Freshman point guard Bria Hartley enters her first NCAA tournament on a roll, earning all-tournament honors last week as UConn swept to another Big East title. (Photo by Leslloyd F. Alleyne / Journal Inquirer)
Frosh excited to finally realize goal of reaching NCAA tourney By Carl Adamec
STORRS — Bria Hartley couldn’t get enough of the NCAA Tournament growing up. It was just that school would get in the way of those weekday men’s games.
“My dad wouldn’t let me skip school,” Hartley said. “My father would never let me do that. If it was up to me I would watch games all day.
“I would always sit down with him and watch — after school or on the weekends.”
For the first time Hartley won’t be just watching the tournament, she’ll be a part of it. The University of Connecticut women’s basketball team’s freshman guard will make her NCAA debut Sunday when the top-seeded Huskies take on No. 16 Hartford in a first-round Philadelphia Regional game at Gampel Pavilion.
“It was exciting watching the selection show and for the first time being a part of it,” Hartley said. “You dream about playing in this tournament. I’m just eager to play.”
UConn (32-1) has been off since winning the Big East Tournament championship on March 8. Hartley, the Big East Freshman of the Year and an all-Big East second-team pick, earned all-tournament honors for her play in the wins over Georgetown, Rutgers, and Notre Dame. In the final against the Irish, she had 10 of her 12 points in the second half of a 73-64 win.
She enters NCAA play averaging 12.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. The best statistical news for her is that she now has more assists (88) on the season than turnovers (84). The only point guard in Geno Auriemma’s 26 seasons as UConn coach to finish a year with more turnovers than assists was Jennifer Rizzotti in 1993.
Ironically, Rizzotti was Hartley’s coach with the 2010 United States U-18 team and she’ll be on the other sideline here Sunday as her Hawks (17-15), the America East Tournament champions, make their sixth NCAA appearance in 10 years.
“It was so much fun being with her last summer,” Hartley said. “She let us play.”
While the tournament is new to the North Babylon, N.Y., native, she has a role model.
Hartley said her No. 1 NCAA memory was watching Maryland guard Kristi Toliver lead her team to the 2006 national championship.
Toliver, then a freshman, hit a 3-point shot over Duke center Alison Bales with 6.1 seconds left to cap a rally from a 13-point deficit and force overtime. The future two-time All-American would then hit two free throws in the last minute of the extra session to help seal the Terrapins’ 78-75 win.
“The last couple of years, especially when I was being recruited and after I had signed, I watched Connecticut because I loved the style of play and how dominant they were,” Hartley said. “But Kristi Toliver was a player I thought was really good. I was just so impressed with the way she played as such a young player.
“The lesson for me from her is that age doesn’t matter when you’re out on the court. You go out there and play hard whether you’re a freshman or a senior. If you play with confidence and a fearless attitude, anything can happen.”
Auriemma, who recruited Toliver hard out of high school, liked Hartley’s thinking.
“When you talk about a guard, a freshman guard, having a major impact in the NCAA Tournament, I can’t think of anyone that had a bigger impact than Kristi,” Auriemma said. “Not only did she do it in the championship game, she did it in their whole run.
“If that’s how Bria sees herself in the tournament, I’m all for it. And I’ll tell her, ‘If that is how you see yourself, don’t open your eyes, keep that vision.’ ”
But also keep an eye on the prize.
Auriemma has been named a finalist for the Naismith Award as Coach of the Year, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Thursday. The 26th-year coach has led the Huskies to a 32-1 record, the Big East regular season and tournament titles, and a 23rd consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
The other 2011 finalists are Baylor’s Kim Mulkey, Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, and Tennessee’s Pat Summitt.
• UConn recruit Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was named the Gatorade Player of the Year Thursday. She adds the honor to her 2011 Naismith Award and WBCA Player of the Year selection.
Mosqueda-Lewis, a 6-foot wing from Anaheim, Calif., is averaging 21.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.7 steals for Mater Dei High (32-1), which faces Canyon Springs Saturday in the CIF Division I state semifinals. She becomes the fifth UConn recruit to capture the award, joining Tamika Williams (1998), Ann Strother (2002), Tina Charles (2006), and Maya Moore (2007).
She is now a finalist for the Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year award, which will be announced in July.
Rizzotti was officially named the U-19 national team coach Thursday. She will be assisted by Florida State’s Sue Semrau and Central Florida’s Joi Williams. … UConn’s Maya Moore needs two points to break her own school single-season scoring record of 754 points set two years ago. … The only other time the Huskies have faced an in-state opponent in the NCAA Tournament was Fairfield in 1998. UConn defeated the Stags 93-52 in a first-round game here.
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