The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Sénéchal’s time with Huskies short, but effective
SEATTLE — The odyssey that began a year ago in one part of Connecticut and took Lou Lopez Sénéchal through a 37-game run with UConn ended 3,000 miles from the Storrs campus Saturday.
Standing in a room with her teammates in the aftermath of a season-ending 73-61 loss to Ohio State Saturday, Lopez Sénéchal reflected on the end of her college basketball life — and more.
“The friendships that I’ve created,” she said.
It ended with a 25-point performance in a game in which she retreated to the locker room with a knee injury. She was UConn’s best player, steady and strong for a team that wavered under the pressure imposed by Ohio State.
The end of the season and UConn’s NCAA Tournament run of Elite Eight and Final Four appearances conjured a wave of emotion. But it was Lopez Sénéchal who first broke down on the court, hunching over just the final buzzer sounded.
She choked up answering questions with fellow graduate student Dorka Juhász and was emotionally drained as she absorbed the final few minutes with reporters in a solemn locker room. She glanced around the room and shook her head.
“They welcomed me
with open arms right away and I’m grateful for them,” she said.
Has there been a player in the decorated history of this program who’s made such a profound impact in such a small window of time? It was a year ago this Tuesday when Lopez Sénéchal, fresh off her senior season at Fairfield, sat in the stands at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport for UConn’s double-overtime Elite Eight victory over NC State.
Less than a month later, Lopez Sénéchal was transferring to UConn.
The MACC Player of the Year led Fairfield to the NCAA Tournament last year. At UConn, she figured
to be a role player on a team with national title aspirations.
Instead, Lopez Sénéchal evolved into a leader and starter. She averaged 15.5 points, converted 44% of her 3-point attempts, and provided a mature presence as she appeared in all 37 games for a team that endured a series of injuries.
For a player who earned an opportunity at Fairfield by leaving her native France for a basketball academy in Ireland, reaching the highest level of her sport remained mind-boggling.
“Five years ago, even more like, never in a million years I would have thought that … it’s only things for me that I’ve seen in TV, you know, last year in the past years, seeing people reach the Sweet 16 and more,” she said. “Usually, it’s something that happens to others and just me being in the situation, even though we lost (Saturday), I’m just very grateful that I had this opportunity, but it’s just very hard to take it in right now.”
As the game slipped away from UConn in the second quarter, Lopez Sénéchal was limited to two minutes. She twisted her right knee, fell to the court and limped to the locker room with just over six minutes left in the half. She returned to ride a stationary bike, but was in back in the locker room as the half ended with UConn trailing by 10 points.
Yet she was back for the third quarter. Lopez Sénéchal scored nine points in the third quarter, when UConn pulled within five points before Ohio State widened the lead to 10.
Throughout the fourth quarter, she tried to will UConn to a comeback with eight points. The comeback never quite materialized, but her performance on the NCAA Tournament stage left a mark.
“How many times have we talked about how mature you have to be to win in this environment?” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “And how many times the season have I said she’s the most mature person on our team? That she’s always the same every day, every day, every day and every day. That she brings the exact same thing every day, every day, every day.
“So I’m not surprised that she was able to play the way she played today. That’s who she is. That’s her. That’s her makeup.”
She’ll leave UConn with a graduate degree and perhaps a career in the WNBA. Coming out of Fairfield, Lopez Sénéchal figured to have professional opportunities in Europe.
But thriving at UConn as one of the best 3-point shooters in the country has caught the attention of the WNBA. Mock drafts have her going in the first round of next month’s WNBA
Draft.
UConn has sent a long line of players to the league. This one, though, might be the most unexpected ascension.
“I could say so much about this team,” she said. “No matter what happened tonight, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I wouldn’t have done it with anyone else. I’m very grateful that Coach and everyone gave me this opportunity to be here this year and compete at this level. It’s never something that I would have thought one day in my life.”