Arizona Basketball Coach Adia Barnes Pumped Breast Milk During NCAA Championship Game

• University of Arizona Women's Basketball coach Adia Barnes pumped breast milk during halftime of the NCAA championship game.

• Later, she said she represented moms and wanted to show you can coach at an elite level and still take care of your family.

• People on social media saw Coach Barnes as an inspiration—off and on the court.

Life doesn’t stop when you’re breastfeeding, and that was definitely true of University of Arizona coach Adia Barnes during the NCAA Women's Basketball championship game.

Barnes, who welcomed daughter Capri six months ago, was spotted coming out of the locker room after the rest of her team during halftime. Why? She was pumping breast milk.

ESPN reporter Holly Rowe noted it on air and called on other people to support Barnes and moms like her. "For those of you who think this is too much information, let's normalize working mothers and all they have to do," Rowe said.

Barnes, who is a former WNBA player, TYVM, spoke to reporters after the game and addressed the fact that she’s been coaching a successful team with a baby daughter at home. "I had a baby right when season started. And took like a week off, it says I took a month off, but I did not," she said. "I was on Zoom calls four days after having a C-section so it was hard. But my team loved on me. I missed a couple of weeks, I got a little sick, they fought for me. I came back. They were patient. I'm happy."

Barnes then dropped this total tearjerker: "I represented moms. I have a baby here. I hear her crying ready to feed. I represent moms—you can be a coach; you can do it at an elite level. You just have to have a village like I do."

"I represent Black females, [they] don't get here too often and don't get opportunities,” she continued. "But I had an opportunity today on the biggest stage and represented a lot."

Fans were all about Barnes on social media after the game. "She kicks ass in real life while motivating her to team to do it’s best. You don’t find to many of these teachers in the coaching ranks. Arizona is lucky to have her," one person wrote. "Great stuff right here. Many people don’t always see a coach for everything they do off the court and behind the scenes. Coaching at its finest!" another said.

Barnes' team ended up losing the championship to Stanford University by one point, something that she later said on Twitter "hurt."

"My team…my heart!" Barnes wrote. "This hurt but they played their hearts out and that's all that I can ask for. I'm so proud of them and what we accomplished this year!"

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