Winning national championship a ‘surreal moment’ for Wayne grad Hall

“It feels great,” Hall, a 6-foot guard, said Tuesday on the phone from Columbia, S.C. “It feels amazing.”

Hall played 10 minutes in the championship game, grabbing three rebounds and scoring one point. The championship celebration is a blur.

“We were all so excited, jumping up and down, jumping on each other, giving each other hugs,” Hall said. “The cameras were everywhere. The confetti came out. It was just a surreal moment.”

Hall’s family joined her on the court during the celebration.

“Me and my mom were hugging for long,” Hall said. “It was such an exciting moment.”

Hall’s parents, Bryan and LaShauna, and sister Brooklyn did not attend games in the first two rounds, which were played on South Carolina’s home court, or in the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight, which were played in Greensboro, N.C., because they were saving money for a trip to the Final Four. They didn’t know the NCAA helps pay for families to attend the Final Four. Bryan and LaShauna said they won’t make the same mistake next season.

Still, they watched the national semifinals and the championship game with crowds of more than 18,000 fans.

“It was an incredible experience,” Bryan said Monday. “She never got that opportunity to be on the stage in high school. She could never get to that state game. Finally, she made it. It was a mind-blowing experience to see her out there on the floor.”

LaShauna said Bree was confident after South Carolina beat Louisville 72-59 in the semifinals Friday. Bree had two rebounds in four minutes in that game.

“She was sitting next to us, and we were watching Stanford and UConn,” LaShauna said. “I’m nervous because I’m thinking, ‘Oh my god, I don’t even know which one of them I would prefer for them to play.’ I asked her, ‘Which team would you rather have?’ She’s like, ‘Well, I’d like to have Stanford because, you know, revenge, but it could be either. It doesn’t matter.’ She’s just so calm about it. She’s like, ‘Yeah, we got it. We don’t care.’”

Stanford beat South Carolina 66-65 in the Final Four in 2021. While the Gamecocks didn’t get a chance to avenge that loss, they became the first team to beat women’s college basketball’s most famous program in the national title game. UConn had advanced to the final 11 times since 1995 and won every time, most recently in 2016.

Hall scored 14 points in six NCAA tournament games, tallying eight of them in a second-round victory against Howard.

“It feels great just going out there and just knowing that I can make an impact and just do the things I do with confidence,” she said after the Howard game. “It just really helps make our team better.”

As a freshman, Hall averaged 2.7 points and 1.5 rebounds in 9.2 minutes per game. She appeared in 36 of 37 games. She scored a season-high 10 points against Vanderbilt on Jan. 24. She and her parents expect her to play a bigger role next season.

“She is nowhere near satisfied,” LaShauna said. “We’re proud of her, but she wants more. That’s why she gets on the court. Coach Staley is like, ‘She does whatever it is I ask of her. She’s going to give it her all.’”

Hall wants to improve her mid-range game most of all in her sophomore season.

“I’m still working on my driving and shooting and my 3-point shot, of course,” she said, “but a pull-up would really be deadly for my game.”