Sydney Colson knew that she needed to keep herself in shape and ready to go for when – or even if – she got a call to play in the WNBA this season.
After the first three-quarters of the season came and went, she didn’t know if that call would end up occurring, thinking she would just prepare herself to head overseas once the WNBA season concluded.
But earlier this week, with less than a week remaining in the regular season, her phone rang.
The defending champions wanted to bring her on board.
The Minnesota Lynx announced Tuesday morning they had signed Colson for the rest of the season. The signing of the point guard who last played with San Antonio in 2017 was mainly due to Danielle Robinson having ankle surgery that will likely sideline her for the rest of the summer.
“(Minnesota) is a great organization and this is a great opportunity this late in the season,” Colson told Zone Coverage on Tuesday. “I’m blessed regardless.”
Colson said the way she kept herself ready for a moment like this was by continuing to work out at Rice University, where she served as an assistant coach for the women’s basketball program from 2015 to 2017.
“I was just working out. I used to coach at Rice, where I’m from. The coach there, Tina Langley, she let me get in the gym to work out, running hills and getting your cardio in. Of course, it’s different than being in a five-on-five situation,” Colson said. “I think every professional player who gets cut, you’re constantly ready because you’re going to go overseas even if you don’t get a call from a team in the league, so you have to be ready always.”
Colson comes to Minnesota having already spent four seasons in the WNBA.
She broke into the league in 2011 with the New York Liberty, where she played for one season. She then spent time in San Antonio from 2015 to 2017 before agreeing to join the Lynx.
Colson has taken more pride in her defense throughout her professional career more so than her offense. In her career, she has averaged 3.5 points, 2.2 assists and 1.0 rebounds, while averaging just under a steal per game.
That’s something she hopes to carry over to Minnesota in 2018.
“No matter if I’m with a team in the beginning or in the end, my M.O. is to come out and play strong defense and let it lead to good offense,” she said. “That’s always just been how I played in college and in the league, and to come and facilitate as a point guard.”
On Tuesday night at Target Center, the same day that she officially signed with Minnesota, Colson took the floor for the Lynx against the Chicago Sky. In five-plus minutes, she tallied three points, two rebounds, two assists and a block in front of her new home crowd.
“It felt OK. It was unfortunate we couldn’t get the victory (on Tuesday). I just tried to do what coach wanted me to do, come in and apply some pressure defensively,” Colson said. “She kept the offensive package pretty basic for me so I wasn’t having to learn too much, so I was just trying to attack off pick-and-rolls, get people open if I could and put pressure on the defense basically.”
As far as if she was surprised that her number was called as fast as it was on Tuesday, Colson said she expected it. After all, she’s been working all season long to be ready for another opportunity like this one in Minnesota.
“I figured that (Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve) would throw me in at some point, just because they’ve been playing so much. … People are probably having fatigue and that usually kicks in in the second half a little bit,” Colson said. “I was just ready if she called my name and she did, so I just tried to go out and contribute however I could.
“I felt comfortable. When you are playing next to some pretty good players, you just feel like you’re going to be all right out there.”
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