Northwestern University Athletics
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Wildcat Fund Insider Update - Ella Brockway on Northwestern Women's Basketball
5/12/2026 2:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Ella Brockway '21 is an Assistant Sports Editor of the Guardian US, joining the newsroom in January to cover soccer and American sports. She's also worked at the Washington Post, Sports Illustrated and The Daily Northwestern, where she received the 2019 William R. Reed Award — given annually to the Big Ten's top student sports journalist.
Just a few days after covering the 2026 WNBA Draft in New York City, Brockway joined Austin Siegel of the Wildcat Fund for a conversation about Northwestern Women's Basketball and Wildcats to watch as the 2026 WNBA season tips off this month.
The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Austin: You had one of my favorite social media posts when Northwestern hired Carla Berube in March, which was basically that it was such a good hire you had to read it twice to make sure it was real. Why do you think this was such an exciting move?
Ella: It was a collision of all my worlds. I'm a Northwestern alum and I've followed Northwestern Women's Basketball since I was in school. But I grew up a UConn fan, so I knew Carla's name from when she played for Geno Auriemma back in the day on their 1995 national championship team. And I'm also from New Jersey, so I was following what she was doing at Princeton with a lot of New Jersey high school talent. This hire felt like a really excellent fit and a perfect way to start this new era at Northwestern.
Austin: What's Carla Berube's track record like of developing WNBA players?
Ella: Kaitlyn Chen is the most high-profile one right now. She's a player who starred for Carla Berube at Princeton, made the jump to UConn and now she's with the Golden State Valkyries. When you go back even further into Berube's track record, Bella Alarie was one of the first-ever WNBA first-round draft picks from Princeton and Abby Meyers was another one who, like Chen, transferred to a Power 5 program and was drafted into the WNBA.
Looking at what Berube was able to do at a school like Princeton, that kind of player development is incredible. And then you look at the high praise she's gotten from coaches around the game, whether that's Geno at UConn, Shea Ralph at Vanderbilt or Sonia Raman of the Seattle Storm, it's just so encouraging to see.
Austin: During your time at Northwestern, you were on campus for the women's basketball team's Big Ten championship season in 2020. What are some of your favorite memories from that season?
Ella: I told some of my friends that we were going to talk about this today and we all started reminiscing about that team. I remember the first time the new Welsh-Ryan Arena really felt like home was at a women's basketball game during the 2019-2020 season. There used to always be a joke at that you could see people doing homework in the student section at Northwestern basketball games, but that team really got the student body behind them and channeled that energy at every game. There was nobody doing homework in the student section during women's basketball games at Welsh-Ryan Arena that season.
That was also right before women's basketball really blew up with UConn, Iowa and LSU, but you could feel that moment almost cresting. Everyone was talking nationally about Northwestern Women's Basketball and their blizzard defense, before the end of that season was cruelly stolen away by the pandemic. It was such a special moment in time. When you look at the momentum from that season, you could really begin to see the seeds of how big women's basketball could get. Now that's there's all this new energy around Northwestern, I hope that this same energy is channeled into the future of the program.
Austin: Obviously, Veronica Burton of the Golden State Valkyries was a huge part of that 2020 team and was one of the only players in the Big Ten who could slow down Caitlin Clark. What was it like to cover Veronica as a student journalist?
Ella: It's so funny that you bring up Caitlin Clark because the only game, in her entire college career, that she scored less than 10 points came against Veronica Burton and that Northwestern defense. So many things on that team started with her leadership and it seemed like she was getting better each year and her teammates were getting better because of her. That's a special quality to find in a player and she was such a joy to cover.
Austin: So, Veronica is the seventh pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft and spends a few years as a role player in Dallas and Connecticut before bursting onto the scene with Golden State in 2025. She was named the WNBA's Most Improved Player and signed a contract extension this offseason. What was the story behind her rise with the Valkyries?
Ella: It's a journey that began at Northwestern and culminated with that season in Golden State last year. The WNBA has so few roster spots that it can be hard, even for a first-round draft pick like Veronica, to break through and find the right fit. Some of the things that made her so good at Northwestern were her leadership and creativity – she's one of those players that's made to be a starter, and you could really see that in Golden State last season.
One of the top players on the Valkyries went down with a knee injury during the season and Veronica took on a ton of responsibility. Her teammates were really good, but she was the backbone of that team and pushed them to a historic season and making the playoffs as an expansion team. She signed an extension with Golden State this offseason and I remember reading the press release and thinking that you don't usually hear a WNBA front office speak so highly of a player who's only had one season a starter. But she's such a creative and aggressive point guard, I think it was just a confluence of perfect circumstances.
Austin: Turning to the other Wildcat in the WNBA, Nia Coffey signed with her hometown Minnesota Lynx ahead of her 10th WNBA season. She was a key player off the bench the last four years in Atlanta - What might her role in Minnesota look like?
Ella: I was very excited when I heard Nia was going home since she's a Saint Paul native. She was a solid part of an Atlanta team that made the playoffs in 2025, mostly off the bench, but she played in almost every single game. Minnesota had a high draft pick in Olivia Miles this spring and spent this offseason looking to add some veteran players off the bench. Last season, we started to see Nia Coffey's field goal and three-point percentage start to tick back up. If that continues, even if she doesn't reach her career-high levels, I think that would still be very beneficial for a Lynx team as an option coming off the bench.
You mentioned the fact that's she been in the W for like ten years now. My favorite part of that storyline is that Nia used to babysit Amaya Battle who was in training camp with the Lynx this spring. They both went to Hopkins High School in Minnesota, this basketball powerhouse that also produced Paige Bueckers, but Nia was obviously much older and used to take Amaya to basketball camps. I think it's such a fun full-circle part of her story.
Austin: For you personally, what it's been like following Northwestern Athletics in your postgrad life? How active are your Wildcat group chats?
Ella: Right now, my lacrosse group chat is very busy as we get into the NCAA Tournament. It's been very fun to follow women's sports at Northwestern, because ever since the Big Ten expanded, the quality of women's basketball, softball and lacrosse has jumped up a level.
I did a lot of lacrosse coverage at Northwestern and in my professional career. A few weeks ago, I was at the WLL games in the DC area and saw Izzy Scane and Lauren Gilbert for the first time in years. It's always cool to watch those players you covered in college transition to the next level.
One of my favorite things about seeing these athletes break out is that I'll always be able to say that I was there at Northwestern covering Veronica Burton on a cold night in the middle of January before she made it to the WNBA.
You can find Ella on X or BlueSky and read her at work https://www.theguardian.com/us/sport.
Just a few days after covering the 2026 WNBA Draft in New York City, Brockway joined Austin Siegel of the Wildcat Fund for a conversation about Northwestern Women's Basketball and Wildcats to watch as the 2026 WNBA season tips off this month.
The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Austin: You had one of my favorite social media posts when Northwestern hired Carla Berube in March, which was basically that it was such a good hire you had to read it twice to make sure it was real. Why do you think this was such an exciting move?
Ella: It was a collision of all my worlds. I'm a Northwestern alum and I've followed Northwestern Women's Basketball since I was in school. But I grew up a UConn fan, so I knew Carla's name from when she played for Geno Auriemma back in the day on their 1995 national championship team. And I'm also from New Jersey, so I was following what she was doing at Princeton with a lot of New Jersey high school talent. This hire felt like a really excellent fit and a perfect way to start this new era at Northwestern.
Austin: What's Carla Berube's track record like of developing WNBA players?
Ella: Kaitlyn Chen is the most high-profile one right now. She's a player who starred for Carla Berube at Princeton, made the jump to UConn and now she's with the Golden State Valkyries. When you go back even further into Berube's track record, Bella Alarie was one of the first-ever WNBA first-round draft picks from Princeton and Abby Meyers was another one who, like Chen, transferred to a Power 5 program and was drafted into the WNBA.
Looking at what Berube was able to do at a school like Princeton, that kind of player development is incredible. And then you look at the high praise she's gotten from coaches around the game, whether that's Geno at UConn, Shea Ralph at Vanderbilt or Sonia Raman of the Seattle Storm, it's just so encouraging to see.
First Day ?? pic.twitter.com/3paMK1DFZ3
— Northwestern Women's Basketball (@nuwbball) March 30, 2026
Austin: During your time at Northwestern, you were on campus for the women's basketball team's Big Ten championship season in 2020. What are some of your favorite memories from that season?
Ella: I told some of my friends that we were going to talk about this today and we all started reminiscing about that team. I remember the first time the new Welsh-Ryan Arena really felt like home was at a women's basketball game during the 2019-2020 season. There used to always be a joke at that you could see people doing homework in the student section at Northwestern basketball games, but that team really got the student body behind them and channeled that energy at every game. There was nobody doing homework in the student section during women's basketball games at Welsh-Ryan Arena that season.
That was also right before women's basketball really blew up with UConn, Iowa and LSU, but you could feel that moment almost cresting. Everyone was talking nationally about Northwestern Women's Basketball and their blizzard defense, before the end of that season was cruelly stolen away by the pandemic. It was such a special moment in time. When you look at the momentum from that season, you could really begin to see the seeds of how big women's basketball could get. Now that's there's all this new energy around Northwestern, I hope that this same energy is channeled into the future of the program.
Austin: Obviously, Veronica Burton of the Golden State Valkyries was a huge part of that 2020 team and was one of the only players in the Big Ten who could slow down Caitlin Clark. What was it like to cover Veronica as a student journalist?
Ella: It's so funny that you bring up Caitlin Clark because the only game, in her entire college career, that she scored less than 10 points came against Veronica Burton and that Northwestern defense. So many things on that team started with her leadership and it seemed like she was getting better each year and her teammates were getting better because of her. That's a special quality to find in a player and she was such a joy to cover.
You can't spell Valkyries without V ?? pic.twitter.com/14aCp75UMQ
— Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) April 11, 2026
Austin: So, Veronica is the seventh pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft and spends a few years as a role player in Dallas and Connecticut before bursting onto the scene with Golden State in 2025. She was named the WNBA's Most Improved Player and signed a contract extension this offseason. What was the story behind her rise with the Valkyries?
Ella: It's a journey that began at Northwestern and culminated with that season in Golden State last year. The WNBA has so few roster spots that it can be hard, even for a first-round draft pick like Veronica, to break through and find the right fit. Some of the things that made her so good at Northwestern were her leadership and creativity – she's one of those players that's made to be a starter, and you could really see that in Golden State last season.
One of the top players on the Valkyries went down with a knee injury during the season and Veronica took on a ton of responsibility. Her teammates were really good, but she was the backbone of that team and pushed them to a historic season and making the playoffs as an expansion team. She signed an extension with Golden State this offseason and I remember reading the press release and thinking that you don't usually hear a WNBA front office speak so highly of a player who's only had one season a starter. But she's such a creative and aggressive point guard, I think it was just a confluence of perfect circumstances.
Austin: Turning to the other Wildcat in the WNBA, Nia Coffey signed with her hometown Minnesota Lynx ahead of her 10th WNBA season. She was a key player off the bench the last four years in Atlanta - What might her role in Minnesota look like?
Ella: I was very excited when I heard Nia was going home since she's a Saint Paul native. She was a solid part of an Atlanta team that made the playoffs in 2025, mostly off the bench, but she played in almost every single game. Minnesota had a high draft pick in Olivia Miles this spring and spent this offseason looking to add some veteran players off the bench. Last season, we started to see Nia Coffey's field goal and three-point percentage start to tick back up. If that continues, even if she doesn't reach her career-high levels, I think that would still be very beneficial for a Lynx team as an option coming off the bench.
You mentioned the fact that's she been in the W for like ten years now. My favorite part of that storyline is that Nia used to babysit Amaya Battle who was in training camp with the Lynx this spring. They both went to Hopkins High School in Minnesota, this basketball powerhouse that also produced Paige Bueckers, but Nia was obviously much older and used to take Amaya to basketball camps. I think it's such a fun full-circle part of her story.
NIA AND ONE ?? pic.twitter.com/8rrp6lKhyR
— Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) April 28, 2026
Austin: For you personally, what it's been like following Northwestern Athletics in your postgrad life? How active are your Wildcat group chats?
Ella: Right now, my lacrosse group chat is very busy as we get into the NCAA Tournament. It's been very fun to follow women's sports at Northwestern, because ever since the Big Ten expanded, the quality of women's basketball, softball and lacrosse has jumped up a level.
I did a lot of lacrosse coverage at Northwestern and in my professional career. A few weeks ago, I was at the WLL games in the DC area and saw Izzy Scane and Lauren Gilbert for the first time in years. It's always cool to watch those players you covered in college transition to the next level.
One of my favorite things about seeing these athletes break out is that I'll always be able to say that I was there at Northwestern covering Veronica Burton on a cold night in the middle of January before she made it to the WNBA.
You can find Ella on X or BlueSky and read her at work https://www.theguardian.com/us/sport.
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