Yes, we’re only paying attention to one former Marquette women’s basketball player in the WNBA Playoffs this year. The career of Natisha Hiedeman, the first and only former MU start to reach the WNBA, continues here, in its seventh season. This is Hiedeman’s second season with the Minnesota Lynx, and her squad goes into the 2025 WNBA Playoffs as the favorite.
Well, if not the favorite, then as the #1 seed at the very least. The Lynx went 34-10 this season, beating out the Las Vegas Aces and the Atlanta Dream for the best record in the league by four games. A big reason why? Natisha Hiedeman. No, I’m joking, she’s been fine, the big reason is Napheesa Collier, who has to be the presumptive league MVP this year. She averaged a career best 22.9 points to go with 7.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists plus a bit over a block and a steal per game. Collier shot over 53% overall, over 40% on three-pointers, and over 90% on free throws. That makes her the second 50/40/90 shooter in WNBA history, trailing in the wake of Elena Delle Donne, who pulled that off in 2019.
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Delle Donne’s Washington Mystics won the WNBA title that season. I’m sure that Collier would love for that to hold true for her and the Lynx this year.
As for Hiedeman, she played in all 44 games this season, all off the bench, and since this is the first 44 game season in WNBA history, that’s a career high for her. In just under 19 minutes a night, Hiedeman averaged 9.1 points, matching a career best, along with 1.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists. She also shot 37.1% on three-pointers, a nice return to her previous years after just 28% last season in her first campaign with Minnesota.
It’s possible that Natisha Hiedeman’s biggest contributions to the WNBA this season are actually off the court. Sure, there’s the Sylvia Fowles Altruism Award from the Lynx, which “recognizes a Lynx player who best embodies the altruistic traits of kindness, selflessness and overall regard for the well-being of others throughout the community,” but that’s not what I meant. I was thinking about her partnership with teammate Courtney Williams as StudBudz, the WNBA’s hottest internet sensation. If you didn’t know about StudBudz at WNBA All-Star Game weekend, well, you were missing out.
Minnesota’s first round opponent? The expansion Golden State Valkyries, who are the first WNBA expansion team to make the playoffs in their first season of existence. Golden State went 23-21 in their first year of existence, ultimately beating out the Los Angeles Sparks for the final spot in the eight team field by two games. Kayla Thornton was their top scorer at 14 points per game, but she’s been done for the year since late July due to knee surgery. That leaves Veronica Burton and her 11.9 points as GSV’s top scorer. Burton leads the team overall in assists at 6.0 per game, and Janelle Salaun is tops in rebounding with Thornton out for the rest of the year.
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The season series went 4-0 in favor of Minnesota. The Lynx won the first two contests by 11 points each on June 1st and July 5th. The two teams have already met twice since the month of September started with Minnesota winning each one. The first one this month went 78-72 to the Lynx, and the second was a big more emphatic at 72-53 in the final game of the regular season for both squads. Minnesota didn’t even need the win since they’ve been locked into the #1 seed, while Golden State was still alive to finish higher than eighth. It was Hiedeman as the leading scorer in that one, putting up 21 points in just 25 minutes, but the Lynx defense was probably the critical focus there. No one on the GSV roster scored more than eight points as Minnesota clamped down and held the Valks to just 28.8% shooting.
The first round series is best of three in a 1-1-1 format. Minnesota hosts Game #1, while Golden State hosts Game 2. If a third is necessary, then things shift back to Minnesota and the Target Center. That GSV hosted Game #2? That’s going to be at the SAP Center in San Jose, the home to the San Jose Sharks, instead of Chase Center in San Francisco. Why? Because the Chase Center has long been on the books to host the Laver Cup this week, and there’s nothing anyone can do about that. Are Valks fans prepared to make what we’ll call an hour long trip to the south to attend this game? Are there Valks fans in San Jose that will turn out in droves? It’s a mystery until we see what happens……
First Round
#1 Minnesota Lynx vs #8 Golden State Valkyries
Game 1: Sunday, September 14, 12pm Central, ESPN
Game 2: Wednesday, September 17, 8pm Central, ESPN
Game 3*: Friday, September 19, TBD, ESPN2
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