WNBA FINALS: STORM VS. ACES

October 6, 2020

Alysha Clark

Seattle Storm

Game 3: Postgame

Seattle Storm 92, Las Vegas Aces 59

Q. Hi, AC. There was a moment you closed your eyes after the game. What were you thinking in that moment?

ALYSHA CLARK: Just how thankful I am to be back in this position. You know, you never know. I was telling Sue, she had a conversation with us back in 2018 about how you just never know when you're going to be in this situation, this position, and I just have that moment. I was just like, I can't believe this is here. I can't believe it's here. Like this is our moment. We're champions and I wanted to soak it in as much as I could.

Q. Can you compare and contrast this one with your first one, winning in 2018? How do they compare? How does it feel? Is it more special? Just in your words.

ALYSHA CLARK: This one is really special. This one is special just because of reason that we were here in the beginning. We wanted to bring awareness and give a voice to the black women that are often forgotten in this country. We are often overlooked and often unheard, and this championship was for them, for us.

As a league of women, of black women, and the ladder of being different, we have women out here fighting for the voice of black women in this country, and, so to be able to come out here tonight and win this; it's a championship for little black girls and black women across this country honestly.

I said it after the game when I was letting it all soak in. I hope each and every one of them feel just as victorious in this moment as I do. Because you should. We see you. We hear you. We acknowledge you, and your life matters. And that was what the season was about.

So to be able to win a championship with that mentality, and all that on our minds, man, it's really special and historic. I'm so honored and thankful to be a part of that.

Q. You mentioned that Sue had talked to you guys in 2018, you never know when you're going to be here. Was that before you guys won the title? After you won the title? During that run? When specifically did she talk to you guys about that?

ALYSHA CLARK: Before. When we were in the playoffs to -- you know, when we were playing against Phoenix and then we got the Finals, she is something she said. You never know when you're going to be in this position to compete for a title, and you just never know.

To be able to be in this position right now, tonight, it's special, man. I can't even believe -- I can't even believe I'm sitting here a two-time champ. Like this is amazing.

Q. Could you expand on what this means beyond even just basketball. One of the things you guys, obviously the Say Her Name campaign, but also the get out the vote, do you feel like from the bubble you were able to send out a message that's going to reverberate into the next several months into next season and that it's not just something that ends when the season ends?

ALYSHA CLARK: 100 percent. When we decided to come down here to Bradenton, we knew the message that we wanted to put out, and we knew -- we knew the reason for this season.

You know, I'm going to continue to give Angel the credit, because it was her idea to get Breonna Taylor's name on the back of our jerseys to play this season. You know, so we had a bigger purpose this season coming out here, and so when our team collectively had the discussion about coming down here, we knew it was much bigger than us and we knew it was much bigger than tonight.

And so I really mean that when I say, I hope all the black women in this country and all the little black girls that dream to be something really special in this country, like I hope you feel victorious tonight because this season was dedicated to you. We came out here night-in and night-out, and competed on a physical level but also to bring awareness.

And so for us, to just be able to wear this name on the back of our jersey, Breonna Taylor, and have the zoom calls that we have with Ms. Tamika Palmer, you know, that's -- at the end of the day, like this championship is amazing, it really is, and I'm super grateful for it.

But the awareness and the message that we were able to get out, is even greater, and so yeah, we are less than a month away from elections. Deadlines to register to vote were today.

But we have a lot more work to continue, and Sue alluded to it, just us being the face and kind of using our social media platform and platforms that we have like this, even just speaking to raise awareness of the importance of voting and what comes after this, is going to be a continuous fight, and we are ready for it. We are built for it. That's what the women of this league are made of. We are built to fight. We are built to stand up for what is right in this world, and we are going to continue to do that, whether it's here winning championships or being in market and overseas in these next few months.

Q. Can this team be a dynasty?

ALYSHA CLARK: When you have the caliber of players that we have and the confidence that we have, anything is possible. The unselfishness of this team, 1 through 12, anything is possible. For us right now, we are just trying to be in the moment and enjoy this, and we'll see what next season brings.

But right now, we are going to enjoy this with one another. We are going to freaking celebrate this because this was hard. This was by far harder than the first championship that we won. And we are just going to be in this moment.

But hopefully you'll see us all back again next year and we're going to try to compete for this. Last year, we didn't get to compete for our 2018 championship, so hopefully next year everybody will be back healthy and ready to do that.