UConn commit Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 15 points, five rebounds and three assists and UConn recruiting target Elizabeth Williams had 15 points, five rebounds and three blocks as the United States won the FIBA Under-17 World Championship for Women with a 92-62 win over host France.

Former UConn recruiting target Ariel Massengale led the U.S. with 20 points and six assists while Breanna Stewart, very much on UConn's recruiting radar, had eight points and eight rebounds despite being sidelined with first-half foul trouble.

UConn recruiting targets Breanna Stewart and Elizabeth Williams each had double-doubles as the U.S. defeated China 97-64 in the semifinals of the FIBA Under-17 Championship for Women on Saturday.

Stewart, a 6-foot-3 rising high school junior forward/center from North Syracuse, N.Y., had 17 points (on 7 of 9 shooting), 11 rebounds, five blocks and two assists while Williams, a 6-3 rising senior forward/center from Virginia Beach, Va., had 14 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

Former UConn recruiting target Ariel Massengale led the U.S. with 22 points and six assists while UConn commit Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was one of three United States players with nine points.

China, which made 14 3-pointers in the game, pulled within three points with 2:46 left in the third quarter. Massengale had 11 points and UConn recruiting target Jewell Loyd added seven as the U.S. outscored China 30-10 the rest of the way.

The United States will play the winner host France in Sunday's 11:30 a.m. championship game.

Four UConn recruiting targets scored in double figures as the United States defeated host France 70-45 in its first game in the FIBA Under-17 World Championship for Women on Friday at the L'Amphitheatre in Rodez.

Breanna Stewart of North Syracuse, N.Y. had 13 points, seven rebounds and four blocks and Elizabeth Williams of Virginia Beach, Va. had 12 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, one of two rising high school seniors who has committed to UConn, had 10 points, five rebounds and two of the U.S. team's five 3-pointers while Betnijah Laney has 10 points and two steals. Former UConn recruiting target Ariel Massengale also had 10 points for the U.S., which outscored France 39-17 in the second half.

The U.S. continues pool play on Saturday with an 11:30 a.m. game against Russia. Russia opened with a 93-68 win over Japan behind Ksenia Tikhonenko's 22 points and 16 rebounds.

On a day when senior center Tina Charles found out she was the first UConn player to be named the Big East Player of the Week in consecutive weeks since Diana Taurasi in January of 2003, the subject went a little deeper than any individual accolades.

Charles spoke not only of her two-credit internship at the Bergin Correctional Institute which will begin later this month but of an emotional trip to the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford on Monday morning.

Charles admitted that if she wasn't in position for a career as a professional basketball player wasn't in her future, she would like to be a probation officer. The internship will give her a chance to see if that is something up her alley.

"I am definitely looking forward to (following around) the parole officer, shadowing him and (see) what prisoners go through," Charles said. "I did orientation (at the facility). It was different, it was surprising because a lot of them knew who I was and they wanted to have extra protection with me because it is open, it is not restricted. A lot of them were saying hi to me and things like that."

This morning from about 9-11:30 a.m., Charles and her teammates visited patients at the hospital which is something that always tugs are her heartstrings because some of the patients are struggling for their lives.

"It shows that we are blessed, being healthy and being able to play this sport and not to take anything for granted," Charles said. "Just the children seeing our faces and the young adults, it just made their day. We brought them our game day posters and they were really interacting with us and it really made the families happy.

"It is really difficult, I am the most emotional person on the team, we watch a movie and I start crying so I had tears in my eyes just giving out toys around Christmas time (during the team's visit to a local Salvation Army) but it's hard but just the fact that we are able to put a smile on somebody's face by signing an autograph or anything little by that ...

BUCK IFFY
UConn redshirt freshman Heather Buck missed practice because of the sprained left ankle she suffered in Saturday's win over North Carolina and her status for Wednesday's game against Marquette is up in the air.

"She didn't practice (Monday) and not sure she is going to practice tomorrow," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "We'll see. If she doesn't do either, she'll be limited for Wednesday. It is nothing serious, it is just a sprained ankle."

NO OFFER FOR MASSENGALE, YET
A recruiting source said that UConn did not offer a scholarship offer to highly-touted Bolingbrook (Ill.) High junior guard Ariel Massengale, who was in attendance at Saturday's UConn/North Carolina game.

The source said nothing is imminent with Massengale, who figures to take her time during the process although it figures to be yet another recruiting battle between UConn and Tennessee for Massengale's services.

UConn has offered scholarships to juniors Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (the only member of the current high school junior class to commit to the Huskies), Bentijah Laney and Bonnie Samuelson.

For some reason, this year's Cincinnati/UConn game is creating more of a buzz than the last couple of meetings. I'm not sure but it could have something to do with the fact that former UConn player and assistant coach Jamelle Elliott and not J. Kelley Hall is calling the shots.

Elliott is set to dine with Geno Auriemma and his wife Kathy tonight and figures to receive a warm welcome from the UConn faithful for her 16 seasons either as a player or coach at UConn.

"I know they are going to welcome her, it is probably going to be a standing ovation when she comes in and rightfully so," UConn senior forward Kaili McLaren said. "She has been here for half of her life so her coming here and coaching here, it is just going to be crazy."

Speaking of McLaren, she is expecting to play after missing the last game with an injured ankle.

Auriemma - Geno and not Kathy - was mic'd up at practice because there was a crew from ESPN on hand to get some shots of UConn's practice as well as film a promo which will run on the ESPN stations leading up to the first ESPN GameDay women's basketball broadcast on Jan. 16 when Notre Dame plays at UConn. The game is nearing a sellout but is not completely sold out yet. That could happen as soon as tomorrow. Saturday's North Carolina game is a sell out while tickets are going fast for the Feb. 13 game against St. John's.

A recruiting source indicated that Auriemma was out watching Christ the King's Bria Smith play recently. Also, highly-touted junior guard Ariel Massengale out of Bolingbrook, Ill., is expected to be in attendance at Saturday's UConn/North Carolina game.

Finally, UConn signed a contract for a home and home series with Baylor beginning next season with a game at either Gampel Pavilion or the XL Center with UConn playing at Baylor in the 2011-12 season. UConn officials refused to comment on the series because Baylor has yet to return a signed contract. It should happen and a national-television audience will be treated to a showdown of two of the nation's best players in UConn forward Maya Moore and Baylor's 6-foot-8 freshman Brittney Griner. Just imagine if it ends up being the first game of the season and if you happen to be incoming freshmen Stefanie Dolson, Michala Johnson and Samarie Walker or Heather Buck, who will be the only returning true post player, drawing the assignment of slowing down the dynamic Griner.

December, January and February tend to be interesting months for those recruiting-obsessed folks among the Huskymaniacs.

Names start circulating, rumors start flying about which player the UConn staff is looking at and the more vocal fans aren't afraid to give advice to UConn coach Geno Auriemma, associate head coach Chris Dailey or anybody else will listen.

I have written this before but it bears repeating, with six national titles, three undefeated seasons, so many individual honors have been bestowed and still being bestowed on UConn players, I think Auriemma, Dailey and the UConn braintrust have a pretty good idea what they are doing when it comes to recruiting. I use the five ex-Huskies playing in the WNBA All-Star game and the larger number of former or current UConn stars in contention to make the 2012 Olympic team as exhibits A and B in the talent judging skills of the UConn staff.

They are rather particular. If they don't like a player regardless of how talented they are, they will pass. This is the time of year when the process begins to kick into gear. It's not really about identifying talent as much as it is identifying the right fit for the program. UConn does not believe in first come, first serve recruiting nor do the Huskies recruit in bulk. What that means is that they identify the players they want and pursue them, stressing quality over quantity. Sometimes that philosophy backfires as some questionable decisions were made between the time Diana Taurasi signed her letter of intent and Renee Montgomery put her name on the dotted line. But more often than not, it works pretty well. How well? By my math, UConn is 540-44 since the beginning of the 1993-94 season that's a 92.5 winning percentage which isn't impressive, it's downright staggering.

For every kid like Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, the sweet-shooting wing from Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Calif., who decides early that UConn is the perfect place for her, there are others like Delaware scoring sensation Bentijah Laney who prefer to take their time, go through the process and make sure before they make the right decision. It may surprise you to know that the UConn coaches prefer the latter over the former. There's nothing worse than a highly-touted recruit committing to UConn before circumstances or just a change of heart leads to them playing elsewhere.

This much I know about what UConn wants in the upcoming class, high-quality players, high-quality kids and players with a high basketball IQ. Those are the same attributes Auriemma and Dailey went after when they first started working together in 1985 and not much has changed in that regard. Sure, they have a larger pool of candidates to draw on now as evidenced by the fact that the incoming freshman class will include players from California, Illinois and Ohio as well as two players from New York.

Many of the names being mentioned (Elizabeth Williams, Ariel Massengale, Bonnie Samuelson, Laney, Bria Smith) are very much on UConn's recruiting radar. But bear in mind that at this time last year, Sheronne Vails and Orsi Szecsi were being mentioned as kids UConn was pursuing. Vails will come to Connecticut only as a member of the visiting Louisville team. No matter how many times I wrote that Laurin Mincy and Meighann Simmons were not being recruited by the Huskies, those stubborn recruit-niks refused to believe me. I don't just make this stuff up, I don't just repeat second-hand information without confirming it.

I imagine more names will emerge, especially some other potential post players, between now and November, 2010. Ironically, if few names are mentioned, that could be a good sign that UConn is comfortable with their chances of getting the players they are pursuing. When people asked me about Bria Hartley and her chances of coming to UConn, I said that the fact that UConn was not pursuing other top-level point guards was a pretty good indication that UConn felt pretty good about their chances of landing the highly sought after Hartley. Sure enough, Hartley is headed to UConn.

The last thing to remember is that until a player comes to visit UConn, try not to get too wrapped up on any impending commitments. Do not underestimate the importance the UConn staff places in what the current Huskies think of the recruits. I won't name any names but there have been some pretty gifted kids who came in for a visit and before they arrived home, were no longer being recruited by the Huskies. It doesn't take a Yale graduate degree to figure out why that was the case. I can say with certainty that Mosqueda-Lewis, Laney and Samuelson earned the stamp of approval during their visits. They are three super kids who would fit in perfectly at UConn.

My guess is that no commitments will be coming in the near future but I am envisioning another impressive class to go along with the one the Huskies just signed. I would expect a minimum of four players and perhaps a total of five.

Maybe it is wishful thinking on his part after six pretty routine victories, but UConn coach Geno Auriemma believes tomorrow's game against Vermont could be a good one for his team.

"They are an NCAA tournament team, they have a lot of veterans who have played here before, have played well here so I they move the ball around pretty well," Auriemma said. "I think they are an experienced group used to winning and have wins over two ACC schools (Boston College and North Carolina State) and they are a good team to be playing right now."

Vermont is led by seniors Courtnay Pilypaitis (21 points per game) and May Kotsopoulos (20.3), the only Division I teammates to be averaging 20 points per game.

For UConn, junior guard Lorin Dixon's strained hamstring will keep her out of her seventh straight game. The good news is that Dixon took part in shooting free throws off to the side during Wednesday's practice and after practice she was impressive, drilling about 75 percent of her shots from the perimeter (by my unofficial tally).

"She is shooting the basketball, doing some warmups and agility (exercises)," Auriemma said of Dixon. "She'll do nothing (meaning she won't play) tomorrow and then we don't play again until (Dec. 10 against Hartford) so right now the best guest is (Dec.) 10th at the earliest if all goes well."

A couple of milestones to look for:
Tina Charles was 1,050 career rebounds, four behind Jamelle Elliott for the No. 2 spot on UConn's career list. When Meghan Gardler checks into the game, she will become the 54th Husky to play in 100 career games.

Finally, clearing up some recruiting misinformation, highly-touted junior guard Ariel Massengale may end up committing to UConn but I did some checking into this matter and she has not only not visited UConn but has not been offered a scholarship. Now that is normally a formality and ends up occuring usually in that order. There's no question that the UConn coaches like the Bolingbrook (Ill.) guard but until she makes a trip to campus, any timeline for her committing is premature.

My sources indicate that the only junior who have been offered scholarship offers by UConn are Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, a wing out of California powerhouse Mater Dei and Betnijah Laney, a wing out of Smyrna (Del.) High. Mosqueda-Lewis has already committed to UConn while word is that Laney will be taking her time in the recruiting process.

UConn is still in the process of identifying its prime prospects in the junior class although landing at least one post player (Elizabeth Williams out of Virginia Beach, Va. appears to be at the top of the list of post players but then again she is considered by many to be the top post player in her class so UConn will not be alone in their pursuit of Williams).