There had been warnings to the UConn freshmen that they needed to step things up in practice in the weeks leading up to the season opener against Holy Cross.

Believing the newcomers were not upholding the standards of the program on and off the court, the UConn coaching staff proved they weren't kidding around by kicking the freshmen out of the locker room before the Nov. 14 game. They weren't let back into the locker room on a permanent basis until early February.

"It was a wakeup call for all of us and then we realized that we were out of the locker room for two months, we said 'OK, we have to do something different,'" Hartley said. "We all have to figure it out together."

UConn has gone the route of kicking players out of the locker room but unlike some programs, doesn't publicize such things and doesn't want their players to discuss such matters either.

However, the move seemed to pay dividends as Hartley and Stefanie Dolson were unanimously selected to the Big East's All-Freshman team and Hartley was a second team All-Big East selection.

"It just tells you that you have to work for all this stuff to be here at Connecticut, certain things that you have to be worked hard (at) every day, stuff can't be given to us all the time, sometimes we have to work for it," Hartley said. "I think it motivated all of us. We all said we have to improve, we have to get better. Stef definitely stepped up to the challenge, got a lot better."

On game days the freshmen would dress in the locker room and would go in there for film study sessions so it wasn't like they forgot what the locker room looked like but when they were granted access on a regular basis, it was a special moment for the freshmen.

"It was good to be back in the locker room," Hartley said. "Most of the times for the games we stayed in there. We couldn't go in there (the other times), watch TV and lounge in there.

"After a while, we were like 'are we ever to get back in the locker room.' I think we might be here all season but we got back in."