"I am what I am cause you trained me... so who's afraid of me?"
IN WHICH, Paige Bueckers makes some distasteful comments on an instagram live...
and Kyla Kovlova responds, igniting an intense rivalry that eventually becomes something more.
(PAIGE B...
—> TB @uconngirlyy22 nobody talk to me. —> kyla kovlova. @kylakovlova12 i'm devastated. this isn't even my team tho...???
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
5th April, South Bend Indiana
KYLA FELT UNEASY AFTER watching some of her best friends go through such a frustrating loss yet again in the 'Final Four.'
She was currently packing her duffel bag to the brim with clothes as she prepared for her upcoming trip to Storrs. She and Maura were supposed to have gotten there the previous day, but their flight had been delayed due to weather concerns and was now leaving early the next morning.
Maura and Nate had convinced Kyla to at least stay at her brothers place the first night before she figured out where she was going to be for the rest of the week, which was honestly a relief for Kyla.
The brunette had clearly left her packing until last minute, there flight being in a mere six hours, and the Notre Dame girl only having packed away her toiletries.
"Are we going out at all?" Kyla asked as she weighed up how many outfits she would need.
"Is that even a question!" Maura just laughed in response, earning a groan from Kyla, who was struggling to have enough room. The girls had only planned to stay for a week, yet Kyla had always been an over-packer.
"Ky, there's no way you need three different pairs of blue shorts... it's not even summer yet!" Maura said, shaking her head.
Kyla just ignored her best friend's judgment as she continued to pack. She had spent the day with Nat, who had recently confided to Kyla that she wasn't using her fifth year of eligibility at Notre Dame and instead was planning to start her graduate program in Miami.
The news wasn't surprising to Kyla, yet it did have her reconsidering her future at Notre Dame, especially considering her recent ankle issues. Kyla's ankle was healing fast; she finally didn't have to wear her brace, which had been frustratingly attached to her ankle since she initially tore one of the ligaments.
She saw her physiotherapist twice a week and had her obvious daily exercises that kept up the mobility and movement. Overall, Kyla had been pretty lucky that the injury had turned out to be so minor.
As she continued to pack, Kyla's mind wandered. There hadn't been much communication within the team about potential transfers, yet she thought a few of her teammates had their own suspicions that the junior might not be spending her senior year with them.
Kyla was overall just feeling conflicted; she didn't know what she wanted to do.
She shoved another pair of sneakers into her duffel, hoping she could fit everything she needed.
"Ky, you seriously don't need this much stuff," Maura said, shaking her head as Kyla tried to zip up her overstuffed bag.
"You gotta' be prepared, Maurs!" Kyla convinced as she finally managed to get her bag zipped up.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
5th April, Cleveland Ohio
THE UCONN GIRLS WERE trying to find the positives after there two-point loss in the 'Final Four,' yet that seemed to be a hard task with their overbearing frustration and sadness at the outcome.
Paige had been guarded well all night and ultimately, every single girl on the team had played their role and stepped up. Iowa were just too good for them that night.
The disappointment, however, was painted all over Paige's face as she attended her last post-game press conference for the season, marking the end of her journey with Nika and Aaliyah.
Paige sat beside her coach and Aaliyah as she listened to the questions and comments from the many reporters around the room.
"For all the players, what did you make of the screen call from your vantage point?" All three seniors remained silent, vexation and sorrow clear.
Paige finally spoke up, her voice heavy with emotion. "Um... everybody can make a big deal about that one single play, but not one single play wins a basketball game or loses a basketball game. I feel like there was a lot of mistakes that I made, that could have prevented that play from even being that big.... we should've done a better job or I should've done a better job at making sure we didn't leave the game up to chance like that."
The girls answered a few more questions before retreating back to the locker room to debrief about the game together.
Inside the locker room, the atmosphere was heavy with a mix of exhaustion and reflection. Paige sat down, her eyes scanning the room, taking in the sad and empty faces of her teammates.
The girls couldn't let this weigh them down. The challenges and adversity they had to overcome to even be playing for a spot in the championship match had to be considered. Paige was just grateful and thankful as she reflected on her first season back from injury and first full season since her freshman year.
The UConn girls knew they had it in them for next year.
TASH's CORNER i don't like thinking about the uconn versus iowa game... let alone writing abt it 🙁 literally so excited to write the next chapter tho!!!
