When Daniela Abies joined the Wichita State women’s basketball team last year as a true freshman, she left her home country of Spain for the first time. She didn’t speak English that well and struggled a lot for the first month and a half, but her teammates helped her get used to speaking English. 

“At the beginning, I didn’t know English, so I didn’t even know how to be myself and express myself most of the time,” Abies said.

Last year, Abies only had one Spanish friend on the team: Nhug Bosch Duran, who transferred to California Baptist University at the end of last season but Abies told herself that just because she had a Spanish friend didn’t mean she could only speak in Spanish. 

“At the end of the day, if I only talk to her, I’m never going learn English,” Abies said. “I feel like that was a really important moment I had to go through because the team definitely helped me when I didn’t know how to say something.” 

Abies said, this year, the team has felt more like a family. 

“I feel like having a new team has changed a lot of stuff, and especially because I know we are building chemistry that we didn’t have last year,” Abies said. “I feel like with a new staff, everything is different. We are trying to accomplish a lot.”

She said even practices seemed more fun, and the inclusion of music always has her and the team in a good mood.

“I like this year more with the vibe and everything,” Abies said.

Senior guard Aniya Bell said when Abies came on the same team, she was the only freshman and really shy, but the team encouraged her to join in on the team bonding.

“Once we got to know Dani, she was funny, she has a big heart, and she works hard outside the court,” Bell said. “She’s really nice and loving, but on the court, she’s just aggressive.”

Bell said for this season, she expects Abies to be a big player because she is a hard worker and will get the job done.

During her freshman season, Abies played in 26 games, all on the bench respectively, and came up huge in the upset against South Florida in the quarterfinals of the AAC Championship with six points, two rebounds, three steals and an assist in 13 minutes.