Maren Walseth's time in Connecticut was relatively brief but it was still long enough for her to land securely on UConn's recruiting radar.

Walseth, who is in her fifth season as an assisant coach on the staff of Penn State coach Coquese Washington, took a few minutes on Saturday to reflect on the experience of being recruited by UConn. It was the perfect time for Walseth to reflect on her days in Connecticut since UConn and Penn State are meeting in the Kingston (R.I.) Regional semifinals today.

"It is always fun, there is a little bit of a tie," Walseth said. "I think it is different for me because I didn't graduate from high school in Connecticut, I was there for a short time but I went to a ton of UConn games in high school and was recruited by them."

Walseth is a native of Minnesota and attended Jefferson High School as a freshman. She spent her sophomore and junior seasons at Simsbury High before heading back to Jefferson for her senior season.

"In my mind it was a two-year stint but in Connecticut's mind it was a lot longer," Walseth said. "It was just a
two-year littile stint in my life.

"I joke with (UConn associate head coach) Chris (Dailey) that I got more air time than she did because I sat behind the bench at literally every home game. They did their due diligence in recruiting me as I am sure they did with all of their recruits. I did the campus tour, went to a bunch of games and obviously did stuff like that."

Walseth was hired by Washington and has been there every step of the way as Penn State is back to being a player on the women's basketball scene. Walseth knew that Washington, a former player and assistant coach at Notre Dame, would get the Lady Lions moving in the right direction.

"She is a fantastic leader and she has a great vision," Walseth said. "She gets credited with a lot of on the court things but she is intentional about everything she does, the types of players she recruits, the people she has on her staff, the people she has working in her office. She is a very goal-orientated drive person that everything that she does and has her players and staff do, there is a reason for it. She lays out the plan, we check the box and make sure we follow the plan so I am not surprised where she has taken the program."