Lopez Sénéchal ready for high expectations
Last March, Lou Lopez Sénéchal sat in the stands as a fan at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport watching UConn women’s basketball play in an Elite Eight game against NC State.
Lopez Sénéchal’s senior season at Fairfield ended 10 days prior and she was figuring out her next steps. She had a year left of collegiate eligibility but the Stags were undergoing a coaching change.
She watched as the Huskies forced the Wolfpack
into not one but two overtimes to come out with the win and advance to their 14th straight Final Four. She stood with her former Fairfield teammates and cheered for UConn during big plays and when the final whistle blew.
“I always say I think it’s one of the best college basketball games that I’ve ever watched in person,” Lopez Sénéchal said inside
Werth Champions Center Sunday after the Selection Show.
She added: “I think that seeing that from, you know, a Fairfield player (perspective) it’s always, you know, just super exciting. You see all these talented players, obviously, Coach (Geno Auriemma) and all the coaches and even NC State, all those big teams, and you see the whole crowd, mainly for UConn. So being in the environment was very special.”
Unrelated to watching UConn and purely because of the tight turnaround she had in deciding whether to transfer, she officially put her name in the transfer portal soon after the game.
A few days later, UConn assistant coach Morgan Valley reached out. And about a month after watching that Elite Eight game in Bridgeport, Lopez Sénéchal announced she was transferring to UConn.
The fifth-year guard has taken full advantage of her final year of eligibility playing for the most successful program in women’s college basketball.