UNCASVILLE, CONN. — Guelph basketball star Natalie Achonwa will be staying in Indiana to play in the Women's National Basketball Association, drafted ninth overall by the Indiana Fever basketball club.

The 21-year-old has spent her last four years as a basketball star in South Bend, Ind. for the Fighting Irish at the University of Notre Dame. In previous interviews, she has said Indiana felt like a home away from home to her. Now she doesn't have to leave.

"To be able to stay in Indiana means the world to me," she said in a phone interview after the draft on Monday night. She said she was excited to only be a few hours away from her former home in South Bend. Now the fans who watched her play at Notre Dame and her former teammates will be able to follow her that much easier.

While sitting and watching the first few players get drafted, she said she felt a lot of adrenalin.

"As each player went up, the anticipation got that much stronger," she said. "I was just really excited when I heard my name."

Tears welled up in her eyes as she stood and made her way toward the podium after her name was called. Giving her former coach Muffet McGraw a hug and taking off the brace on her leg, she climbed the podium and was presented with an Indiana Fever jersey.

In what ended up being her final home game with the Fighting Irish, the six-foot-three forward suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament with about five minutes left in Notre Dame's 19-point victory over Baylor on March 31. This win helped push the Irish into the NCAA Final Four.

She sat on the bench for Notre Dame's win victory over the Maryland Terrapins and the loss to the Connecticut Huskies in the final.

On Friday, she'll go in for surgery at Notre Dame. She was told there would be six to nine months of recovery, but she said she would like to make it shorter than that.

"I'm just looking to get stronger as quickly and as successfully as I can," she said. "I'm going to take the rehab like I take everything else: I'm going to work hard and take it with the intensity I need to."