UConn's Lou Lopez Sénéchal became the first player born in Mexico to be drafted by the WNBA when she was selected by the Dallas Wings with the fifth overall pick on Monday.
“I’ve come a long way — very grateful for my journey and all the steps I’ve achieved. [I’m] very grateful to be here,” Lopez Sénéchal, a 6-foot-1 forward, told ESPN reporter Holly Rowe minutes after being drafted.
Her milestone comes a year after Evina Westbrook became the first Mexican American to be drafted by the Minnesota Lynx; she now plays for the Washington Mystics.
A few hours before being drafted on Monday, Lopez Sénéchal wrote on Twitter how grateful she was to attend the draft. Her path to the WNBA and collegiate basketball was unconventional and arduous.
Lopez Sénéchal was born in Guadalajara in the Mexican state of Jalisco; her father is Mexican and her mom is French. After her parents separated when she was 5, she stayed to live with her mom in Grenoble, France.
At 19, she was attending a basketball academy in Ireland. Playing basketball in America after high school wasn't a consideration at first, ESPN reported.
With the help of her stepfather, she applied to 280 Division I and II colleges and universities in the U.S. She eventually accepted an offer at Fairfield University in Connecticut, where she would help lead the team to a conference title in 2022 — the school's first in 24 years.
She would also be selected as the 2022 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year and be included in four all-conference teams.
After transferring to UConn last fall, Lopez Sénéchal would be one of the breakout stars of the 2022-23 season, averaging 15.5 points per game and hitting 44% of her 3-point attempts.
Her final game in college ended in a loss to Ohio State, 73-61, putting an end to UConn's historic run in the NCAA women's tournament.
The Huskies had reached the round of 8 every year since 2005 and the Final Four since 2007, winning six national championships, including four straight from 2013 to 2016.
Lopez Sénéchal finished her last game with a team high of 25 points, despite limping off in the second quarter with a knee injury and later returning in the second half.
She finished her five-year collegiate career with 2,173 points and 585 rebounds, earning a bachelor's degree in marketing from Fairfield, and will soon receive another bachelor's from UConn in general studies.
“I think this year, you know, I had the confidence and the trust from everyone around me, my coaches, my teammates and it gave me confidence to realize I can compete at this level, too," Lopez Sénéchal said.
