UNCASVILLE — Former UConn women’s basketball star Lou Lopez Sénéchal couldn’t help but tease her Dallas teammate Maddy Siegrist when the two walked into Mohegan Sun Arena this week for the Wings’ Friday matchup against the Connecticut Sun.
Siegrist, the former Villanova star, of course remembers Mohegan Sun a little differently than Lopez Sénéchal.
“I don’t really like it just because we lost here,” Siegrist said.
Five months ago, the two faced off in the Big East Tournament Championship at Mohegan Sun Arena with Lopez Sénéchal and the Huskies defeating Villanova 67-56. Lopez Sénéchal ended the game in a rain shower of confetti, while Siegrist, despite becoming the league’s all-time leading scorer, ended her senior year as the Big East runner-up for the second-straight year.
“It’s like a good weird,” Lopez Sénéchal said of being back in Uncasville for the first time as a professional. “Especially that I’m with a different team now, but it’s always exciting. I know there’s great people here.”
Lopez Sénéchal is months into her rookie season in the WNBA after getting drafted by the Wings with the No. 5 overall pick in April’s WNBA Draft. While a knee injury has prevented her from making her professional debut, the former Husky and Fairfield star says she’s grown up just these past five months even just from watching and rehabbing on the sideline.
“It still feels weird sometimes just because, you know, the situation and how, you know, I’m not on the court … but you know, (I’m) just very excited for the journey,” she said.
Lopez Sénéchal initially injured her right knee during the second half of the college season but continued to manage and play on it since it was her final collegiate season and she wanted to see it through.
“I wanted to end the season. I wanted to play as much as possible,” she said. “I knew I didn’t want to take anything for granted. … Definitely, it wasn’t always easy, but you know, I felt the need that had to go through it. And I don’t regret it.”
She underwent surgery for the undisclosed injury in May and remains without an exact timeline for her return. As of Saturday the Wings only have nine games left of the regular season before the playoffs begin in mid-September.
“Definitely I’m very grateful that regarding, you know, I’m not able to play and I’m still going through an injury and all that, that they still kept me,” Lopez Sénéchal said. “I was able to have my surgery and do the rehab there and I have great support. The trainers are great. PT people are really good. So, all that has been going really well.”
It was the first surgery of Lopez Sénéchal’s career. Lopez Sénéchal, who was born in Mexico but grew up in France, has never had to sit out from the game she loves for this long.
And the time away from the court, away from her new teammates, was hard. Especially, since she was living in a new state for the first time since when she left for college five years ago.
Instead of getting to practice with the rest of the team, Lopez Sénéchal’s days in Dallas were spent alone doing rehab on her knee and slowly working her way back to individual drills on the court.
“It was very frustrating not to be able to play basketball and I’m just used to playing basketball at the time,” she said. “So I think that was pretty hard on me to go through that. And obviously, not being able to travel with the team, all these little things that make basketball better. It’s not just on the court. It’s not just the sport itself. It’s everything around it and I think all those little things, especially being in the new environment, it was not always easy.”
Fortunately, she had a former teammate to go to for advice on injury recovery. The former Husky said she’s talked with UConn star Paige Bueckers a lot during the summer as Bueckers (who was cleared after a year-long recovery with an ACL injury last week) reminds her to stay focused and positive.
“She knew how I was feeling, you know, in the last few months of the season and she knew I wasn’t at my 100%,” Lopez Sénéchal said. “She told me really to trust what was happening and, you know, this was happening for a reason and it’s somehow maybe something I needed, that rest and recovery. … She knows it’s not easy, especially when you’re someone who just wants to play and be on the court as much as possible.”
Lopez Sénéchal doesn’t consider herself a patient person, but she’s learned through her recovery to be OK with allowing her body all the time it needs to heal.
“I learned just to really be patient, you know, and just like let the process go and the flow go and not rushing anything,” she said. “I think that’s the major part for me is not to overthink or try to do too much and I feel like just trusting that everything will go how it’s supposed to.”
Having Siegrist (who was drafted No. 3 overall by the Wings) as her fellow rookie in Dallas has helped Lopez Sénéchal feel even more comfortable despite not being able to play just yet.
“It’s been really good. I love Maddy,” she said. “She’s really cool. We get along. I was not surprised, I knew that we would get along. We always joke about you know, Villanova and UConn and how, you know, we beat them at this place (Mohegan Sun), but you know, it’s always all jokes.”
The former Husky walked onto the court at Mohegan Sun ahead of Friday’s tip-off and kids immediately approached her on the bench for photographs and autographs. Dallas defeated the Sun 95-75, thanks to 30 points from Arike Ogunbowale.
Lopez Sénéchal’s impact on Connecticut reaches far beyond the four games she played at Mohegan Sun this March.
During her four years at Fairfield, she led the Stags to the 2022 MAAC Championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance. She led Fairfield in scoring all four years and was named the 2022 MAAC Player of the Year. Despite only playing one year in Storrs, Lopez Sénéchal was named to the All-Big East First Team, the Big East All-Tournament Team and the NCAA Seattle Regional 3 All-Tournament Team. She was also named an All-American Honorable Mention.
While she continues to wait to be cleared to make her WNBA debut, Lopez Sénéchal has begun joining the Wings on select road trips.
On Aug. 27, the Wings are having a team-mentor theme night for their game at Phoenix. Each player was allowed to choose one person who’s been a mentor for them and bring them on the road trip.
Lopez Sénéchal chose her dad, Carlos Lopez. The only time Lopez was able to see his daughter play in person during her collegiate career was during the Big East Tournament in March at Mohegan Sun Arena.
The Wings are flying him out to the game, providing hotel accommodations and a suite during the game. He’ll even get to attend and watch the Wings’ practice in Arizona the day before the game.
“Playing basketball is always what I want,” Lopez Sénéchal said. “So obviously, I’m taking my time. I’m not rushing anything. I know it’s what I need right now, to go through the rehab. But at the same time, what I want is just to be back on the court as soon as possible. But I’m learning a lot.
“I’m cheering for my teammates a lot. They’ve been doing really good. So, just taking it all in, learning a lot from the sideline and still trying to be a rookie by embracing a lot and learning as much as possible.”
