to go into it like any other game, preparing for it and not really wanting to think about that. But at the same time I’m going to play my heart out and I know my teammates are, and it’s going to be a lot more sweeter when we get a win, and so then it won’t be as sad not getting to play in Carver anymore.”

 Bluder on the three seniors and what they have meant to the program

“Tania, it’s been said so many times, but what she’s meant to our team as far as her resilience, her just amazing way to bounce back after ACL, ACL, and to continue to go through the grind just so that she can put a Hawkeye uniform on when she could have copped out on that. She could have just given up and just taken her scholarship, but she wanted to represent Iowa. She wanted to play in this NCAA Tournament so badly. So I love it for her.”

 “And for Hannah, just having such a different path than Megan and Tania in that she didn’t play much as a freshman, and a lot of kids bail on that. A lot of kids don’t stick around if they’re not getting the minutes; they’re hitting the road. She didn’t. She loved the University of Iowa. She knew she could get better. She kept a positive attitude. She was voted a captain last year, and even as a junior she didn’t have a starting role, but she excelled coming in at the 4 and the 5 and backing up both of those positions. So coming into this year and having a starting position, being rewarded for all that positive energy, just amazing. Again, you couldn’t script it any better.”

 “And then Megan, you know, I’ve run out of ways to describe that kid. But I know she’s been one of the easiest stars I’ve ever coached. She’s been one of the most — the least drama kids that I’ve ever coached. She’s given me no issues whatsoever. She’s an absolute joy. You know, she deserves to go out of here with a win, and that’s what we’re going to hope to give her tomorrow, although we know it’s going to be very difficult.”