Former UConn, Fairfield star Lou Lopez-Senechal has homecoming vs. Connecticut Sun with Dallas Wings

UNCASVILLE — The last time Lou Lopez-Senechal played a basketball game at Mohegan Sun Arena, on March 6, 2023, she scored 14 points on 62.5% shooting to help the UConn women’s basketball team win its 21st Big East championship and earn all-tournament honors.

On Friday, nearly 15 months later, Lopez-Senechal returned to the state she called home for five years in college to face the Connecticut Sun in what is her rookie WNBA season with the Dallas Wings. Dallas selected her with the No. 5 overall pick in 2023 but she underwent season-ending knee surgery shortly after the WNBA Draft to repair a lingering injury suffered at UConn.

“It took longer than we thought it would, but I also tried not to rush anything,” Lopez-Senechal said. “I knew that it was the beginning of my professional career, so I didn’t want to rush anything or take the wrong steps, so I really took it seriously … Even on the sideline (last year), I was trying to really be involved with the team as much as possible, listen to them, learn … and I think it made me feel a bit better now coming back to Dallas and knowing who I was surrounded with.”

Lopez-Senechal played for four years at Fairfield before transferring to UConn in 2022-23, and the 6-foot-1 guard made an immediate impact in her lone season with the Huskies. She earned first-team All-Big East honors averaging 15.5 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, also leading UConn in 3-point shooting, hitting 44%. But because recovery from surgery took longer than Lopez-Senechal expected, she wasn’t able to work out at full speed until early October.

Lopez-Senechal spent the last seven months playing overseas to ease back into the grind of competition, first with Zabiny Brno in the Czech Republic, then with Spanish squad Jairis. Her development showed over just 21 combined games in the international leagues. She averaged 9.8 points but hit just just 18.2% from 3-point range in eight games for Zabiny Brno, and that improved to 10.8 points on 44.2% outside shooting with Jairis.

“I went first to the Czech Republic, and then switched to a team in Spain, and that ended up being really good. I loved playing in Spain because it’s some of the best competition in Europe,” she said. “It was just trying to get my rhythm back and get playing again. This was the first time for me that I had that type of injury where I had to take a step back for a long time, so I was just grateful to be back on the court with new teammates, a new team. It was a great experience.”

Her biggest challenge returning to the Wings was a late start to training camp. Lopez-Senechal’s Jairis team was competing in the Spanish Liga Feminina playoffs until losing in the quarterfinals on April 28 — the same day WNBA teams reported to begin official practices. She joined Dallas on May 3 and made her first game appearance for the team in an 87-79 win over the Chicago Sky on May 15.

“Definitely the pace is so much faster; I noticed that last year already,” Lopez-Senechal said. “And then the experience of the players, you play against players that have been here for 10-plus years and know the game almost perfectly. There’s definitely an adjustment being new to all of that … but I think there’s always an adjustment for everyone. It takes some time, but those are definitely the biggest factors that I need to adjust to.”

On a young Wings roster, Lopez-Senechal plays alongside several familiar faces from her college days: Big East rival Maddy Siegrist, the former Villanova star, was drafted alongside Lopez-Senechal at No. 3 last year. Also rookie guard Jacy Sheldon who helped upset her UConn team in the 2023 Sweet 16 to give the Huskies their earliest NCAA Tournament exit since 2005. Senechal said Siegrist has become a close friend since they were drafted together and described the second-year forward as one of her biggest supporters during her injury recovery.

“I had a feeling (playing with Siegrist) was going to go well, because she’s a really good competitor. She loves to win,” Lopez-Senechal said with a smile. “I saw that when we played against her at UConn, and she has a great personality. She’s so funny. It’s weird at first when you see players that you played against — even Jacy this year — but at the end of the day we all love the game, and I think it’s always cool and really fun to eventually be able to play together.”

A slew of friends in Connecticut, including a former Fairfield teammates, are making the trip down to Uncasville to see Lopez-Senechal on Friday, though she said she’s not sure whether the UConn team will be able to attend amid the start of summer classes and practice in Storrs. It will be a week full of reunions for the former Husky, who will also get to see UConn classmate Dorka Juhasz on Sunday when the Wings face her Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis. The pair have remained “like sisters” since graduating, and they met up in Italy during the WNBA offseason where Juhasz was playing for Schio in the Serie A1 league.

“She’s been my best friend since UConn, since the draft, and we’ve had a very similar journey, so I think that we really understand each other,” Lopez-Senechal said. “Even during the summer last year in the league, whenever we played each other it’s exciting to see each other and then overseas we saw each other a couple of times, so it’s been great. We’ve been helping each other through a lot of things, and she’s a great support, a great friend, so I’m so happy to see her again this summer soon.”