How one Sacramento woman adopted the Lynx 14 years ago and never looked back.

Alberta Herrera has been a loyal Lynx fan from California for 14 years, ever since the team brought her favorite WNBA player, Rebekkah Brunson, to Minnesota.

The Sacramento native once cheered on Brunson’s former team, the Sacramento Monarchs, until that team disbanded in 2009. She now frequently flocks to Minneapolis to watch her adopted team play, because watching games from California doesn’t compare with the electricity of Target Center.

“It’s the difference between going to an Eagles concert and then just cranking it up in your car,” she said.

She was a Monarch season ticket holder for years while working as an auditor for the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Now, the 70-year-old dedicates part of her retirement savings to Lynx tickets and travel expenses, as she jumps at any opportunity to see them play. Such was the case when the Lynx made it into the playoffs.

Herrera was here in August for a week to see three home games. She couldn’t miss Maya Moore’s jersey retirement ceremony at the Lynx-Indiana Fever game on Aug. 24.

“When we were walking away from that last game in August, we were chatting and going, ‘Yeah, who’s it going to be in the finals? In the semi-finals?’ And you know what? I kind of picked the Lynx and New York. That’d be a really good matchup.”

When her prediction turned out to be true, she booked a last-minute flight to Minneapolis in October to come back for two more home games.

“Nobody expected they would get this far,” she said. “But you don’t make expectations, you just take the things that are put in your road and go with it. And I think that’s one of the things that makes the Lynx work so well.”

Herrera’s long-distance fandom is aided by the fact that her sister now lives in Minneapolis (and jokes that Brunson followed her here). For the past 14 years, the sisters have planned their vacations while referencing the WNBA schedule. “We look at the calendar as soon as they issue it,” she said.

Northern California never formed another WNBA team, to Herrera’s disappointment. Sure, Los Angeles got the Sparks. But she hates L.A.

She didn’t care too much for the Lynx either, because they often beat her beloved Monarchs. But she has since become a convert.

Herrera flew back to California after catching the Lynx’s last home game of the season on Friday, when the team forced a Game 5 in New York. She will be watching the championship game at home.

And her neighbors will know she’s back.

“I’m animated. I’ll jump up and down. I’ll yell and go on,” she said. “I used to have a neighbor across the street. When he watched football, I could hear him in my office because his windows were open.”

Now, her windows are open. And Herrera’s passion for the Lynx has brought a revelation.

“Oh,” she said. “I became him.”