In this era of women's basketball it's a foregone conclusion that players from programs like UConn's and Notre Dame's have a relationship that goes further than just butting heads during the season.

That is certainly the case this season as UConn guards Kelly Faris and Bria Hartley have been teammates with Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins on various USA Basketball squad.

Diggins and Faris, who were Indiana high school rivals, played together on the U-18 team in 2008 and the U.S. team which won the FIBA U19 World Championships in 2009.

“We talk when we are around each other and things like that,” Faris said. “She is a great player, obviously everybody knows that. She is a very talented, very smart player. She is not the easiest to defend sometimes. She has a quick release and she is a great shooter. I’m sure she will give us a run for our money.

“It is a friendly competitiveness We were constantly not necessarily going against each other, but when you have a highly talented player like that in your same state who is going to be around you and you are going to play with or against, yeah you are going to be friends. On the court you are going to compete, and they are going to push you and you are going to push them type of thing.”

This summer Diggins and Hartley were not only teammates but roommates on the U.S. team which won the FIBA 3x3 World Championships.

"She is funny, she was my roommate the entire team so we spent a lot of time together," Hartley said. "It was cool, it was only the four (Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike and former UConn star Ann Strother were also on the team) of us so we got to know each other and got to hang out with her outside of that It was fun. She is a good person, she has a great personality and she is a really hard worker."

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.

One of the fringe benefits of being the UConn football beat writer is that I have a chance to catch up with the preseason progress of the women's basketball team as well since I work inside Gampel following the Tuesday football press gatherings.

A couple weeks ago I caught up with Kiah Stokes and then yesterday I had a chance to watch a little bit of the pickup game between the UConn players. I've been wanting to do something on Brianna Banks ever since that June day when UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey raved about Banks' complete transformation on and off the court. Thanks to UConn women's basketball SID Pat McKenna I was able to talk to both Banks and Hartley.

Just to illustrate what a dream it is to deal with Hartley, Pat told her I wanted to talk to her after the pickup game. I was at my computer working on my football stuff and hadn't noticed that the scrimmage was over and Pat had yet to emerge from his office. All of a sudden I saw a shadow next to me and it was Bria who grabbed a seat next to me and was ready for her interview.

When I was out there watching the action I was struck by the number of times Hartley drove to the basket. It is something she has done during her first two years but not with as much regularity as a player like Tiffany Hayes so I asked her if that was a part of her game she has been working on.




"It is one thing I have really been working on, finishing with contact, finishing if I have to double pump in the air and getting to the rim," Hartley said. "Also if I start doing that teams will start stepping in (to help) and
that will open up opportunities for my teammates."

That led to the next question of whether Hartley thought she might be playing off the ball more this season with freshman Moriah Jefferson, sophomore Brianna Banks and senior Caroline Doty all there to run the offense.

"I don't know what Coach (Geno Auriemma) is going to do but whatever position he needs me to play. I am happy playing on the ball, I am happy playing off the ball it doesn't matter."

The fact is that if Hartley is able to play the shooting guard and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis steps in as the starting small forward that will give the Huskies a pair of dynamic scoring options on the wing.

One thing I saw during the scrimmage was Hartley playing on a team with Breanna Stewart and Stefanie Dolson and that almost seemed unfair to have those three players on the court together especially as I watched a slimmed down Dolson beat all the other players down the court on successive possessions and then saw Stewart deftly set up Dolson for a layup with a sweet pass across the lane. No disrespect to Kelly Faris or even Maya Moore but it will be fun to watch UConn play when the 6-4 Stewart is at the power forward and 6-5 Dolson playing center.

Speaking of Stewart, Hartley has been impressed with the work ethic of the three incoming freshmen who have been more than holding their own during offseason workouts.

"They are working really hard, our workouts are tough," Hartley said. "When you are coming from high school it is a different level. They have been doing well and proving they are able to stay up there and work really hard throughout the workout."

I also asked Hartley about winning the gold medal at the inaugural FIBA 3x3 World Championships where she played with former UConn star Ann Strother, Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins of Notre Dame.

"It was very different. I had never really played 3 on 3 other than a lot of times in practice when we break down certain situations in 3 on 3," Hartley said. "It was about going back to the basics, I think it was a lot harder defensively to guard 3 on 3. There were a lot of times when I might get stuck on a big girl where if I was playing 5 on 5 I would front that because I have help behin me but if you are playing 3 on 3 and you front that they will just throw that over the top. It was more challenging defensive even keeping guards in front of you. The game was a quicker pace so when you got down, you had to really dig down to come back because you are playing a short game."

A backcourt of Diggins and Hartley must have been something to behold and Hartley talked about playing alongside the reigning Big East Player of the Year.

"We played well together. I think we got familiar with each other playing, we play each other all through the season so we are familiar with each other. Then playing with her is a little different. It is nice having her on my team."

Hartley didn't have much of a reaction to the news that Notre Dame will be leaving the Big East for the ACC which isn't surprising since the move figures to happen after Hartley graduates from UConn.

"I am focused on what is going on here now," Hartley said. "I know we will be playing them this season and when we play them we are going to prepare for that. I think it is good. Anytime you are playing a team that many times you know it is going to be a rivalry. It's been competitive, you have a lot of people who want to watch that game and anytime we play you kind of never know who is going to win. It is a good thing for the Big East."

Finally here are Hartley's thoughts on the importance of preseason workouts for getting the younger players (and six of the 11 players are underclassmen) ready for the grueling practices run by Auriemma beginning on Oct. 13.

"It is very important for us to come together as a group. We have some freshmen, we are getting to know 

each other. We had some time together in the summer. I think we have been doing a good job so when Coach comes back we know he is going to challenge us every day in practice and whatever he throws at us we have to be able to take it."

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.