It’s absolutely amazing, showing that kids that were our age at the time, we were dreaming about the same thing and we saw that it’s possible,” the 20-year-old said. I’ve just got to keep my confidence,” said Hawkins, averaging 16.1 points. “I can’t let this break me. We can’t let this break us.”

After her second season in the WNBA, Hawkins was sidelined in 2015 for part of the season due to pregnancy, and because she was on her rookie contract at the time, only received half of her salary that year. Angel Reese defends gesture directed towards Caitlin Clark after LSU national title win; calls out double standard after being 'unapologetically' her I didn't want to go far from home anyway, so, three hours away where my parents could still come to the game – just a great decision,” said Hawkins. “Bradley, they have some of the most loyal and just outstanding fans; the fan support was wonderful. Of course, the school rallied around us and we had some pretty good teams during my four years there.”UConn’s final offensive set was a frantic mess. The Huskies took possession with 10 seconds remaining, a rebound by Adama Sanogo, and Hurley elected to let UConn try to score in transition instead of call timeout. The day I got drafted, an investigator called me and was like, ‘We want to go ahead and push your paperwork through to the next step,’” Hawkins recalled. “And I told them, ‘Oh no! I’m about to get drafted [into the WNBA].’”

The most prolific and celebrated player in the history of Bradley University men’s basketball is now a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Hawkins recalled receiving the news about not returning to the Dream during a final exit interview with former interim head coach Darius Taylor.Last year just took so much out of me. And then to have to go on social media and see people writing me off, it started affecting me really bad,” Hawkins said. “It got to a point where I was like, you know what, maybe I don’t need to play basketball.” There were others, though, so many others — from Hawkins and from Newton and from Joey Calcaterra, who had first walked down the tunnel. He used his jersey to cover his face. Andrew himself says that he’s just happy to play a part however he can. “I just try to contribute in any way I can and if that’s one of them, then so be it,” he told CNN. “It means a lot to be around him every day.”