Caitlin Clark before home finale v Dallas Wings — on Aces loss, competitiveness — and Halloween

back in training camp Erica spoke about kind of taking you under her wing and kind of being that Mentor for you now that the the season playit out what's that relationship been like and how important has she been for you kind of transition yeah obviously EO has been somebody that's been there the the entire time for us and somebody that's been super supportive of every single person on our team and she's come in and gave us really good minutes and whenever her role was she was always stepping up to the plate and doing that for us um but I think she's somebody that understands me well like she's always there whether the one's really good moment's not so great like you know she's there to help me through it um or celebrate it whatever it is good or bad um and I think that just speaks obviously her time in this league she understands how it goes and uh just trying to to help me through my rookie season and you know help me understand you know how the league works and what to expect or what teams are going to do so I think it's been a fun Journey for the both of us and it honestly feels just like yesterday where we we first met and we're at training camp with one another so it's definitely been fun Matt and Christie yeah hi Kaitlin um Christie said that Friday's lost hurt you guys the players um so I was just wondering how you're feeling walking in here on another game day and also you know the sense with the team as well yeah I think we're we're definitely all excited I felt like we we all felt in our locker room after that game like that was one we could have definitely won if we just executed in areas a little bit better um or played a little bit better in certain quarters or made some free throws things like that so um I think it's just another really good opportunity for us um you know this is our last regular season home game obviously we hope to get back here at some point during the playoffs but um you know don't take this for granted like this is going to be really fun fun for our fans Sunday afternoon game so uh I don't think it should be hard to like get up for that um for our group is knowing this is our last time in this in this building during the regular season so uh I think we're fired up and and ready to to get a win again go Christine and Maddie thanks um Caitlyn two parts it's 115 117 left in the game you fire that three and you're down by two at that point I'm curious if you when you're driving home or later that night are do you ever like think about that and you know how the crowd would have exploded and what it would have meant do you do you spend any time kind of replaying that for sure I definitely replay the game in my head and to be honest like you know you go back and think about like what we could have got there what we couldn't have got and I thought it was a great shot honestly and me and Christy talked about it that's something you live with if you make it every single person loves it um and honestly I thought it was in I we got the switch I think we said a drag or a double drag um and Asia kind of switched out and she kind of had her hand down so I was able to get it off um and it felt good and would have given us the lead what killed us is we didn't the next possession on defense we gave up a straight line drive right to the middle of the paint and then Kelsey plums left open for a wide open three and that that hurt us bad but we continued to battle and then you know AB got a great look at 3-2 that you know rims in and out and so I think you live with you live with both of those um but yeah I mean you definitely replay it's like ah like it was it was right there and like as a competitor you definitely want that and um I think the the roof probably would have definitely blown off so hopefully we don't need heroics like that tonight but if we do you know I'm definitely going to step up to the plate and take the shot whe it goes in or not and just the followup and you kind of answered this but do you know when it leaves your hands you know you said you felt that one was good but sometimes I mean do you know or are you kind of like every other spectator in the arena going is this going to go in or not I usually know sometimes you'll see me like pointing if I can tell it's a little bit off um the ones that are annoying are the ones that feel really good and then don't go in as a shooter but at the same time that's kind of like a positive because you know you feels good your shot feels good the mechanics feel good it's almost like how is that not going in as a shooter so um yeah like I said I think it was a good shot um I thought it was right there and right online um and it would have been fun if it went in I guess we got mat we go Scott how do you think that like Lexi's emergence especially over the second half of the season after the Break um has impacted the team maybe even like added another layer of confidence yeah I'm really proud of Lex I thought she was very resilient obviously her role has changed a lot as we've gone over um gone through the course of the year you know some games she she didn't get in um some games she played a couple minutes and now she's in a starting role and that's that's really hard to do to stay resilient to come in and work hard every single day um to believe in yourself to still have confidence to have confidence in the teammates and the position that you're being put in but um to see the way she's improved obviously I wasn't on the team last year but just the her shooting over the course of the Year even you know since the since the Olympic break she shot the ball incredibly well um and that has added a whole another Dynamic for our team and another thing that the other team has to scout for so um I'm really proud of her in that regard and that's definitely hard to do considering she has the toughest match up every single night and um she just makes so many plays that you know get us one more possession or you know she gets her her hand on a deflection here and there that you know can be a huge turn into game for us so uh she just works works so hard I'm super proud of her I'm happy for her because like I said like it was definitely a tough position to be in and she just continued to put her head down and come to work every single day and it certainly paid off I got to L first Scott the other day um Christy was saying talking about how funny you were on the court practice do you know what she's talking about A and B got a joke for us during that specific practice that was funny that's what you were saying um I don't know like I said last time I was up here like I feel like I just try to keep it light and fun um I don't know I feel like my personality has definitely come out over the course of the Season as I've gotten more comfortable with the people that I'm around um I don't have a joke I don't really tell jokes like off the tip of my tongue like that like it's well in De Mo I feel like this is actually kind of crazy and actually super random but when you trigger treat in De Mo Iowa you have to tell a joke to earn your candy and I guess no other place really does that in the country so you have to tell a joke to you go and knock on their door and you have to tell a joke to get your candy and like I know my mom's a stickler about like if you don't tell a joke like you're not getting any candy those poor kids they know better so you better have a good joke at Halloween time and like whenever I tell people that like even when I was an i City at the University of Iowa like they're like what that's so weird but to me like that's very normal I think it's weird you just knock on somebody's door in general and ask them for candy like that's a little strange but you got to earn it somehow so I don't know like that was always fun part of Halloween for myself is like you and your friends come up with a list of funny jokes and my mom still to this day will like write all the jokes down on a list and her phone and send it to me and my brothers after trick-or treat is over and we get a kick out of them so that's where I get most of my jokes but other than that I'm just a very sarcastic person so yeah very random tip you guys there you go last two go SC and T if you has one I have to follow up on that do you have a go-to joke that you always use um not really I mean I don't know I would switch it up a lot I was too worried about like beating everybody I was trick-or-treating with to the next house I didn't really care about the joke I was too worried about getting the full size candy bars and like being the first to knock on the door I know that's super surprising but like I was in a full sweat at trick or treat like I came home I had to go straight to the shower before I counted my candy because that's all that mattered is that I got first and I got first every year at the amount of candy I had I was the first to the door I had the best costume I had the best joke it was I was just I just dominated trick or treat you Dr as a basketball player uh oh never I had some good costumes though I had some really good people make fun of me for how I say costume costume but whatever what were they oh gosh um I think I was a clown one year I think I I was a blue Eminem one year uh I had a really good costume but I'm going to keep that one to myself the the real people know that about my trick- or- treaty days s my one really really really good costume it would never surprise any of you but I can't tell you all that maybe it'll come across a picture at one done Kaitlin on your drivein and on your drive out can you kind of describe what you see as you've helped really transform this city and maybe what goes through your mind before and after each game in that respect yeah honestly like it's one of my favorite parts of the day to be honest like I drive here it's 2 minutes from where I live and like there's always like so many people on the side of the roads that have my jersey on or have people with fever gear on and I was driving here versus the aces the other day and there was this this Dad and a young girl and I just like I looked out the window and it just made me smile because that was literally me just like a short time ago and that's something that like I don't know it's just very refreshing and like humbling and something you're really grateful for like don't take those little things for granted um and it's it's cool to see how far I've come and um it puts everything into perspective for myself too so you know I know a lot of people camp out when I leave I never stop so I'm sorry but I usually trying to get home it's been a long day but I really appreciate all the support um and it's definitely cool like people don't even know I'm driving by and they're they're in my jerseys and stuff and um that's never anything that I I take for granted so I'm just really grateful T the last one hi k um last gave the regular season and youve talked a little bit about sorry let me go slower acent with your like just the growth you talk about growing comfortable being yourself when you think about where you've come from that first game of the season to now how is there like a sense of Pride for you in terms of like you're feeling more comfortable you're able to be just I don't know if you're able to be full of yourself now or yeah just how do you feel about that in yourself your growth yeah I feel like there's definitely a sense of comfort like you know when I first come into this league it's like you're starting a new chapter of your life and you feel like there's a lot still to prove I still feel that obviously now but you know you never know how it's going to go coming into this league like it's such a dominant league and expectations are really high and you know I feel that too and I so I think it just took me a few seconds to to get comfortable and to to find my way and to find how I was going to be successful in this league and I feel like I've done a good job of that over the course of the year I feel like from game to game I've continued to grow and continue to find myself um but I think that's something that has helped me the most is just the relationships that I built with my teammates too and um I think our chemistry has grown there and we're really embracing everybody for who they are and what they bring to this team and what their role is on this team and I think that's what makes a really good team and that's how you appreciate every single person in your circle whether they get off the bench whether they're in the starting five and that's something that I value um greatly so I think just finding you know comfort in that and learning in that and building my relationships with my teammates to know that you know they always have my best interest at heart um and same goes for me too so um I feel like from game to game just continuing to build on that and like I've said before like I still like feel like there's just so much room for me to improve and that's what's exciting especially now that we're in game 39 um you know we're already into the playoffs um But continuing to try to win and build on this and get ready for for that moment obviously our organization hasn't been there since 2016 so I know everybody's fired up and happy about that too