🏀How UConn women's basketball alum Katie Lou Samuelson found right WNBA home in Indiana: 'Really'🏀

Holding her phone up at just the right angle to not disturb Aliya, the former UConn women’s basketball star fielded questions from the media over Zoom. last week One hand holding her baby and another holding her phone all while wearing a Vanderbilt women’s basketball jacket outside the team’s hotel.

The balancing act of managing new motherhood and a professional career both on and off the court quite literally on fully display.

“Since having her, my whole perspective on training, basketball, and everything has kind of changed just for the better,” Samuelson said. “I've been able to play because I want to play, and I want to do something for her. All the things that used to bug me before, they just seem so small now. I feel like I know what hard is now compared to what I thought was hard before.”

Samuelson not only begins her first WNBA season as a mother this summer but will integrate herself into another a new team after signing with the Indiana Fever this offseason. The 2024 season will be her sixth year in the league and fifth active season after sitting out all last summer due to her pregnancy.

The former Husky doesn’t shy away from change nor new challenges. She moved across the country from Southern California to play at UConn and will play for her fifth WNBA team this summer. Samuelson knows how to thrive where her feet are and this year will be no different.

“I feel like I have a chance to just be myself and be who I am as a basketball player,” she said. “Clearly (after) sitting out last year, I want to come back and I want to play my best basketball that I've played. And I know that being in a situation where I can be vocal, I can be helpful and I can play passionately and play with the people around me, that's something that I'm excited for.”