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A blog on UConn women's basketball.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Hartley, Walker WBCA All-Americans

UConn recruits Bria Hartley and Samarie Walker are among 20 high school seniors named All-Americans and thus selected to play in the annual WBCA All-American game.

Hartley, a 5-foot-10 guard at North Babylon (N.Y.), is one of four New York players selections while Walker, a 6-foot-1 wing, is the latest in a long line of stars to come out of the Chaminade Julienne program in Dayton, Ohio.

The game will be played on April 3 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas as part of the Final Four festivities.

As is their custom, the WBCA releases the information to USA Today first so here's the list of players through that avenue and I expect the rest of us to receive an e-mail tomorrow. True to form, the WBCA release went out to the rest of the media this morning and here is the official notification

Speaking of UConn recruits, I made the ride to Warwick (N.Y.) High to watch UConn signee Stefanie Dolson and her Minisink Valley team play. Warwick was 3-0 in Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II play and was supposed to give Minisink Valley a run for its money. But Minisink Valley scored the first 15 points en route to a 58-37 win.

I'll have more on my brief interview with Stefanie in the next day or two as well as my impressions on her play but I was told by one of Minisink Valley's assistant coaches after speaking with her for less than three minutes that she had to get on the bus. Funny thing is after speaking with Minisink Valley coach Judy Mottola and heading for the door about five or 10 minutes later, Stefanie was still inside the facility but such is life. I'm a pretty quick interviewer so I made the most of my limited time with Stefanie.

I can say that despite facing double or triple teams by Warwick, which seemed pretty determined not to let the 6-foot-5 center dominate, on pretty much every possession, Dolson had 23 points (on 10 of 17 shooting), 19 rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks. Five of her field goals came as she missed the initial shot, grabbed the offensive rebound and scored.

I will say that I found it ironic that the one of the side streets closest to the Warwick Public School complex (which includes the middle school and high school) was named Saint Stephens street. While it did not strike my funny bone as much as former UConn recruiting target Skylar Diggins' mother's maiden name being Renee Montgomery, I thought it was rather amusing since UConn senior guard/forward Kalana Greene hails from Saint Stephen, S.C. but then again, I am easily amused.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting that there are five teams that landed two All-Americans each: UConn, Stanford, Tennessee, Duke, and California.

Once again, UConn's haul of talent is no better than its competitors. So far from stockpiling great players, UConn continues to win with great coaching.

Curious that Stephanie Dolson didn't make All-American, since she was very highly rated by most rating services. Perhaps she will prove the big surprise as a college player!

12:25 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey! Hartford is in the Top 25! Is that a first for the Hartford women?

1:35 PM 

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