One Hopkins alum helps coordinate homecoming for another as Bueckers returns to Minnesota vs. Lynx

Safe to say, it’s been a year to remember for Hopkins girls basketball.

In March, the Royals won their state-record ninth state title, giving them one thing in common with 12-time NCAA champion University of Connecticut women’s basketball. Both programs now hold the most titles in their respective leagues.

Or, rather, one more thing in common — in addition to alum Paige Bueckers.

On Wednesday night, Royals alumni, youth players, families, coaches and community members flocked to Target Center to see the WNBA’s No. 1 pick play her first professional game in Minnesota as the Dallas Wings lost 85-81 to the Lynx.

Bueckers recorded 12 points on 3-for-11 shooting and added a game-high 10 assists in the Wings’ second loss to Minnesota in a week. The teams also opened the season against each other in Dallas on Friday.

“To have [family, friends and former Hopkins and AAU teammates] here, it means everything to me, just because they are a huge part of my story and getting here,” Bueckers said ahead of Wednesday’s game.

It’s only fitting that the Lynx employee who helped rally some of the Royals is another Hopkins alum.

Evelyn Knox — who won two state titles at Hopkins, went on to play at Wayne State College and is now a group event account executive with the Lynx and Timberwolves — was a junior on the basketball team when seventh-grader Bueckers enrolled at Hopkins West Middle School.

Long before Bueckers would help Hopkins to five consecutive state title games and a 2019 championship, becoming the No. 1 recruit in the country, Knox’s dad, KARE 11 photojournalist Gary Knox, was watching his daughter play and posted a now-viral tweet comparing Bueckers to Diana Taurasi.

“It’s all really intertwined, which is kind of funny‚” Knox said. “He’s in the family group chat like, ‘Oh my God, ESPN wants to interview me.’ ”

Knox now coaches AAU basketball and at East Ridge, so she still runs in the same circles as her alma mater’s coaching staff, plus former teammates who became local coaches. When the Lynx schedule was unveiled in December, she put a big star next to their home opener against the Wings, who had the No. 1 pick in hand.

Through the ticket promotion, which was unveiled following the draft, community members could purchase stable-priced $30 or $40 lower-bowl tickets to the game, with $5 donated back into the Hopkins program and a voucher to take a free throw on the court after the game.

Knox said about 700 tickets were purchased through the fundraising promotion and estimated that 60-75 alumni were scattered throughout the reported crowd of 12,772 fans, which gave Bueckers a hearty cheer when the guard was introduced second in Dallas’ lineup.

The occasional bright Hopkins blue dotted the stands, blending in with the blues of Minnesota, Dallas and UConn gear. Even the fan who won a three-point challenge during a commercial break was a former Hopkins player, Sierra Bagstad.

Another alum watching at Target Center was Gophers senior guard Amaya Battle, who Bueckers has said is like her little sister after the pair played together for two seasons. At Minnesota, Battle and junior Taylor Woodson represent two in a lengthy list of Hopkins’ collegiate alums nationwide.

“I feel like, not that long ago, we were literally just hooping in high school,” said Battle, who got to hand out state championship medals to Hopkins players after their victory at Williams Arena this year. “Whenever I see her, I’m just like, that’s still P. ... That’s still my homie from high school.”

The current Hopkins team is now led by Tara Starks, Bueckers’ former AAU coach, who took the reins of the Royals program in 2020 and was quick to receive a congratulatory text from Bueckers after Hopkins’ state title in March. Before that, now-retired Brian Cosgriff coached for 21 seasons.

Cosgriff, who said he was feeling like a “protective parent” watching Wednesday’s game, already has his next appointment viewing: Saturday, when the Wings take on the Atlanta Dream and the WNBA’s other former Royal, Nia Coffey. He knows the WNBA will have “some learning curve” for Bueckers.

“I love walking around the stadium,” Cosgriff said, “seeing kids with Paige Bueckers’ jersey.”

“I say this to the girls [I coach] all the time,” Knox said. “Kind of a cliché: ‘Seeing is believing.’ ”

And those kids were treated to the same result that a young Bueckers, Knox and their teammates saw so often when they were growing up rooting for the Lynx, stealing away for a school-night playoff game as a treat, Bueckers said, or heading to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to greet the 2011 WNBA champions, in Knox’s case.

A Lynx win.