Natalie Achonwa, on a Zoom call talking about her decision to sign with the Lynx, was talking about last summer in the WNBA bubble in Florida.
Kayla McBride talked about this, too, in her call Tuesday — about seeing how the Lynx operated and acted toward each other being a factor in her decision to come here.
But Achonwa had a slightly different memory.
She and her Indiana teammates were getting ready for a game in a big gym where locker rooms were just temporary walls. Voices carried. Next door the Lynx were at halftime, and coach Cheryl Reeve was … animated.
"Everyone on our team was listening and going, 'Coach Reeve is mad,' " Achonwa said. "But I was listening to what she was saying, and in my head I was going, 'Go Coach!' She was trying to light a fire under her team. She was passionate when she spoke. That resonated with me. Coach won't let you give up on a play, she wants to win every possession. That was motivating."
Achonwa remembered that when the Lynx came calling in free agency. She and McBride played together at Notre Dame for coach Muffet McGraw. Like McBride, Achonwa has never won a WNBA title, and she thinks she's joining a team whose added depth in free agency can take a team that made the league semifinals last year to another level.
And she wanted to play for a coach as passionate — and vocal — as she is.
"There was no question in my mind," Achonwa said. "No question this was the fit for me. On the court, off the court. I can't wait to get to this summer, where I can really compete. I can bring the leadership, that tenacity, that grit I play with to an already tremendous team, bring that championship back to Minnesota."
