In the last couple of weeks sweet-shooting Blair Academy sophomore Andra Espinoza-Hunter was having more and more conversations with her mom about pulling the trigger on her college decision even through she isn't even midway through her sophomore season.

With Duke and UConn being her two top choices, it only made sense that she would make her way to the XL Center for last night's game. She wasn't planning to make her college decision as she sat in the first row behind the Huskies bench. However, shortly after UConn's impressive win over Duke she let the cat out of the bag.

"I saw Geno and he gave me a hug," Espinoza-Hunter said on Tuesday. "I said "I have some good news for you.' He said 'what's that?' I said 'I am ready to commit.' He said 'are you serious' and he gave me a big hug."

When she was playing on the same Ossining team as current UConn guard Saniya Chong she would join Chong on her trips to UConn games and even after making the decision to leave Ossining and play at Blair Academy she continued to see the UConn team in action so many times that she said "I lost track" of the actual number.

The affable Espinoza-Hunter, who ended our interview by wishing me a Happy New Year, almost used her most recent trip to Connecticut as a class project. It wasn't so much taking in the screens, the rotation on defense or way the Huskies boxed out a bigger Duke team (although she did pick up on those things) but she was looking at the body language of the players after both good plays and bad and also the interactions between coaches and players especially on plays that didn't go as planned.

What she does remember is the strong bond she saw between the players and coaches.

"They gel so well, are so supportive and so positive of each other," Espinoza-Hunter said.

Espinoza-Hunter opened eyes with her offensive ability at Ossining while she was still in junior high school. In her second season at Blair Academy she moved from playing on the wing to being a combination of point guard/shooting guard especially with Cal commit Bre Cavanaugh sidelined with a concussion. So where has she made the most strides in the last year or two?

"Probably rebounding," Espinoza-Hunter said. "When I was a 7th, 8th or 9th grader I was kind of a frail guard but I've been doing a better job rebounding."

She is not the first sophomore to commit to UConn. Courtney Ekmark was the most recent player to do so but UConn tends to tread carefully in taking commitments from players this young. However. Espinoza-Hunter said in the next 2 1/2 season "I am going to put in a lot of work."