Chiney Ogwumike has been down the road that Breanna Stewart is about to embark on.

Back in mid December, 2013 the Connecticut Sun won the WNBA Draft lottery and it was a foregone conclusion that the Sun would be selecting the Stanford All-American with the top pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft.

In a week and a half the most recent lottery will be conducted at ESPN with the winner almost certainly will make Stewart the fifth UConn product (joining Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles and Maya Moore) to be taken first overall. Yet, Stewart has an entire season left to play at UConn as she attempts to lead the Huskies to an unprecedented fourth consecutive national title.

Whether Seattle, San Antonio, Connecticut or Atlanta gets the No. 1 pick, her WNBA home will be a popular topic in the interview sessions with the media. I caught up with Ogwumike before yesterday's Connecticut season finale and asked her what advice she would give to Stewart.

"I think she should just enjoy the moment," Ogwumike said. "Senior year is the best year because you know all your academic work, just stay in control of that. Just enjoy your coach, your teammates, your friends, your family and let everything be a memory, every game being something you hold in the back of your mind. College is different from the pros, that camaraderie, loyalty you have with each other, it is different when you get to the next level. She knows who she is and just embrace that, there's a lot of pressure and expectation but she has already put herself in position to be great with her life so she should be herself and enjoy the moment."

Ogwumike believes Stewart, who she has gotten to know through USA Basketball circles, is well suited to deal with the extra attention.

"Obviously somebody is handling it for her, (UConn women's basketball coach) Geno (Auriemma), so just enjoy it," Ogwumike said. "If she is enjoying it and having fun, she is going to play amazing. It's going to be amzing, you will have her coming into the WNBA, you will have Diana (Taurasi) back, Skylar (Diggins) back so there will be a lot of talk, it will be some exciting times."
Ogwumike will welcome any of the Sun's draft picks to the team but she admits that bringing in somebody like Stewart would make for a magical environment at Mohegan Sun Arena.

"She is a remarkable talent, she is a chill, cool person and my whole thing, playing with her would be cool because of what it would do for this, this place (Mohegan Sun Arena) would be on fire," Ogwumike said. "At the same time, I know UConn players and Connecticut have a different history so I want what's best for her but at the same time, I am selfish and this place would be on fire. It would be really exciting."

The lottery will be held on Sept. 24. Seattle and San Antonio met last night with the loser of that game earning the best odds of getting the top pick. San Antonio on 59-58 so Seattle has a 44.2 percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick, San Antonio (26.6 percent), Connecticut (17.8) and Atlanta (10.4) are the other teams with a shot at landing Stewart.

STOKES IN SELECT COMPANY
With the regular season now in the books, I figured I would check in and see where Kiah Stokes' numbers stacked up.

Well, Stokes averaged 10.2 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots per 40 minutes. She is the first rookie to average at least 10 rebounds and 3 blocks per 40 minutes since LaToya Sanders put up marks of 10.8 rebounds and 4.7 blocked shots per 40 minutes with Phoenix in 2008.

While the big news in the world of Connecticut women's basketball was that Chiney Ogwumike of the Connecticut Sun was named the WNBA's Rookie of the Year, it should also be noted that former UConn guard Bria Hartley was named to the all-rookie team along with Ogwumike, Odyssey Sims, Kayla McBride and Alyssa Thomas.

Hartley, who averaged 9.7 points and 3.1 assists as a rookie with the Washington Mystics, finished fourth in the all-rookie team voting with nine votes (Ogwumike, Sims and McBride each were named on 11 ballots).

The WNBA announced that Chiney Ogwumike, the leading scorer and rebounder for the Connecticut Sun, and her sister Nneka of the Los Angeles Sparks were named recipients of the July WNBA Cares Community Assist Award.

Here is the release from the WNBA

Chiney and Nneka’s parents are originally from Nigeria, and the family maintains deep ties to the country.  The sisters teamed up with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to launch a fundraising competition which helps raise funds to support UNICEF programs, such as the Girls’ Education Project, that focuses on education and empowerment for young women in Nigeria.  The Girls’ Education Project aims to give one million girls in Nigeria access to quality learning, provide scholarships for female teachers and establish safe spaces for girls.  The goal of the competition is to engage middle school, high school and AAU basketball teams across the country.  Competition participants can enter as a team or individually by logging on to Chiney and Nneka’s fundraising page: www.crowdrise.com/nnekaandchiney.  Winners of the competition will receive a private basketball clinic with the Ogwumike sisters.

They also recently hosted a basketball clinic for local athletes at St. Bernard’s High School in Uncasville and educated the group about the Girls’ Education Project.  The clinic included basketball drills and friendly competition, with the sisters serving as team captains.

"We've always wanted to make a difference, and our Nigerian culture is a huge part of who we are," said Chiney Ogwumike.  “Basketball has empowered us to educate people about this cause – that’s a lot bigger than what we do on the court.”

“These girls have a right to an education and to live without fear,” said Nneka Ogwumike.  "We hope that by making others aware of the situation in Nigeria that it will help make a difference in these girls’ lives.”

In recognition of their efforts, the WNBA and State Farm will donate $7,500 to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.   The WNBA Community Assist Award presented by State Farm is awarded monthly during the season to the player that best reflects the WNBA’s passion to make a difference in the community.  Please visit wnba.com/statefarmcommunityassist for more information on the award and its recipients.

Over the years I have blogged about the incredible amount of success UConn players have enjoyed in the WNBA.

There's been plenty of document including the seven future No. 1 draft picks on the 2000-01 UConn team and the fact that all five starters on the 2001-02 team would be taken in the first round with four of them being members of the gold-medal winning 2012 U.S. Olympic team.

However, not even at UConn can they match what is about to occur tomorrow at Mohegan Sun Arena. When the Connecticut Sun host the Los Angeles Sparks, not only will there be three from Cy-Fair High School stars on the court but all three were No. 1 overall WNBA picks. Amazingly, that is the second time one high school can lay claim to three No. 1 overall picks as Christ the King grads Chamique Holdsclaw, Sue Bird and Tina Charles were taken first in the 1999, 2002 and 2008 drafts but they never shared the court in a regular-season game.

It started with Lindsey Harding back in 2007. Five years later Nneka Ogwumike was taken with the top pick and of course the Connecticut Sun made Chiney Ogwumike the No. 1 overall pick this year.

Chiney Ogwumike leads the Sun in scoring (15.3), rebounding (8.5) and blocks (1.3) Nneka Ogwumike is averaging a team-leading 7.7 rebounds per game while she is second on the team in scoring (14.9) for Los Angeles. Harding is second on the Sparks in assists (3.8) while averaging 7.3 points per game.

"That is crazy," Chiney Ogwumike said, "They said (on draft day) that was the third No. 1 pick from Cy-Fair and I said 'who?' They said 'Lindsey Harding' so I guess Cy-Fair is pumping things out, Coach Bique (Ann Robique) knows how to train basketball players. I knew Lindsey, she came back when I was there and I was able to talk to her throughout the recruiting process, our families know each other so we are good friends. I think it is one of those things that it is a sisterhood of basketball and it is cool. We looked up to them because we knew what they could do, they played at a state championship level."

In their final season together at Cy-Fair Nneka and Chiney were the only double-digit scorers and top two rebounders as Cy-Fair won its final 37 games en route to winning the Texas 5A state title.

"We take a lot of pride, we thank Cy-Fair for being who we are," Nneka Ogwumike said. "They are really supportive and we got back as often as we can, we revisit the memories and the people who are still there who really brought us up skill wise and also character wise off the court, it is truly a blessing to be able to go to a school like that and also be successful but I think for three No. 1 picks to come out of one high school is unheard of."

So what's going to happen when the two sisters square off tomorrow?

"I think we are just going to forget everything and just play," Nneka Ogwumike said. "Chiney and I, as complicated as it may seem when we are facing each other on the court, at the end of the day we are just going to release everything and let it all out on the court and be competitive like we truly are."

The 1 p.m. game is the first of two games between the teams as they will meet in Los Angeles on Aug. 3.

A wide-eyed Chiney Ogwumike had yet to take the court as a member of the Connecticut Sun when she was part of a talented group of WNBA newcomers being addressed by Sun head coach Anne Donovan and her coaching staff.

"During rookie orientation I was lucky because Coach Donovan, Coach Steve (Key), Coach Jen (Gillom) were featured speakers of orientation and they told all the rookies to really make an attempt to go to your graduation because you will play many games but you will only have one graduation," Ogwumike said before Tuesday's game against Indiana. When she said that I said 'hey Coach I am going to hold you to it.'"

Donovan was not just engaging in idle chatter. With Stanford's graduation falling on that same day that the Sun hosted the New York Liberty, she gave Ogwumike her full blessing to attend the graduation ceremonies even though it meant she would miss her first game as a pro.

"She is obviously a woman of her word," Ogwumike said. "She thinks that at Stanford that is one thing you can't miss. There will be plenty of games but only one graduation from Stanford. Whole family was there, Nneka (Chiney's sister and star forward with the Los Angeles Sparks) flew in that day and flew out that night so it was special. We had a couple of hours together as a family which was rare."

Ogwumike not only became Stanford's career leader in scoring and rebounding but she was a decorated student-athlete who was recently named the Pac-12 Conference's Woman of the Year making her a candidate for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.

Chiney attended her sister's graduation from Stanford two years ago but this time it was a little different for her.

"I have always been a cheerleader for Nneka when she did things first and now she played cheerleader for me which is nice to see because she was a trailblazer in that aspect," Ogwumike said. "It was cool to have my family just as excited for me and it was even more special because Bill and Melinda Gates were there, my family got to see them and also (former U.S. Secretary of State) Condoleeza Rice was there and she was warm and welcoming as always. It was a special moment, I worked so hard at Stanford and it came to fruition. She gave me purpose and a drive within the (international relations) major and it has been a perfect major for me. It has opened my horizons, allowed me to do what I want to do and know who I am so I really credit her a lot for defining my Stanford experience. If that was my last memory as a finishing student I think it was a perfect memory."

The fact that Sun playing not only without its leading scorer but also without injured guard Allison Hightower was able to beat New York 76-72 for its fourth straight win made the day all the more special.

"It was a case of everybody stepping up," Donovan said. "I really like the chemistry that is building on the floor and off the floor. We are starting to get to know how to play with each other and off of each other and that was definitely the case."

Chiney relied on her sister to provide her with scoring updates even as she prepared to graduate.

"Nneka was updating me throughout because I didn't have my phone on me all the time,' Ogwumike said. "We have something special going riht now and we can't take it for granted. I know our strength as a team was our depth so I knew we wouldn't miss a beat no matter who was out there. We played without Kelsey Griffin, we played with Allie (Hightower), playing without me, it doesn't matter who was missing it is about who is on the court at that moment. I think that energy we bring is why we have found that success. I had no worries and after that it was great because I think we are building something really special."

Chiney Ogwumike, the leading scorer and rebounder on the Connecticut Sun, has been named the Pac-12 Conference's Woman of the Year making her eligible for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.

Here is the release

Stanford University’s Chiney Ogwumike has been selected the Pac-12 Conference Woman of the Year for the 2013-14 academic year, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott announced today. Ogwumike becomes the Conference’s candidate for the NCAA Woman of the Year, presented annually to graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, community service and leadership.

The Pac-12 is also submitting Alyssa Hasslen, a track and field standout from the University of Arizona, for a second nomination for NCAA Woman of the Year.

Ogwumike was the third player in Pdac-12 history and second in Stanford history to be selected No. 1 in the WNBA Draft in the spring. Her selection as the top overall draft pick, along with her sister Nnemkadi Ogwumike’s No. 1 draft pick, made the pair only the second set of siblings in a major American professional draft to be selected the top picks, joining the ranks of Eli and Payton Manning.

A consensus national player of the year finalist, Chiney Ogwumike was the John R. Wooden Award winner becoming the first Stanford and Pac-12 player to win the honor. She was a three-time Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-American and twice was a consensus All-American. A two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year and three-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, she led the Cardinal to four-consecutive Pac-12 regular-season titles and three Conference tournament crowns. The only player in the country to rank in the top-10 in the nation in points (26.1), rebounds (12.1), shooting percentage (60.1) and double-doubles (27), she is the Conference’s all-time scoring (2,737) and rebounding (1,567) leader, while also establishing the league’s single-season scoring record (967 points) in 2013-14. Ogwumike led Stanford to a third NCAA Women’s Final Four appearance in her four years on the Farm. The 2011 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and a four-time all-Conference selection, Ogwumike also holds the record for the most-career player of the week honors with 18, earning half those recognitions during her senior campaign. On the NCAA level, Ogwumike’s rebounding and scoring totals rank fifth and 25th, respectively, all-time.

An international relations major graduating with a 3.46 grade point average, Ogwumike has also received recognition for her outstanding performance in the classroom and in the community. This year, she was voted the Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year, becoming only the sixth Stanford recipient since 1990. She was the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Pac-12 All-Academic honoree and was named to the Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-America team for the second time in her career.

A two-time women’s basketball team captain, Ogwumike has also been a role model off the court. She was a member of the Cardinal Council (Stanford’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee), serving as the co-chair of the social committee which organized events to raise funds for Camp Kesem, a program that assists with children whose parents have been affected by cancer. She volunteered her time with several children’s organizations, including spending time at local elementary schools and children’s hospitals, while also assisting at various youth basketball camps.

Ogwumike also wrote lyrics and performed two music videos galvanizing the student-athlete community and promoting Stanford’s “Nerd Nation” movement. She also had a pair of internships, one of which led her oversees to intern with the Nigerian Ministry of Petroleum and participating with “Access to Success” which conducted basketball camps to help raise $30,000 to build a court for underprivileged youth in Nigeria.

Ogwumike was also recently awarded Stanford’s Sterling Award for outstanding service to the Stanford community, presented by the Stanford Alumni Association.

Hasslen was a four-time indoor and outdoor track & field athlete at Arizona, competing in the shot put and discus, and was an All-American. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of science degree, double majoring in retailing and consumer sciences and family studies and human development.

Ogwumike is the ninth student-athlete to be named Pac-12 Woman of the Year. Previous winners were: Brigetta Barrett, ARIZ (2013); Hilary Bach, ASU (2012); Annie Chandler, ARIZ (2011); Justine Schluntz, ARIZ (2010); Lacey Nymeyer, ARIZ (2009); Arianna Lambie, STAN (2008); Whitney Myers, ARIZ (2007); Kate Richardson, UCLA (2006). Barrett is the fifth Wildcat to earn the honor. Four from the Conference have won the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year honor.

The top 30 honorees, 10 from each NCAA division, will be announced in early September. The NCAA Woman of the Year is announced in October.

Also, Chiney and her sister Nneka of the Los Angeles Sparks have created a competition to raise funds to provide broader educational opportunities in Nigeria, where both of their parents were raised.

Among the many endearing qualities of No. 1 WNBA Draft pick Chiney Ogwumike is the fact that she calls her mom Ify before every game that she plays. So what better time to examine the strong bond Chiney has with her mom than on Mother's Day.

"I have to, if not my mom will go crazy," Ogwumike said after Saturday's practice. "Before I walk into the gym for every game I have to be on the phone with my mom, usually I am pulling up into the gym or walking into the gym depending on the timing. I talk to her and she wishes me good luck. I think she does that because she knows Nneka was in China, she was in Poland and she wants to make sure we have somebody watching up everywhere we go. It is not like I take it too sentimental but it is nice to know I have somebody out there, even though they aren't there they are watching me.

"My mom, she has been a really instrumental figure in all of our lives because my dad works all the time in Nigeria and she's had to hold down the fort with four girls. We grew up in the school because that is where she worked and also taught us the importance of academics. Just having that solid foundation has really helped up realize that education is important and doing things the right way , that is what our mom brought to us."

It was a pretty uneventful day at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Oh, other than the fact that Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley will remain teammates at the pro level and Tina Charles' run with the Connecticut Sun ended after four seasons.

Dolson's day was probably the only one that was anything close to normal. She was picked by Washington with the sixth overall pick and then Hartley went a few minutes later to Seattle with the seventh pick. However, Hartley wasn't staying with the guard-heavy Storm for very long and she was shipped along with Tianna Hawkins to Washington for perennial All-Star forward Crystal Langhorne.

“I think we are really excited to be able to go through this process with her and now we are going to go in and be rookies together,” Hartley said shortly after finding out she was part of a trade that send All-Star forward Crystal Langhorne to Seattle. “It is a dream come true moment.”

Dolson wasn't in the room when Hartley was drafted but the crowd's reaction made it obvious who went with the seventh pick.

“I was in the hallway and I heard the uproar and I said 'it had to be Bria.'” Dolson said.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma believes Dolson will be a good fit with Washington.“They certainly have had their experiences of working with post players,” Auriemma said. “Mike did a great job with Tina and I think Stefanie brings a lot to any organization. He has a certainly style of play that I think taps into Stefanie’s skills and she is going to be phenomenal pro.”

There were rumblings of some transactions taking place on draft day. With all due respect to Langhorne, word of the block buster came before the first pick was announced with Charles being shipped to New York in exchange for the fourth overall pick, used to select Maryland's Alyssa Thomas, a No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft and Kelsey Bone, taken in the first round in 2013 by New York.

The Sun hierarchy did not hold back in making it clear that this trade was Charles' doing.

“It is so disappointing but we have to move on as an organization,” Connecticut Sun general manager Chris Sienko.

“Two weeks ago was when we heard that she was not going to play. She said through her agent, if (she was) not traded she would sit out. We were expecting her to be here, she knew we were selecting Chiney and they would be a lethal duo but we moved on, that is our job as an organization. We are not going to be held hostage by anyone or anybody and we are going to do what is best for our organization. New York stepped up to be able to get her.”

Then there is this from Sun head coach Anne Donovan.

“We had hoped Tina would want to be a part of our future with KT (Katie Douglas) and we were so looking forward hoping that Tina would be a part of that,” Connecticut Sun coach Anne Donovan said. “As time went on, we had no indication until late March that this was going to go down and Tina would not play here. As it stands I think we got really good value out of the trade. We were not the driver of that trade. Tina and New York were the ones who were in the drivers’ seat for that trade.

“I am disappointed but truthfully you just have to have people who are committed to winning and want to be here. Tina did not want to be in Connecticut, she made it clear so moving forward we will have played here who want to be here, will put it out on the line night in and night out. I think all of that is going to translate into a really good team.”

Chiney Ogwumike, taken by the Sun with the No. 1 overall pick, couldn't contain her excitement at being part of the new-look Connecticut Sun.

“I am excited to come in play hard and play,” Ogwumike said. “I just want to play, that is one thing that losing in the Final Four has made me realize I want to get back out there as fast as possible, redemption I guess you can say. I lost to Connecticut and I am going to be in Connecticut.”

When the Sun began the 2013 season, they were coming off a trip to the playoffs with the team built around the all-star duo of Charles and Kara Lawson. Lawson was part of a three-team trade with her landing in Washington and former first-round pick Alex Bentley coming to the Sun. Asjha Jones will miss the season with a torn Achilles which led to the drafting of Ogwumike to play that position. The Sun also signed perennial All-Star wing Katie Douglas, a star on some of the Sun’s great teams, away from Indiana. The Sun also engineered a trade with Los Angeles to get the 11th overall pick for Sandrine Gruda, another player with little desire to play in Connecticut. With that pick the Sun took Duke’s Chelsea Gray, who is expected to miss the upcoming season due to a knee injury she suffered as a senior.

Sienko said that Spanish star Alba Torrens, whose rights are owned by the Sun, is focused on the FIBA World Championships but he is hopeful that she will come over to the WNBA in 2015.

Obviously the games against New York and Washington at Mohegan Sun could have a little extra juice to them this year. Connecticut hosts the Liberty in the preseason and regular-season openers on May 4 and 16 while the first Connecticut/Washington game is June 5 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The WNBA is one of the few professional leagues where there is no chance for the top prospects to work out for pro scouts. There has been something resembling a combine at previous Final Fours but it typically is for players who are borderline prospects at best.

Well, this year the WNBA teams should have a better sense about the top players since four of them got to compete with and against current WNBA stars during the U.S. national team training camp back in September.

UConn's Stefanie Dolson, Notre Dame's Kayla McBride, Baylor's Odyssey Sims and Maryland's Alyssa Thomas joined UConn underclassmen Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Breanna Stewart as the active college players able to go through drills with Tamika Catchings, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles and other current WNBA stars.

On a recent pre-draft conference call, I asked Dolson and McBride about the impact of taking part in the national team training camp.

"For me it was definitely an eye-opening experience being able to play with all those women at the USA trials," Dolson said.  "I realized that I need to get stronger obviously down in the post, get more physical. That way I'm better at rebounding the ball because obviously being in the league it will be older women who are stronger than most girls in college. 

"I definitely have to work on my strength, work on my quickness.  At the trials, there were a lot of players that could drive right by me.  Doesn't happen a lot in college. 

"There's definitely some things I need to work on."

Here are McBride's thoughts.

 

"I think it was just humbling. You look at all those great players, that's what you strive to be. It was a great experience. 

"It's a whole different level of play.  Tamika (Catchings), watching how hard she plays the entire game, that's how it is every single game. It's bringing that intensity to a whole other level." 

The draft begins tonight shortly after 8 p.m. with the first round airing on ESPN2. The second and third rounds will be shown on ESPNU. The Connecticut Sun will pick first and the feeling is that Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike will be the first player of the board.

UConn senior guard Kelly Faris is one of three finalists for the WBCA Defensive Player of the Year award.

Faris, who leads UConn with 91 steals, is given the defensive assignment on the opposing team's top player and is the leader of a team which leads the country in field-goal percentage defense and is third in scoring defense.

The other finalists are Baylor center Brittney Griner and Chiney Ogwumike of Stanford. The winner will be announced on Monday at the WBCA Awards Show in New Orleans.

In her typical self-effacing manner, UConn junior center Stefanie Dolson put the emphasis on the word "little" when comparing Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike speed and athleticism to her own. Without missing a beat, UConn coach Geno Auriemma leaned over towards Dolson in the post-game press conference and held his thumb and forefinger a fraction of an inch apart.

Yet, here was Dolson not only being assigned to cover the dynamic Ogwumike but playing a starring role in holding Ogwumike to 6 of 22 shooting in UConn's victory over No. 1 Stanford.

Two years ago foul trouble limited Dolson to play 17 minutes in a loss in UConn's last trip to Maples Pavilion. However, Dolson stood strong in the lane against Ogwumike and managed to play physical defense without being so physical that she was dealing with foul trouble once again.

"There is no way she would be able to accomplish today what she accomplished two years ago," Auriemma said. "It is 180 degree difference between two years ago here and to today. It is a credit to Stefanie, how much time she has put in and it means to her to be able to do what she did today.

"You are thrilled that she could stay in the game and the whole time she is in the game she is effective. Two years ago when she wasn't in the game we weren't as good of a team. When she was getting into foul trouble we were never as good as we thought we could do but her conditioning is so much better, her knowledge of the game is so much better, she doesn't get herself into bad spots and she makes so many good plays for us that people don't see because they don't show up in the box score all the time. To play against Chiney and to come out here and play the way she did and handle herself the way she did in that many minutes I think that say a lot about her. I hope everybody noticed the impact that she had on the game."

Dolson finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds, which is one more than Ogwumike managed to secure.

Marisa Moseley, who is Dolson's position coach, drew the assignment of scouting Stanford and shortly after the team landed in Calfornia after being given a few days off to go home for the holidays, the plan was put into place to have Dolson get the first crack at slowing down Ogwumike. Dolson was thrilled that her coaches had enough confidence in her to draw the task of shadowing the Stanford star.

"We knew coming into the game that they are a great offensive team and Chiney is an All-American for a reason so we knew we were going to have to tighten up our defense, play our best defensive game," Dolson said. "I think we all came out with a great defensive mentality of buckling down and keeping girls in front of us, not letting them get a lot of 3's and not letting them getting a lot of shots. I think we did a pretty good job with.

"CD (associate head coach Chris Dailey) and Ris (Moseley) definitely emphasized what Chiney is good at and what she is going to do on the court so I just had a lot of information going into the game. I was able to execute on defense, keep her in front of me. She is definitely a little quicker than me but I was able to read what she was going to do."

Dolson put in extra time in the offseason working out harder than she ever has before and also refined her diet all in the name of being in the best shape possible so she could become the reliable force in the middle on both offense and defense for the Huskies.

"Two years ago I don't know if I could have done what I did out there and the team, it feels good to know what I did paid off and I was able to help my team individually which was able to help our team," Dolson said.

Dolson was an emotional wreck after the loss to Stanford two years ago as she felt her inability to stay on the court was too much for her teammates to overcome. Her emotions were significantly more upbeat following Saturday's game.

"It was completely opposite," Dolson said. "Obviously two years ago we lost, it ended our streak and it was a horrible loss. For us to come out here and play as well as we did and play Connecticut basketball, play hard and out work them and it was a great feeling."

The greatest compliment given to Dolson probably came from teammate Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis.

"There is a huge change in her. I played with her when she was 16 and she was Big Stef. Now she is littlier Stef," Mosqueda-Lewis said with a laugh. "She has progressed a lot and turned into the best post in the country I think. She is setting a higher standard for herself and she has put our team on our back."

Now the people down in Baylor might beg to differ with Mosqueda-Lewis on who is the nation's top post player but there was no doubting the role Dolson played in helping Stanford set program lows for field goals and field-goal percentage in a game.

Shortly after receiving an invite from USA Basketball to take part in the inaugural FIBA 3x3 World Championships, Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike the noises began to rattle her cell phone.

Among the first people to reach out to Ogwumike was her soon to be teammate Bria Hartley, who will be across the court from her this afternoon in the anticipated No. 1/No. 2 matchup between Ogwumike's and the Cardinal and Hartley's Huskies.


"Bria Hartley is one of my closest friends in life," Ogwumike said. "We started out knowing each other in the AAU circuit. We traveled in the same AAU circuits, you see the same players and you end up seeing the same teams later on in the tournaments. We had rivalries but friendly rivalries when it came down to us getting recruited and talking about it as girls do 'oh, I don't know where we are going to go to school.'

"When it came to USA Basketball Bria has always been in my age group and I always competed with her except in the World University Games. We had so much fun with summer. Bria is a battler and it was a unique experience. The best ting is that our friendship allowed us to pursue that experience. The first thing when we got invited by Coach Carol (Callan), Bria was texting me saying did you hear we are doing 'no crowds just go out and play, woah this sounds like a great opportunity.'"

USA Basketball hand picked a team of Hartley, Ogwumike, Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins and Alyssa Thomas of Maryland to compete in a tournament to pick the U.S. team playing for the world title. As expected, the quartet rolled to xxx victories to win the tournament.

When the team returned to Colorado Springs for final preparations, mononucleosis kept Thomas from making the trip to Athens for the tournament so she was replaced by former UConn star Ann Strother.

After winning the first seven games by an average of 12.7 points per game, the U.S. had to fight hard to outlast Australia in the semifinals and France in the gold-medal match. The two one-point victories allowed Hartley and Ogwumike to return home with gold medals.

Before the game perhaps the two will share a quick hug and a few words but once the game starts, they will be all business.


"We go out there and we are trying to win but off the court we are really friendly," Hartley said. "We still talk a lot but when we are on the court we focus on trying to win the game."

Ogwumike concurs with Hartley on that matter.

"we are frenemies, we are best frenemies," Ogwumike said. "We are best friends when we compete for USA Basketball but we are enemies when it comes to December 29."

BIG GAME FOR CHONG
UConn signee Saniya Chong followed up a 23-point effort in the first half by adding another 23 in the second half to lead her Ossining (N.Y.) team to an 80-70 win over St. Anthony's in the semifinals of the Slam Dunk Tournament at the Westchester County Center on Friday.

The 46-point effort propelled Ossining into Sunday's championship game against Irvington. The 5-foot-9 guard had five 3-pointers and was 18 of 18 from the free-throw line and also had nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

Also coming up on Ossining's schedule is a home game against Christ the King on Jan. 4 at 4:30 p.m. Christ the King is led by UConn recruiting target Sierra Calhoun.

When I spoke to Ossining coach Dan Ricci at Chong's letter of intent signing ceremony, he said they were planning to come down for the Jan. 5 UConn/Notre Dame game.

UConn recruiting target Jordin Canada had 13 points to lead her Windward School team to a big win against Long Beach Poly 49-38 in the semifinals of the Oaks Christian Tournament. Next up is tonight's championship game against defending CIF Division IV champion Bishop O'Dowd out of Oakland.

Fellow Class of 2014 UConn recruiting target Brianna Turner had a pair of 20-point games in the Alvin Lions Tournament on Friday.

Turner had 25 points, nine rebounds, two assists, three steals and five blocked shots in a 91-29 win over Lamar and had 23 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots as Manvel beat Fort Bend Hightower 83-46.

Next up is a game against Channelview tonight in the championship game.

Baylor senior center Brittney Griner joined former UConn star Maya Moore and former Duke standout Alana Beard as the only players to be two-time unanimous picks to the Associated Press' preseason women's Division I All-American team.

Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins and Delaware's Elena Delle Donne were also unanimous picks. Maryland's Alyssa Thomas, Sranford's Chiney Ogwumike and Odyssey Sims of Baylor complete the six-member squad.

UConn junior All-American guard Bria Hartley and sophomore guard/forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis were among 11 other players to receive votes.

UConn junior guard Bria Hartley and former UConn star Ann Strother were members of the United States team which eked out one-point wins over Australia in the semifinals and France in the championship game at the FIBA 3x3 World Championships.

Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins of Notre Dame were the other team members for the U.S. team which finished undefeated in the tournament.

Hartley tied the gold-medal match with a two-point shot to tie the game at 13 and hit the next two baskets as well. Hartley assisted on a Ogwumike basket which ended up being the winning margin.

 Here are quotes from Hartley and Strother courtesy of USA Basketball.

BRIA HARTLEY
You won a FIBA U19 World Championship and now a FIBA 3x3 World Championship. How does it feel to be a two-time world champion?
It feels good. The feeling doesn’t change. The 3x3 is new to me, and new to a lot of us, to come out here and win that, especially in that game, it was really close and a tough game coming back from down 7-2. I think it was all about pride. I remember being on the court and being like, ‘Guys, we’ve got to win this,’ and we turned it around.

Your team got down early, but you never gave up. What does that say about your team?
We’re players that are competitive. Skylar, I’ve been playing against her plenty of times, and Chiney, we’re just really competitive. This entire trip, there are only four of us. We all became really close being together all that time on the court. We were able to talk to each other and tell each other what we need to do. I think we knew we had to buckle down, and we looked each other in the eye and said, ‘Let’s go, let’s turn this around, let’s step up defensively.’ That’s what we did and we picked it up on offense as well.

What did you learn at the 3x3s that can help your game this year at Connecticut?
Definitely half-court stuff, getting to the basket. I think this game is a lot more physical because of how you have to finish around the rim. I think this will help when I go back to play at UConn.

What will you remember most about this experience?
I think that this is the first-ever 3x3 World Championship. To be the first-ever world champions, not only for the USA, but the first-ever for any country, I think says a lot and is something to remember as you get old.

ANN STROTHER
You won a bronze medal at the 2001 FIBA U19 World Championship and a silver medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. Now you have a FIBA 3x3 World Championship gold medal. How did it feel to stand on top of the podium with the gold medal around your neck?
It feels great. It feels like it finally ended the way it was supposed to. It’s been great to be here and play with these guys and win a gold medal with USA Basketball.

You had to fight through both games today, does that make the gold medal sweeter?
Absolutely, I think when you’re in a situation where you really have to fight for it, it makes it even sweeter. I think it would have been a letdown had it been too easy. France was tough, Australia was tough, and really every team competed and played hard. It definitely made it sweeter.

Your team got down early today, but you never gave up. What does that say about your team?
They’re incredible competitors. I think at 7-2, in a game like this, you can come back as easily as hitting two (two-pointers).  You can’t ever get down, there’s not time to think about being down, or worry about the score. It was fast and fun and great.

What will you remember most about this experience?
All of it, really. The gold medal definitely stands out. For me, I feel like I haven’t been able to play at this level and with players that are this good for a while. It was so much fun to be playing at this level again. Maybe this is the last time I step on the court in this competitive atmosphere, and to end with a gold medal in the World Championship, I don’t think it gets much sweeter than that.

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.

In addition to speaking with UConn incoming freshmen Stefanie Dolson, Bria Hartley and Samarie Walker, I chatted with former UConn recruiting target Chiney Ogwumike about her decision to commit to Stanford over UConn.

Even all these months later Chiney Ogwumike still gets a tad bit melancholy when she remembers placing that call to UConn coach Geno Auriemma.

The winner of the Morgan Wootten Award as the McDonald's national high school player of the year, Ogwumike thought long and hard about spending the next four years of her life at UConn. But in the end, the academic credentials that Stanford brought to the table was simply too much for the 6-foot-3 forward from Cypress, Tex. to overlook.

"It was extremely difficult because I fell in love with Coach Auriemma, I fell in the love with the mentality of the team and the way they play basketball," said Ogwumike, who will join her older sister Nneka at Stanford in the fall. "It was tough but I knew what I had to do did not have to be just about basketball, it was what I worked for athletically and academically and I felt like I could best achieve that at Stanford. I think he understood that because we have similar personalities in a way. We are both fierce and I could really understand his philosophies on basketball. It was a difficult decision because the coaching staff there was amazing.

"Some people think it is because of Nneka but I treated her as a teammate, I treated her as a Maya Moore or a Skylar Diggins. It had to do what was right for myself athletically and academically."

Ogwumike bonded with the UConn recruits during her unofficial visit to UConn in October and the relationships blossomed even more over the last few days when Ogwumike was able to hang out with UConn incoming freshmen Bria Hartley, Stefanie Dolson and Samarie Walker during the events leading up to Wednesday's McDonald's All-American Game at the Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

"I love them. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (one of two high school juniors to commit to UConn) is my best friend, Bria Hartley she is a sweet and she is an amazing player. I really bonded with those two when we were all there over the summer that week, it was really special. They did end up committing that weekend which is really crazy but I knew I had to keep my head straight on. They are just phenomenal people, Bria, Kaleena, Dolson, Samarie and you can tell they are hungry for success and that is one thing I really admire."

Ogwumike will be in San Antonio for the Final Four since she will be playing in the WBCA High School All-American Game on Saturday but she also wants to be on hand to support her sister who has emerged into an All-American as a sophomore for the Cardinal. The younger Ogwumike knows it will be strange if Tuesday's national championship game happens to be between UConn and Stanford.

"Things happen for a reason and if they do end up being in the final (game), I think that would be a great moment for basketball because the No. 1 and 2 teams would match up and I would get to see my sister play in the championship game," Ogwumike said. "I think it would be a great game because Stanford has matured and UConn is flawless, it would be interesting to me."


CHARLES, GREENE INVITED TO DRAFT
UConn's Tina Charles and Kalana Greene are among 14 players who have been invited to attend the WNBA draft

Charles will be taken with the first overall pick by the Connecticut Sun while Greene could also be a first-round selection.

Here's a list of the players being invited to the April 8 draft which will be held in Secaucus, N.J.

Name College/University Position Height
Jayne Appel Stanford Center 6’4”
Tina Charles Connecticut Center 6’4”
Alysha Clark Middle Tennessee State Forward 5’10”
Kalana Greene Connecticut Guard 5’10”
Kelsey Griffin Nebraska Forward 6’2”
Allison Hightower Louisiana State Guard 5’10”
Alison Lacey Iowa State Guard 6’0”
Danielle McCray Kansas Guard/Forward 5’11”
Chanel Mokango Mississippi State Forward 6’5”
Jacinta Monroe Florida State Forward 6’5”
Jene Morris San Diego State Guard 5’9”
Andrea Riley Oklahoma State Guard 5’5”
Amanda Thompson Oklahoma Forward 6’1”
Monica Wright Virginia Guard 5’11”

UConn incoming freshman Bria Hartley, a 5-foot-10 senior guard at North Babylon High, has been named the Gatorade New York Player of the Year for the second straight year.

Hartley, had five triple-doubles and averaged 27 points per game as a senior, is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Player of the Year.
Hartley was a finalist for the McDonald’s and Naismith national player of the year award which both went to Stanford signee and former UConn recruiting target Chiney Ogwumike.

Hartley had a career-high 51 points but her North Babylon team lost to Sachem East in the New York Suffolk AA championship game on Mar. 4. Hartley will be competing in the McDonald’s All-American Game on Mar. 31 in Columbus, Ohio and the WBCA All-American Game on Apr. 3 in San Antonio, Tex.

Norwich Free Academy’s Kastine Evans, who is headed to Kentucky in the fall, was named Connecticut’s Gatorade Player of the Year.
A trio of juniors on UConn’s recruiting radar (Betnijah Laney of Smyrna, Del., Kiah Stokes of Marion, Iowa and Elizabeth Williams of Virginia Beach, Va.) were winners of the Delaware, Iowa and Virginia awards.

Stanford incoming freshman and former UConn recruiting target Chiney Ogwumike, a 6-foot-3 forward from Cypress, Tex., has been named the winner of the Morgan Wootten Player of the Year award as well as the Naismith Award winner for girls' basketball.

UConn signee Bria Hartley, a a 5-foot-10 guard from North Babylon, N.Y., was a finalist for both awards.

UConn incoming freshman Bria Hartley, fresh off scoring 43 points in her most recent game, was one of six high school seniors named as a finalist for the Morgan Wootten Player of the Year award given to the McDonald's national high school player of the year.

Hartley, a 5-foot-10 guard at North Babylon (N.Y.) High, is joined on the list of finalists by Duke commit Chelsea Gray, Alabama incoming freshman Kaneisha Horn, Stanford signee Chiney Ogwumike, Florida State bound Natasha Howard and Baylor commit Odyssey Sims. Hartley, Gray, Ogwumike, Horn and Sims are also finalists for Naismith national player of the year.

The winner of the Morgan Wootten Award will be announced on Mar. 10.

Hartley is competing in the McDonald's All-American Game on Mar. 31 in Columbus, Ohio along with fellow UConn commits Stefanie Dolson of Minisink Valley of Slate Hill, N.Y. and Samarie Walker of Chaminade Julienne of Dayton, Ohio.