The latest name to emerge as a Class of 2014 recruiting target for UConn is a pretty familiar one.

Sadie Edwards, who grew up in Meriden, played at Mercy as a freshman and helped the Tigers reach the 2011 Class LL championship game where they lost to Career 39-37. She transferred to play for the legendary Apache Paschall at Nazareth in Brooklyn, N.Y.

"It’s a great opportunity,” Edwards said when news broke of her transfer. “It’s not something that comes around often. I’m thankful for that. I get to play with multiple Division I players. It’s an environment where I can get a lot better. It’s exciting.”

However, Edwards' time playing for Paschall was limited as he died in January of 2012. At season's end, in which she earned New York Class AA third-team All-State honors, she made the decision to leave Nazareth and landed at Blair Academy in Blairtown, N.J.

Could she be returning to play basketball in Connecticut?

It's too early to tell. I spoke her Sadie's mother Lisa before I headed up to Hartford for yesterday's UConn/Pittsburgh game and she confirmed what I have been hearing and that is that the 5-foot-10 rising senior does not have a scholarship offer yet. What my recruiting sources are telling me is that UConn likes Edwards, a player who had seven 20-point games and four contests with at least 10 assists during Blair's run to the New England Prep School "A" title but they want to see her play this spring on the AAU circuit.

"Right now she is right at the beginning, right now she has no idea," Lisa Edwards said. 

UConn visited with Sadie a week ago and then she took an unofficial visit to take in Saturday's game against Seton Hall. Lisa Edwards said it was an enjoyable trip for her daughter who got to meet the UConn coaches and players. Since I hadn't heard much about UConn being involved in the recruitment of Edwards, I asked her mom what the level of interest has been.

"Just casual stuff, a birthday card, have a good season," Lisa Edwards said. "With a visit (to UConn) and (UConn) coming in to meet her I would think the interest is there."

Lisa Edwards believes her daughter's experiences the last couple of seasons has helped her on and off the court.

"Everybody likes to say they have grown but she really has come into her own game now," Lisa Edwards said. "Her offense, when you are young offense is important but she is just as happy with 14 assists."

My recruiting sources have told me that UConn would like to sign three perimeter players and two frontcourt  ones in the next class. With Saniya Chong the only incoming freshman to sign with UConn, it's pretty obvious that this is a pivotal recruiting class for the Huskies. It is evident by the number of players the Huskies are linked with that they are going to be looking at more kids this year than they often do because they simply can't afford to just recruit four or five kids and land just one or two of them. As it is the Huskies could be playing with fire with just nine scholarship players on the roster for next season. A transfer here, an injury there and things could get a tad bit tricky.

I don't think it's earth-shattering news if I were to state the A'ja Wilson, a versatile 6-foot-5 forward at Heathwood Hall in Columbia, S.C. is at the top of UConn's recruiting wish list. The Huskies have also offered another forward, Kathryn Westbeld out of Fairmont High in Kettering, Ohio. Of course the Huskies already have a commitment from 6-foot wing Courtney Ekmark out of St. Mary's in Phoenix.

Christ the King guard Sierra Calhoun, whose brother Omar is a standout freshman on UConn's men's basketball team, is another top prospect UConn is involved with. While I previously reported that the interest in highly-touted Texas forward Brianna Turner and speedy Los Angeles guard Jordin Canada appears to have waned a bit, what I am hearing is the Huskies continue to consider them to be recruiting targets. Then there is one of most intriguing prospects in the class in Nevada guard Gabby Williams. Williams is one of the nation's top high jump prospects who finished fifth in the U.S. Olympic trials and UConn assistant coach Shea Ralph went out to Nevada to see her play in a game early this season. Unfortunately, Williams injured her knee the next next day. She had surgery to repair the torn ACL and meniscus earlier this month. Williams has gone on the record as saying that she wants to do both sports in college and her plan is to redshirt in 2016 so she can focus solely on making the Olympic team.

For those interested in such things, the list of players I mentioned feature the top three rated players and six of the top 10 in the Hoopgurlz ratings. Of course they also list Edwards (who comes in at No. 39) as playing at Nazareth so keep that in mind before viewing those ratings as gospel.

I wouldn't anticipate seeing any commitments coming soon especially considering that four of the seven uncommitted players I mentioned above have yet to visit UConn. It's also possible and even likely that more names could emerge in the coming weeks and months.

While highlighting the face that UConn signee Saniya Chong became the all-time leading scorer in Westchester County girls' basketball history last night, I realized I missed another milestone for a player high on the Huskies' recruiting radar.

Brianna Turner scored the 2,000th point of her high school career on Jan. 8 when she had 26 points as Manvel (Tex,) defeated Pasadena 97-11. Turner had 26 points in the game on 13 of 14 shooting and followed that up by going 9 for 10 in her next game.

Turner has scored at least 20 points in her last nine games and is shooting 65 percent from the field over that stretch. Her numbers over the last nine games are 24.2 points, 9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 3.8 steals and 3.8  blocks per game. On the season she is averaging 20.7 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 3.3 steals and 3.5 blocks per game.

According to tweets from The Journal News and MSG Varsity, UConn signee Saniya Chong and UConn Class of 2014 recruiting target Sierra Calhoun had quite the impressive duel tonight.

Chong had 29 of her 46 points in the fourth quarter as host Ossining defeated Calhoun and Christ the King 89-84. Calhoun countered with 30 points (half of them coming on a 15 for 15 performance from the free-throw line), eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. Chong also had seven rebounds, 12 assists, four steals and two blocked shots.

Unfortunately since I am still at Gampel Pavilion, I was unable to make it up to the game but UConn coach Geno Auriemma was among those in attendance.

Ossining coach Dan Ricci said that he and Chong are planning to make the ride into Storrs for tomorrow's UConn/Notre Dame game. I haven't heard whether Calhoun will also be on hand tomorrow but Class of 2014 recruiting target Brianna Turner is planning to be here according to her father.

After scoring 46 points in her team's first game in the Slam Dunk tournament, UConn signee Saniya Chong went off for 51 points to lead her Ossining (N.Y.) team to a 90-84 win over Irvington in Sunday's championship game.

Chong broke her own tournament single-game record of 46 which was not only accomplished on Friday but also in a 2010 game.

Chong had nine 3-pointers and was 10 of 11 from the free-throw line meaning that in the two tournament games she had 15 3-pointers and was 28 of 29 from the foul line. She also had six rebounds, nine assists and four steals in the game. Her season totals are pretty staggering as she is averaging 34.7 points per game with 40 3-pointers in nine games. She is also averaging 4.6 rebounds, 9.6 assists, 4.4 steals and 1.8 blocks per game.

Next up for Chong and Ossining is a showdown with New York powerhouse Christ the King, which features Class of 2014 UConn recruiting target Sierra Calhoun. The game will be played at Ossining HS at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.

On Saturday a pair of UConn's Class of 2014 targets led their teams to tournament titles.

Brianna Turner had 22 points as Manvel (Tex.) rolled to a 73-31 win over Channelview in the championship game of the Alvin Lions Club Holiday Classic Basketball Tournament.

Jordin Canada had 25 points, including three on a half-court heave at the end of the first half, to lead the Windward School to a 58-43 win over Bishop O'Dowd in the championship game of the Oaks Christian Tournament.

UConn will hear one way or the other about where one of its main Class of 2014 recruiting targets will be heading to school by Friday when Recee' Caldwell will be announcing her decision.

According to her father Ray, there won't be any ceremony of hoopla on Friday. Recee' will start letting teams know of her decision Thursday night and it will be announced to the media on Friday.

Ray Caldwell said his daughter wanted to make her decision so she "can just continue to get better."

He said that she has a list of her top three schools but he did not want to go on the record with those schools out of respect to the other schools who have not been notified yet but he did confirm that UConn is among the top three for the 5-foot-8 guard from Johnson High in San Antonio, Tex.

Joining Caldwell on the short list of Class of 2014 prospects at the top of the Huskies' recruiting wish list is Courtney Ekmark out of Phoenix, who is the only high school junior currently committed to the Huskies, Christ the King star Sierra Calhoun, Manvel (Tex.) forward Brianna Turner, Heathwood Hall (S.C.) wing A'ja Wilson and Jordin Canada, a guard out of the Windward School in Los Angeles.

A recruiting source has indicated that UConn coach Geno Auriemma is planning to head out to watch Canada and Turner play the weekend of Dec. 7-9.

UConn made the cut as highly-touted Class of 2014 prospect Brianna Turner of Pearland, Tex. announced her top five schools.

Turmer, a 6-foot-3 junior forward at Manvel (Tex.) High, announced Monday morning that UConn, Stanford, Notre Dame, Baylor and Duke are her top schools.

As a sophomore Turner averaged 20.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 4.7 blocked shots per game to lead Manvel to a 34-3 record. As a freshman she played at Westbury Christian in Houston and averaged 18.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 2.1 steals and 2.3 blocks per game.

There are no lack of entertainment options when you arrive in Texas where the natives boast that everything is bigger here (including the wait for the elevators in the hotel).

If you are a Connecticut women's basketball beat writer and two of UConn's top recruiting targets in the Class of 2014 happen to be playing in tournaments within a half hour of where you are staying, the itinerary includes seeing them in action. So that is exactly what Rich Elliott of the Connecticut Post, Carl Adamec of the Manchester Journal Inquirer and I did yesterday.

We were able to catch the fourth quarter of the Fort Bend ISD tournament semifinal where Recee' Caldwell led her San Antonio Johnson High School team to an easy victory. After interviewing the effervescent Caldwell and making a quick stop for lunch, we headed to the prestigious McDonald's Invitational Tournament to see Brianna Turner power her Manvel (Tex.) team to victory in the third-place game in the Silver Division.


Not so long ago, the state of Texas seemed to be off limits to those entrusted with keeping the UConn women's basketball program's talent quotient among the best - if not the best - in the nation.

Last year the Huskies swooped into the Dallas area and enticed the nation's top-ranked high school point guard to leave the comfort of the Longhorn state.

Could Moriah Jefferson, the first Texas native to suit up for the Huskies, soon have some company.
It is too early to predict whether Caldwell and Turner will follow Jefferson's lead by heading North but it would hardly be a stunning turn of events to see the two top 10 Class of 2014 recruits signing national letter of intents with UConn a year from now.

UConn is certainly practicing its due diligence. UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma was at Turner's game in the McDonald's Invitational Tournament Saturday morning and the UConn coaching staff made their presence known at the Fort Bend ISD Tournament final featuring Caldwell Saturday evening.
Both players have already taken unofficial visits to UConn and each time word is that they returned home even more impressed with everything UConn had to offer than they were before they ventured into New England for one of the first time in their lives.

Caldwell was downright giddy when recalling her initial visit to Storrs, Connecticut late last month.

"It was a really nice visit," Caldwell said after the Fort Bend ISD semifinal win over Hightower. "It wasn't as cold as everybody said it was going to be. It was a really good visit. I talked to Coach Auriemma, I talked to the whole coaching staff, the girls were really cool.

"At official (visits) they can roll out the red carpet for you so you get to see all the great things about it but just an unofficial is just how every day is. I saw practice, I got to see how girls interacted with each other. It was just a regular day; the red carpet wasn't rolled out for me. They didn't have (an itinerary), it was just a regular day.. It was very normal, it was a great practice. I wasn't surprised at the practice, that is what i thought it was going to be but all the girls were chill off the court. I thought it was going to be, you know how UConn is but it was very chill."

Trust me when I tell you that being "very chill" is a very good thing.

Caldwell was beaming from ear to ear when talking about her UConn visit.

Caldwell, however, is not planning to make a commitment before she is 100 percent certain. She made the mistake once when she committed to Baylor only to change her mind and reopen her commitment. Now she is among the prominent names on UConn's wish list for the next recruiting cycle.

Caldwell said she would like to narrow her list to five by the middle of next month before making a decision.
Caldwell has already visited Duke, UCLA, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Christian and nearby Texas-San Antonio as well as UConn. She was also planning to be in attendance at today's UConn/Texas A&M game.

"We are getting closer, we are getting there," Caldwell said. "After my first commitment with Baylor, we are taking it slowly we are not making any mistakes any more. We are kind of there but we are not sure yet, we are open.

"Me and my family have been talking about committing after the high school season so probably mid-December we'll have my list and then we will make our decision after that."
Caldwell said that decommitting from defending national champion Baylor was not as heart wrenching as some might surmise.

"It wasn't that hard," Caldwell said. "I realized I was young, it was my sophomore year and I just came back from Mexico and I thought I already had everything I wanted but you realize, you make mistakes and you move on. In this process you have to be selfish because it is where you are going to be for four years and you have to be in great positions after the one."

Caldwell is a dynamic combo guard with playmaking ability but also tremendous range on her jumper.

So does she prefer playing point guard or being a shooting guard?

"It doesn't matter." Caldwell said. "I think I could score from both positions but I like to pass. I thought my role this game was to get everybody involved."

In this day and age of social media overload, Caldwell is a refreshing throwback. She does not have a Facebook page and only created a Twitter account so coaches can follow her. Caldwell had to hesitate for a moment before recalling her twitter handle.

She is also somebody who quickly mentioned the importance of meeting a big wig from UConn's School of Business during her visit since she intends to be a business major in college.

Turner, who took an unofficial visit to UConn in Match, is another highly-touted prospect who does not appear to be caught up in her own hype.

"I don't like the attention," Turner said after leading her Manvel team to a third-place finish in the McDonald's Silver Bracket. "I would rather stay on the sideline and play my game."

Turner was a member of the U.S. team which won the gold medal at the FIBA U-17 World Championships and returned for her junior season of high school as perhaps the most highly sought after player in her class.
Manvel coach Bryan Harris estimated that between 35-40 Division I programs have come in to check out the multi-faceted 6-foot-3 Turner.

"To be honest with you it has been a circus but I guess it would be better than the alternative," Harris said. "There are a lot of expectations that comes with that and we are trying to fight through those things."
Turner does a little bit of everything for Manvel. She is able to score both inside and out, is a rebounding force, blocks shots at will and even inbounds the ball and helped to bring the ball up the court.

"I just do anything I can to help my team be as successful as we can be whether it is running the floor, posting up, dribbling the ball, getting rebounds," Turner said.

Turner got close to many of the top players in the Class of 2013, many of whom recently made verbal commitments, since they were here teammates on the U.S. U-17 squad. Seeing her teammates and friends make their college decision has made Turner realize how little time there is for her to pick her college.

"That will be me in a year," Turner said. "I will be announcing my verbal (announcement) so I am (thinking) 'oh it is only a year away.' It seems like it was so far but now it is coming up quick. All of my USA team members already have all committed. I just played with these girls two months ago and now they know where they are going for the next four years."

Turner said she isn't likely to commit until after the summer AAU season is over. Turner's father Howard said that his daughter will likely name a top three on Nov. 26.

Brianna Turner is on board with that way of doing business as she said "I am going to take at least three visits."

Harris believes whoever lands Turner will be getting an impact player on the court and a first-class citizen off of it.

"She is the ultimate teammate," Harris said. "I am convinced you are only as good as you make your (teammates), the other four kids and how they respond. Sometimes she feels like she has to take over and she can take over but she makes everybody else around her better. That is what makes her a great teammate, she is very supportive. She is never negative on anything you don't ever see her get frustrated like her coach and some others.

"She is a great kid that does everything. She is a stat producer in everything she does. She is a hard guard, she can play the 1 (point guard) or the 5 (center) and any position. She's a great student, great kid, (has a) great personality, has no enemies and the best thing about her is she has no idea she is that good she is. "

Although we are still about a month away from the start of the girls' basketball season here in the Northeast, that is not the case in Texas.

With the season already underway, I figured I would pass on the fact that UConn Class of 2014 recruiting targets Recee' Caldwell and Brianna Turner led their teams to season-opening wins.

On Monday Caldwell had 13 points as Johnson High in San Antonio defeated city rival John Jay 49-44. On Tuesday, Turner had 14 points as Manvel High kicked off the 2012-13 season with a 75-26 win over Madison.

Changing gears to the current recruiting class, the volleyball career of UConn commit Saniya Chong came to an end last night as her Ossining (N.Y.) team lost to Ursuline 3-2.

Ossining was one game away from advancing to the Section 1 Class A final before Ursuline won game four 25-17 and game five 25-19.

Chong had 20 kills and 10 digs to finish her senior year with 377 kills and 132 digs.

Commitments of top high school seniors are starting to roll in and yet UConn has yet to receive a pledge from one member of the Class of 2013.

UConn recruited Diamond DeShields and Taya Reimer hard but they opted to commit to North Carolina and Notre Dame respectively. The Huskies are known to be recruiting guards Saniya Chong and Linnae Harper and forward Erica McCall.

If UConn doesn't get any commitments that would leave the Huskies with eight players on the team next season. Certainly it would be a special eight players but it would also put the Huskies in the position of having to close out easy victories with at least two starters on the court which could result in a key player getting hurt at the end of a 50-point victory. That is not something the Huskies want to have to deal with.\

When I sat down with Geno Auriemma yesterday (before he headed out on recruiting trips to Chicago and then Atlanta) I asked him if he'd be more open accepting walk ons next season in order to avoid using starters during garbage time and he said he would be but also that they are still working to get to an ideal 12-player roster. That could mean that he knows of a Jacquie Fernandes type of player or players who could join the team next season either on scholarship or as a non-scholarship player (with 11 players on this year's team there are no such concerns).

Auriemma isn't allowed to comment on an specific recruit until they sign letters of intent but looking at the three members of the Class of 2013 on UConn's recruiting radar it is looking more and more like Harper is the longest of long shots to land at UConn. Although attempts to reach her high school coach have been unsuccessful, I've heard that UCLA and Miami are among the teams she is planning to visit. I'm not even sure if Harper will end up visiting UConn and if that is the case she certainly won't be coming to UConn. 

McCall is interesting because she is a California kid who has been accepted at Stanford but UConn is still going after her hard enough to lead me to believe that they like their chances of getting her. Saniya Chong, a New York guard, would be a natural fit both basketball wise and geographically at UConn but don't discount Louisville or even Ohio State in the pursuit of the Ossining High star. The good news is that McCall and Chong are both expected to be in attendance the weekend of Oct. 12-13 when the Huskies host their First Night on Friday night and their first official practice the next morning (with a possible appearance at the UConn/Temple football game). UConn's track record of closing the deal when recruits come to First Night is pretty impressive.

The good news is that this is not the first rodeo for the UConn coaching staff. They knew pretty much from the time they signed the class of Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck and Moriah Jefferson that it would be difficult to follow up with a dynamic class the following year. However, while their rivals have been going hard after top Class of 2013 targets, the UConn coaches have been spending quite a bit of time getting a jump recruiting in the Class of 2014. UConn already has a commitment from Arizona guard Courtney Ekmark and have been out to see Brianna Turner, Recee' Caldwell, A'ja Wilson while Sierra Calhoun and LaJahna Drummer are also in the mix with the Huskies so the feeling is that UConn could end up with a strong class in the Class of 2014 even if the haul from the current recruiting class isn't as large as some people may like.

Thought I would pass on some info on UConn recruiting target Brianna Turner, who is at the very top of the Huskies' recruiting wish list in the Class of 2014.

Turner's father passed on a list of the college coaches who have visited or are planning to visit Manvel High School before Turner leaves in the middle of next week to play in the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championship and it is an impressive list to say the least: Baylor, UConn, LSU, Kentucky, Rutgers, Duke, Texas, A&M, North Carolna, Texas Tech and Houston.

Howard Turner also said they'd like to make it up to Hartford for the Feb. 18 UConn.Baylor game  if their schedules permit that to happen.

Lindsay Allen, Rebecca Greenwell and Diamond DeShields had 13 points each as the United States defeated Spain 75-62 to win the gold medal at the FIBA U-17 World Championships.

Three UConn recruiting targets were members of the undefeated U.S. team. Linnae Harper had six points, six rebounds and two steals, Brianna Turner finished with two points and two rebounds while Erica McCall had two rebounds and a steal.

Turner finished the tournament averaging 8.5 points per game, she was second on the team with a field-goal percentage of 56.9 and also averaged 4 rebounds per game. Harper averaged 7.9 points, 6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and led all players with 34 steals in eight games while McCall averaged 3.8 points and 4 rebounds a game.

Diamond DeShields (14.8 points) and Rebecca Greenwell (11.9) were the only U.S. players to average more than 10 points per game.

DeShields was named the tournamemtn's MVP and Harper was named to all-tournament team.

UConn recruiting target Linnae Harper had 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists and seven steals to lead the United States to an 84-59 win over Canada in the FIBA U-17 World Championship semifinals on Saturday.

UConn targets Brianna Turner (eight points, five rebounds) and Erica McCall (four points, four rebounds) also helped the U.S. pull away from a solid Canadian team.

The U.S. will play Spain for the gold medal tomorrow.

UConn Class of 2014 recruiting target Brianna Turner as well as Rebecca Greenwell and Diamond DeShields had 13 points each as the United States rolled to a 98-28 win over Mali to finish pool play undefeated.

UConn Class of 2013 recruiting target Erica McCall added nine points and nine rebounds for the U.S. which won Group A and will play Australia, the fourth-place team in Group B, in Friday's quarterfinals.

UConn Class of 2013 recruiting target Linnae Harper had seven steals to go with seven points, four rebounds and four assists and helped keep the leading scorer in the tournament in check as the United States defeated Belgium 80-50 in the FIBA U-17 World Championship for Women on Tuesday.

Belgium's Hind Ken Abdelkader came into the game averaging 21 points per game but she finished with just seven points on 2 of 24 shooting including going 1 of 14 from 3-point range.

UConn Class of 2014 recruiting target Brianna Turner had eight points, three rebounds and four steals as the U.S. improved to 4-0 in pool play.

Rebecca Greenwell led three U.S. players in double figures with 17 points while former UConn recruiting target Diamond DeShields had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The U.S. wraps up preliminary round play tomorrow against winless Mali. The U.S. will be the top seed out of Group A for the quarterfinals and play the No. 4 team in Group B which at the current time is Australia.

UConn recruiting targets Linnae Harper and Brianna Turner had 11 points each to lead the United States to an 83-43 win over Italy in pool play at the FIBA U-17 World Championships in Amsterdam.

Five different players scored in double figures led by Rebecca Greenwell's 16 points as the U.S. improved to 3-0 in Group A. The U.S. will face Belgium on Tuesday before wrapping up pool play against winless Mali on Wednesday.

Former UConn recruiting target Diamond DeShields had 29 points as the United States rolled to an 86-47 win over Canada in the FIBA U17 World Championships. UConn targets Linnae Harper (four points, three rebounds, two steals), Erica McCall (five points, six rebounds, two steals) and Brianna Turner (four points, three rebounds) helped the U.S. improve to 2-0 in pool play. The U.S. will face fellow undefeated teams Italy on Sunday and Belgium on Tuesday before wrapping up play in Group A against Mali on Wednesday.

Becca Greenwell had 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and UConn Class of 2014 recruiting target  Brianna Turner added 20 points and 10 rebounds as the United States opened up the FIBA U17 World Championships with a 131-89 win over Korea.

UConn Class of 2013 recruiting targets Linnae Harper (9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals) and Erica McCall (7 points and 4 rebounds) contributed to the victory and helped the U.S. shoot 65 percent from the field and outrebound Korea 64-25.

With the UConn-dominated United States squad successfully winning the Olympic title for the fifth straight time it's now time to take a look to the future.

We won't have to wait long. The U.S. Under-17 team, which includes UConn recruiting targets Linnae Harper, Erica McCall and Brianna Turner, recently won three international friendlies in preparation for the FIBA U-17 World Championships which kicks off with six games on Friday in Amsterdam.

UConn freshmen Moriah Jefferson, Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck headed to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. over the weekend for a U-18 training camp. They are members of the U.S. team which will play in the FIBA Americas U18 Championships. The U.S. kicks off play in the tournament on Wednesday against the Dominican Republic in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

UConn rising junior guard Bria Hartley will head to Colorado Springs on Friday for final preparations before heading to Athens, Greece for the inaugural FIBA 3x3 World Championship which begins on Aug. 23.

Class of 2014 UConn recruiting target Brianna Turner had 16 points and five rebounds as the U.S. U-17 squad beat their Brazilian counterparts 80-34 in an international friendly on Friday in Caorle, Italy.

Notre Dame commit and former UConn recruiting target Taya Reimer led the U.S. with 17 points while UConn Class of 2013 targets Erica McCall (2 points, 2 rebounds, 4 blocked shots) and Linnae Harper (2 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals) helped the U.S. to the easy win.

It was the first of three exhibition games for the U.S. in preparation for the FIBA U17 World Championships as games against Australia and Italy are planned for Saturday and Sunday respectively.

The U.S. opens play in the World Championships against South Korea on Aug. 17.

UConn recruiting targets Erica McCall and Brianna Turner, former recruiting target Diamond DeShields and Allisha Gray were named to the U.S. team which will be competing in the FIBA U-18 3x3 World Championship in Seville, Spain from Sep. 27-30.

McCall, Turner and DeShields are also members of the U.S. U-17 team which will begin a training camp in Colorado Springs on Wednesday while Gray is a member of the U-18 which will be training in Colorado Springs beginning on Friday.