UConn assistant coach Shea Ralph recently headed to take a look at North Babylon (N.Y.) High junior guard Bria Hartley and recruiting sources indicate that Ralph was impressed enough that now her boss Geno Auriemma is planning to find room in his busy schedule to see the 5-foot-7 Hartley in action.

Hartley is enjoying a brilliant junior season with North Babylon. She began the year in style, dropping 38 points in a 77-52 win over Molloy. Her best effort may have come in North Babylon's only loss of the season as she had 30 points, five assists and three steals in an 87-73 loss to a Murry Bergtraum team ranked seventh in the latest USA Today national high school poll. Most recently Hartley had 19 points and six assists in Thursday's 86-25 win over Centereach as North Babylon improved to 16-1. Hartley is averaging 22.1 points and 5.9 assists per game.

Unless Auriemma gets out to North Babylon's game on Monday at Copiague, which seems unlikely because of UConn's planned practice, he will likely have to wait until North Babylon begins postseason play to see her play since North Babylon's regular season finale is the same day as UConn's game at St. John's. Speaking of the postseason, Hartley had 23 points as North Babylon won the 2008 Suffolk County Championship game with a 54-34 win over Hampton Bays.

While it is uncertain when Hartley will be making a campus visit to UConn, Laguna Hill (Calif.) wing Lauren Engeln and her family are still working on the details so she can be on hand when UConn hosts Pittsburgh on Jan. 15. Engeln was planning to be in attendance at the Nov. 30 Oklahoma/Connecticut game but when those plans fell through, her family has been trying to reschedule. With Laguna Hills having a break between the end of the regular season and beginning of the postseason, this would be a perfect time for Engeln to see UConn up close and personal.

There's not too much to report from Thursday's practice. It was mostly a film study day for the Huskies who only went through about 30 minutes of practicing before going to lift.

All signs point to freshman Tiffany Hayes making her second consecutive start when UConn plays at Marquette on Saturday.

I asked Renee Montgomery and Tina Charles what they remembered from the last time UConn played at Marquette. Montgomery recalled the lively student section making for a rowdy atmosphere. She did not recall missing the front end of the 1-and-1 late in the game which nearly proved costly as Marquette Christina Quaye (who was briefly in the Connecticut Sun's training camp in 2008) had a good look at a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left which would have given the Golden Eagles the lead. Quaye missed, Montgomery grabbed the rebound and was fouled. She hit both free throws to clinch a 52-48 win.

Charles, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds, also recalled the atmosphere as well as the challenge posed by the senior-laden Marquette frontcourt. This time the Golden Eagles are expected to start two freshmen forwards so it could be a chance for Charles to shake off her worst effort of the season in a win over Rutgers.

Marquette women's SID Amy Ufnowski said that while some tickets are still available, the university is hopeful that UConn's presence will lead to the second sellout of the season.

Marquette senior guard Krystal Ellis will be honored before the game for becoming the Golden Eagles' all-time leading scorer.

Perhaps the funniest moment of the day came when during an interview with Maya Moore on her being named to the CoSIDA District 1 University All-Academic team (couldn't they have made that title just a little bit longer) I asked her what her most difficult classes in the fall semester were. Moore pondered the question as she is prone to do before giving her answer and pondered and pondered. Moore got a sheepish grin on her face as she struggled to remember even one of the classes she had in the recently-completed fall semester.

"Let me think. Sorry, you're going to have to wait. Wait a minute. Wow. Randy (UConn women's basketball SID Randy Press) name some classes."

"Sociology, psychology," Press said.

"Chemistry," Moore exclaimed. "I took chemistry. Keep going."

"Biology, math, English, literature, science, government, liberal arts, history, Western Civ," Press said.

"OK, I took a chemistry class, I took a nutrition class," Moore said. "This is really funny. It's been a long day. Those two (classes) were great. The other two, if I think of them during this interview, I will tell you."