Samuelson sister showdown at Final Four still a possibility

BRIDGEPORT » There may not be a player on the UConn women’s basketball team who is more accommodating to the media than sophomore Katie Lou Samuelson.

Even with the Huskies dealing with media attention on a daily basis, not once since her arrival has she walked away from an interviewer or given off a “I’d rather be anywhere but talking to you guys” vibe while answering questions she’s heard countless times before.

However, Samuelson found herself wishing she wasn’t just popular with the assembled media on Sunday.

While Samuelson was in the press conference at Webster Bank Arena promoting Monday night’s regional final, her older sister was trying to lead Stanford into the Final Four. In the locker room after the press conference was open, she was still trying to keep tabs on the Stanford/Notre Dame game.

The media access period was over by the time Stanford held on for the 76-75 victory as Erica McCall blocked a shot by Arike Ogunbowale at the end of the game, but before that took place, Samuelson spoke about how important Karlie and older sister Bonnie were and are in her development as a basketball player.

“I’ve always been the little one and they always played as hard as they could against me,” Katie Lou Samuelson said. “Maybe every once in a while they let me shoot a shot over Bonnie. They really pushed me to be the best that I can.”

Karlie Samuelson was heavily recruited by UConn, and there was a time when it appeared she might have suited up for the Huskies. She opted to stay in California and play at Stanford.

The decision is one she hasn’t regretted, but it has made for plenty of traveling for her dad Jon who has been commuting between Lexington, Kentucky and Bridgeport to see Karlie’s and Katie Lou’s games in the regionals.

“I went to hug him after a little bit of celebration,” Karlie Samuelson said. “He said I made him cry too. I’m just so thankful that he’s coming out here and my mom is supporting me at home with the dogs and Bonnie.

“He hasn’t slept. He went from my game to Lou’s game to our game back to Lou’s game. I’m just really thankful to have so much support from my family.”

UConn coach Geno Auriemma knows the Samuelsons well having recruited two of the Samuelson sisters. Even though Karlie Samuelson played a starring role in the last loss suffered by Auriemma’s Huskies, he still holds the middle of the three Samuelson sisters in the highest regard.

“I was watching the game and they put the camera on Lou’s dad Jon and I’ve never seen a happier guy in my life,” Auriemma said. “He has to be shot (with) all the plane miles he is doing back and forth. Stanford has been so steady all these years, when Lou came here it was not an easy thing for the Samuelsons. You’ve got kids 3,000 miles apart, so trying to figure it all out and keeping your fingers crossed that maybe they’ll both play in the Final Four and now one of them is already there and hopefully we can get there as well and the family can go crazy trying to figure out who to root for.

“She is one of my favorite players, one of my favorite kids. A week doesn’t go by when I’ll say, ‘man, we’ve got the wrong Samuelson.’ They got the one who plays really hard, is really emotional, dives on loose balls, plays good defense, gets her hands up on shooters. We’ve got the wrong one. I must say that once a week just to get Lou really worked up ... and it works all the time.”

Auriemma sees similarities with all three of the Samuelson sisters.

“They are great kids, great teammates, they all shoot the hell out of it,” Auriemma said. “They are all really competitive, they are smart not just in the classroom but smart basketball players as well and they are great kids to be around. They are the kinds of kids you want on the team, the kinds of kids you want as a teammate if you were on the team. They are the kinds of kids you want to coach all three of them.”

Karlie and Katie Lou Samuelson have never met in a game in college and for that to happen, Stanford and UConn would need to play in the national championship game.

Nevada prodigies

Shortly after his daughter Gabby committed to UConn, Matt Williams began to spread the word about another talented basketball prodigy from northern Nevada.

UConn heard about Mallory McGwire, the daughter of former NFL quarterback Dan McGwire and niece of baseball legend Mark McGwire.

The Huskies never really made a run at McGwire who landed at Oregon. Now she is a freshman starter meaning that two former stars from the Reno, Nevada area will be squaring off in the Elite Eight on Monday night.

“We would text all the time, we were cool,” Williams said. “I didn’t get to watch her much in her last years of high school and to see where she is at now, it’s cool to watch somebody develop like that and be on this stage.

“Reno’s kind of small so everybody kind of knows everybody.”

Williams has started all 35 games this season and is only Husky to play in all the games in the current 110game winning streak. McGwire has started the last 23 games for the Ducks.

“Not a lot of kids come out of northern Nevada so it is awesome,” McGwire said. “Gabby has been on a pedestal for years now.”

The two squared off early on in McGwire’s high school career before injuries shortened Williams’ final two high school seasons before she headed off to UConn.

“My sister is the same age as her so I got to see my sister playing her my freshman and sophomore year so just being able to play against her, I knew what to expect,” McGwire said. “What you expect and what you get is kind of different. You expect her to be amazing and then she raises the bar.”

“She is the talk of the town, everybody knows who she is. The area is so small that you at least hear once a day or once a week, she is on the front of the newspaper. It is awesome to see her success.”