Having already had one unplanned hiatus from basketball due to an injured elbow, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is hoping with all of her heart that her return to the court is closer to the three-week mark than the six-week one because of a bout with mononucleosis.

The best-case scenario would have Mosqueda-Lewis miss the rest of the regular season but be able to be back in time for the American Athletic Conference tournament. If she is sidelined for six weeks, she may struggle to be back in time for the Final Four.

“Hopefully I will feel better in two weeks and they can have a look at my spleen and I can come back earlier than three weeks,” said Mosqueda-Lewis, who is averaging 12.2 points per game. “I just want to get out there as soon as possible. I was finally starting to get the ball rolling again.”

Mosqueda-Lewis first spoke with UConn athletic trainer Rosemary Ragle on Feb. 7 because she was feeling congested. She has not practiced since Sunday’s Louisville game and she will not be making the trip to Tampa for Sunday’s game against South Florida.

“I never went in there saying I am tired and I think I have mono so if I am tired I assume I have been playing a lot and I am tired,” Mosqueda-Lewis said. “I never really went in saying I was tired and I can't do this. I was feeling pretty good and feeling like I was energized in practice and throughout the game so I would never have thought I would have had mono.”

Mosqueda-Lewis missed eight games earlier in the season with a right elbow contusion. She was able to return in time to lead the Huskies to an impressive win at Duke on Dec. 17 and was just starting to return to top form before she injured her left elbow late in the first half of Sunday’s win over Louisville.

The good news is that junior guard Brianna Banks returned to practice after missing the last two games and three of the last five games due to a sprained ankle. Banks seems like the most obvious choice to replace Mosqueda-Lewis in the starting lineup, something she did during the first stretch of games Mosqueda-Lewis missed this season.

“We’re taking all the precautions I can and we have a new ankle brace so I am not planning on spraining it anytime soon,” Banks said

UConn (25-0) has a stretch of five straight games against unranked opponents before playing at No. 3 Louisville on Mar. 3.

“Since November there's been a lot of headshaking, a lot of weird things that have happened that are unusual and that is kind of what has been what is happening with us,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “It does get a little bit frustrating but only because of what we can and don't do in practice. You know how bad they want to play and how competitive they are but in terms of our ability to win games there's nobody on our staff and nobody on our team who feels it is going to have any effect on our ability to win games.”