Photos: NCAA First Round women’s basketball press conferences and open practices
March 17, 2022
NCAA hosted First Round women’s basketball pre-game press conferences and open practices for No. 2 seeded Iowa and No. 15 seeded Illinois State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday.
During Iowa’s press conference, head coach Lisa Bluder, who led her team to victory in the Big Ten Championship on March 6, spoke about the relationship guard Caitlin Clark and center Monika Czinano have on the court. “Monika knows Caitlin is going to give her the ball right where she needs it,” Bluder said. “They love playing together, and they rely on each other a lot.”
Illinois State guard Mary Crompton said facing the Clark and Czinano duo will be a challenge. “Obviously, they’re both two amazingly talented players,” Crompton said, “and one of them being a point forward and the other one being a post, it can kind of make it tough to stop…”
Combined, AP All American honorable mention Czinano and first-team AP All American Clark average 45.8 points per game.
Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Tournament Most Valuable Player Caitlin Clark spoke on Carver-Hawkeye Arena’s second sellout of the season set for First Round games. “This doesn’t happen many places in the country for women’s basketball,” Clark said. “I’m just really thankful this community supports us like we do.”
The Hawkeyes and the Redbirds face off Friday in sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 3:00 p.m. CST.
