UConn incoming freshmen Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley will head to UConn after earning their first gold medal in international competition.

Hartley, a 5-foot-10 guard from North Babylon, N.Y., had 11 points (on 5 of 9 shooting), four assists and four steals in 21 minutes while had two points, four rebounds and three blocks in 15 minutes as the United States defeated Brazil 81-38 in the championship of the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship for Women on Sunday night.

Hartley finished third in the tournament in assists per game and was seventh in steals while Dolson was third with a 54.2 field-goal percentage (trailing teammates Howard and Ogwumike) and eighth in blocked shots.

UConn recruiting target Malina Howard led four U.S. players in double figures with 12 points, Theresa Plaisance had 11 points and Diamond DeShields, who is also on UConn recruiting radar, had 10 points and seven rebounds as the U.S. finished the tournament 5-0 and had an average scoring margin of 55.8 points.

Stanford signee Chiney Ogwumike was the leading scorer for the U.S., averaging 13.2 points per game. Hartley, who led the U.S. with 20 assists and tied for the team lead with 12 steals, was the only other double figure scorer with an average of 10.6 points per game. Dolson was second on the team with five blocks while averaging 6.2 points and 4.2 rebounds.

MALOTT NO LONGER CONSIDERING UCONN
In my daily reports, I have been posting updates on not only Dolson and Hartley, but UConn recruiting targets Howard, DeShields and Ally Malott. While it is too early to tell if Howard, who is a rising high school junior, and DeShields, who will be a high school sophomore in the fall, will land at UConn, I can say with certainty that Malott will not be playing for the Huskies.

I spoke to Ally about an hour ago and after asking her about her experiences with the U-18 squad, I switched gears to talk a little recruiting. I started reading off the schools I thought were in the mix with the sweet shooting 6-foot-3 forward from Middletown, Ohio when she stopped me in mid sentence to tell me that she was no longer considering UConn and Xavier. She said location was the main reason as she wants to play "no more than three or four hours from home."

There will be more on Malott's decision in a story in Tuesday's edition of the Register although the focus of the article will be on Dolson and Hartley. I spoke with Bria following Saturday's semifinal win over Chile and chatted with Dolson after I got off the phone with Malott on Sunday.

WNBA UPDATE
Brian Agler of the Seattle Storm will be the head coach of the WNBA squad in the July 10 "WNBA vs. USA Basketball: The Stars at the Sun" All-Star game. UConn's Geno Auriemma will be coaching the U.S. squad. All-Star voting wrapped up on June 23 an the league will announce the top 10 vote getters on Tuesday. Those 10 players are guaranteed a spot in the all-star game at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Speaking of the Connecticut Sun, guard Anete Jekabsone-Zogota is on her way back to Connecticut to have her right knee examined. Jekabsone-Zogota hurt the knee in the first quarter of Sunday's loss to New York and did not return. Tan White hurt her hand in the game but is staying with the team as they head to Tulsa for the second game of a six-game road trip.

UConn incoming freshmen Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley combined for 14 points and eight rebounds as the U.S. defeated Chile 98-28 on Saturday to earn a spot in the championship game of the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship for Women.

Hartley had an off shooting night hitting just 4 of 12 shots but finished with eight points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals in 20 minutes. Dolson had six points, four rebounds, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot in 15 minutes as the U.S. outrebounded Chile 59-16.

Stanford signee Chiney Ogwumike led the U.S. with 17 points to go with seven rebounds. Ogwumike (14.3 points, 8.3 rebounds) and Hartley (10.5 points, team-leading totals of 16 assists and 8 steals) are the only players averaging more than 10 points per game for the U.S., which has outscored its first four opponents by an average of 59 points. Dolson is averaging 7.3 points, while making 12 of 22 shots, and 4.3 rebounds. UConn recruiting targets Diamond DeShields (8.8 points), Ally Malott (7.8 points, 2.5 assists and a team-best seven 3-pointers) and Malina Howard (5.5 points, 5.8 rebounds) have also played well for the U.S., which will face Brazil in the championship game Sunday at 7:45 p.m. at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The U.S. has already clinched a berth in the FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women which will be held from July 20-30, 2011 in Chile. That team, as this squad, will be coached by former UConn star and current Hartford women's basketball coach Jen Rizzotti.

UConn incoming freshmen Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley were among four U.S. players to score in double figures as the hosts routed Argentina 81-32 on the first day of the FIBA America U-18 Championshup for Women in Colorado Springs, Colo. on Wednesday.

Dolson had 12 points (on 5 of 6 shooting), four rebounds, one assists, one steal and one block in 17 minutes while Hartley had 10 points to go with team-best totals of six assists and three steals. Stanford signee Chiney Ogwumike led the U.S. with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Kayla McBride had 10 points. UConn recruiting targets Malina Howard (8 points, 10 rebounds), Ally Malott (six points) and Diamond DeShields (five points) also contributed to an impressive effort by the U.S. which led 73-20 after three quarters.

The U.S., coached by former UConn star and current Hartford women's basketball coach Jen Rizzotti, plays Brazil at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday before wrapping up pool play on 7:45 p.m. Friday against Puerto Rico. Brazil defeated Puerto Rico 81-35 on Wednesday.

UConn incoming freshmen Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley as well as UConn recruiting targets Diamond DeShields, Ally Malott and Malina Howard were among the 12 players on the final U.S. Under-18 team roster.

USA Basketball originally named 16 finalists before getting down to the 12-player maximum for the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Women which will be held from June 23-27 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Sidney Cook, Raven Ferguson, Afure Jemerigbe and Haley Peters did not make the cut for the team which will be coached by former UConn star and current Hartford head coach Jen Rizzotti. The 12-member squad will remain in Colorado Springs for training until the start of the tournament.

LAWSON IN ACTION
Kara Lawson, who was a game-time decision after injuring her left shoulder in the Connecticut Sun's win over Indiana, started and was the first Sun player to reach double figures in scoring in the back end of the home-and-home with the Fever on Sunday.

The Sun, despite a dreadful second quarter, are heading into the fourth quarter only down by nine points.

According to a story in her local paper, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn. has asked for and been sent UConn incoming freshman Stefanie Dolson's high school game jersey so it can be displayed at the Hall of Fame for a year. Minisink Valley coach Judy Mottola has already sent Dolson's No. 31 jersey.

Also, the Purdue website has a write up on UConn recruiting target Ally Malott that might be of interest to people.

These are hectic times in Geno Auriemma's life.

Fresh off guiding UConn to its second straight undefeated season and seventh national title, Auriemma only had a couple of days to unwind before preparing to run a training camp with the U.S. senior national team. The camp opened on Sunday night at Gampel Pavilion and will end with a scrimmage on April 18.

"There are a lot of things that I have to do at Connecticut between now and next October and I am lucky that our staff is going to able to help me do that and there is a lot that I have to do for USA Basketball including win a world championship," Auriemma said. "Right now my main focus between now and the start of preseason practice on Oct. 15 is to win a world championship and everything I do this summer between now and then is going to be geared towards that.

"As soon as I am done with that, just kind of turn the switch and get ready for UConn basketball again in October. I have always been pretty good about that, just kind of picking things up and putting them on the shelf and then coming back to them when I need them and go onto the next thing. The first couple of days were tough, Wednesday/Thursday were not easy after we won because of the intensity level of what happened. I feel good, I feel better now than I did Wednesday, I was shot on Wednesday."

Auriemma's next public act as UConn's head coach will come at the April 18 parade in Hartford but behind the scene he will be coordinating his staff's game plan for the NCAA evaluation period which runs from Friday-April 20.

"This coming week there is practice for the national team, the young guys - the college guys - are coming in midway through the week, I have some recruiting to do, we have the parade, the scrimmage," Auriemma said. "It's probably good that we cram all that in because my Sunday night, Monday morning I know I am done and I can really kind of step back and observe the whole thing and see where it is. I am kind of looking forward to next Monday, it will really be the first time that I don't really have anything looming except the Kentucky Derby."

Auriemma said he won't be going out on the road as associate head coach Chris Dailey and assistant coaches Marissa Moseley and Shea Ralph will be the ones making the rounds.

"I am going to miss it, it is this coming weekend. All the coaches will be gone and I'll be here," Auriemma said. "We are involved with some really good players and we have an opportunity to get further involved."

NCAA rules prohibits Auriemma from discussing individual recruits but the Huskies have received commitments from Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, a highly-decorated 6-foot wing out of Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Calif., and Brianna Banks, a 5-foot-10 guard out of Northgate High in Newnan, Ga. UConn is expected to focus its recruiting efforts on landing a post player or two with Elizabeth Williams out of Virginia Beach, Va., Kiah Stokes of Marion, Iowa and Ally Malott out of Middletown, Ohio at the top of the list. UConn has previously offered scholarships to two other perimeter players (Delaware wing Betnijah Laney and California wing Bonnie Samuelson).

One player not on UConn's radar is Kelsey Bone. A recruiting source told me that UConn is not interested in the 6-foot-5 Texas native who recently announced she was leaving South Carolina despite being named the Southeastern Conference's Newcomer of the Year by the Associated Press. UConn pursued Bone out of Dulles High in Sugar Land, Tex. but the Huskies were not a finalist for Bone's services.

CASH DISPENSES ADVICE
Swin Cash knows a thing or two about being part of a five-member freshman class, coning into UConn in 1998 along with Sue Bird, Asjha Jones, Tamika Williams and Keirsten Walters so I asked her if she had any advice for UConn's five-member incoming freshman class.

"Don't name themselves," Cash said with a laugh as she recalled how her class named themselves the TASSK Force. "Have a lot of energy. You are going to make a heck a lot of mistakes but if you go hard, going hard will win you a heck of a lot more games than you think. That is my advice.

"I remember asking Coach (Auriemma) 'why am I starting (as a freshman)?' I came in and Tamika (Williams) was the No. 1 ranked (high school) player in the country, we had Asjha (Jones), Stacy (Hansmeyer), Paige (Sauer) and I am just a skinny little kid and nobody from my neighborhood thought I'd be playing a lot of minutes let alone starting on the team. I think it was the high level he expected us to play, the energy we needed out there."

NO SURGERY FOR APPEL
Former Stanford star Jayne Appel was at the training camp but her injured ankle and foot will keep her from taking part. Appel said she is probably a couple of weeks away from being able to get back on the court but no surgery will be needed. She is not rushing back to be ready in time for the start of training camp with the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars on April 26, determined not to be back until she is 100 percent so she doesn't reaggravate her injuries.

There will be more from my interview with Appel in the next day or two.