It was a long and hard journey back, a trek dotted with celebrations of small steps taken that allowed her sanity to be maintained and with eyes always on the big prize that awaited her.

And when Natalie Achonwa finally got back to doing what she loves, doing what she couldn’t for longer than she could ever imagine, the emotions were close to overwhelming.

“I was ecstatic,” the Guelph, Ont., native and Canadian women’s basketball star said after her WNBA debut with the Indiana Fever. “It was pure relief.”

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Achonwa, denied the joy of playing competitive basketball since a torn ACL in April 2014 ended a dream career at the University of Notre Dame, returned to the game she loves with a bang on the weekend.

The 22-year-old had 14 points and five rebounds as a rookie starter in Indiana’s home opener on Saturday after coming off the bench with 10 points and six boards in the team’s WNBA season opener on Friday.

It was all that she had expected, all that she thought about through 14 months of hard rehabilitation.

“It wasn’t quick, the damage I did was really big,” Achonwa said of her recovery during a telephone interview. “It took longer (to heal) than a regular ACL (injury) but it was more little wins along the way.

“When I was having a bad knee day or a bad work day, I just thought about yesterday at practice or yesterday that I played basketball again.

“I think about the positive things that keep me going and the sense of relief that I’m back at doing something I love.”

Achonwa did not sit around and feel sorry for herself as she rehabbed. She worked as a de facto assistant coach at Notre Dame, got involved with the school’s summer basketball camps and dove headlong into work with Fever trainers after Indiana — despite her injury — made her the ninth overall pick in the 2014 WNBA draft. It was vital that she stay engaged.

“Not to be dramatic but . . . it kept me alive,” she said of season with the Irish staff. “Something like that is really hard emotionally, mentally. It’s a lot of strain put on you so to be able to be a part of the Notre Dame staff, keep my mind busy and also coming back here early to Indianapolis to work with the Indy trainers kept me going.

“I needed things to keep my mind busy emotionally. I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself.”

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Achonwa is back just in time for the most significant summer of her long Canadian career. A member of the national senior team since she was 17 years old, she will play for Canada at the Pan Am Games in Toronto next month and at the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifier in Edmonton in August. She will be a huge addition to an already-good team.

“It’s awesome to see how well she’s performing this early on, especially given the fact she’s been off rehabbing for an entire year,” said national team coach Lisa Thomaidis. “She’s going to be a big part of our success in the coming months but we’ve also shown the depth of talent, that we aren’t in a position to have to rely on any one player for our success.”

Achonwa missed last summer’s national team season — watching her teammates finish fifth at the world championships — and will be playing closer to home than she ever has for the national team.

The weekend’s emotions will pale in comparison to what she will feel next month, she thinks.

“The first time, when I took a summer off and I came back, I was crying through the anthem so I have no freaking idea,” she said of how she might react. “It’s going to be crazy.

“Those girls and what Canada Basketball means to me? It’s going to be a whole whirlwind of emotions, I’m just ready to do that.”