UConn women's basketball

UConn recruit Skylar Diggins had 11 points, four rebounds and four assists in 24 minutes Sunday night to lead the U.S. U-18 Women’s National Team to an 81-37 rout of Argentina in its fifth and final game at the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship for Women in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The U.S. (5-0) won the gold medal and was only unbeaten team in the six-team field.
“Winning a gold medal kind of makes you speechless,’’ UConn-bound recruit Kelly Faris said. “Not only did we win the gold medal for us, but every person who saw us wanted us to win it for them too. It’s an accomplishment that a lot of people don’t have a chance to experience, and it feels good.’’
UConn recruit Kelsey Bone had 12 points and nine rebounds in 14 minutes. Faris had eight points, six rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes.
The U.S. qualified for the 2009 FIBA U-19 World Championship, along with runner-up Canada (4-1), third place Brazil (3-2) and fourth place Argentina (2-3).
Diggins averaged 10.8 points (10th overall), 3.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists (2nd), 2.0 steals (8th, tie) and shot 50 percent from the field in 23.2 minutes in the tournament. Bone averaged 10.6 points (11th), 6.6 rebounds (No. and 1.0 blocks (3rd, tie) in 14.8 minutes. Faris averaged 4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists (3rd, tie) in 18.0 minutes.

Rich

UConn recruit Skylar Diggins had 13 points, six rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes today to lead the U.S. U-18 Women’s National Team to a 96-51 rout of Brazil in its fourth game at the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship for Women in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The U.S. (4-0) clinched the gold medal with the win. It is the lone unbeaten team in the six-team field.
UConn recruit Kelsey Bone had eight points and six rebounds in 14 minutes. UConn-bound recruit Kelly Faris had five points, three rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes.
“We’re not satisfied yet,’’ Faris said. “Winning the gold medal was our ultimate goal, but we still have one more game. We want to make a statement and show everyone that we are here to finish what we started. It’s not as fun or satisfying to end with an ok performance. We want to go out with a bang.’’
The U.S. will wrap up the tournament Sunday against Argentina at 6 p.m.

Rich

UConn-bound recruit Kelly Faris had six points, six rebounds, a game-high six assists and three steals in 21 minutes Friday to lead the U.S. U-18 Women’s National Team to a 116-36 rout of Puerto Rico in its third game at the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship for Women in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The U.S. (3-0) is the only unbeaten team in the six-team field.
UConn recruit Skylar Diggins finished with 12 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals in 19 minutes, while fellow recruit Kelsey Bone had eight points and three rebounds in nine minutes.
The U.S. will play Brazil (2-1) today at 4 p.m.

Rich

UConn recruit Kelsey Bone had 13 points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes Thursday to lead the U.S. U-18 Women’s National Team to a 72-56 victory over Canada in its second game of the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship for Women in Buenos Aires, Argentina. By winning its first two games the U.S. is assured of finishing among the Top 4 teams in the tournament and will earn a berth to the 2009 FIBA U-19 World Championship.
UConn-bound recruit Kelly Faris had two rebounds and one steal in 10 scoreless minutes off the bench. Huskies’ recruit Skylar Diggins tallied seven points and two steals in 23 minutes.
The U.S. will play Puerto Rico (0-2) today.

Rich

UConn-bound recruit Kelly Faris, a 5-foot-11 guard from Plainfield, Ind., showed off her all-around game Wednesday as the U.S. U-18 Women’s National Team pounded Venezuela 112-49 in its opener in the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship for Women in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She finished with four points (2-of-4 FG), three rebounds, six assists and two steals in 21 minutes off the bench.
UConn recruit Kelsey Bone, a 6-5 center from Stafford, Texas, shared team-high scoring honors with 13 points and also added six rebounds and two blocks in 14 minutes. Skylar Diggins, a 5-8 guard from South Bend, Ind. who is also being targeted by the Huskies, added 11 points, six assists and three steals in 24 minutes.
The U.S. will play Canada (1-0) today.

Rich

What has been known for months finally became official Wednesday when
it was announced that the Huskies will meet Penn State in the second
game of a doubleheader in the third annual Maggie Dixon Classic Dec.
14 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The start time will be
approximately 2:30 p.m., following the conclusion of the opening game
between Rutgers and Army (noon).
The doubleheader will be televised nationally on ESPNU, but UConn’s
matchup can be seen locally on CPTV.
Tickets, which start at $15 and include both games, will go on sale
to the public Friday at 10 a.m. They can be purchased at all
Ticketmaster locations, at the Madison Square Garden box office and
online at www.thegarden.com. UConn Club Members received a pre-sale
opportunity to purchase tickets last month. Interested donors can
contact the UConn Ticket Office (1-877-AT-UCONN) to purchase tickets
or for more information.
Dixon, the former head coach at Army who led the Black Knights to
their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2006, died from Sudden
Cardiac Arrest on April 6 of that year. Over 325,000 Americans die
each year from Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Madison Square Garden will once
again team up with the Dixon family and the Cardiac Arrhythmias
Research and Education (C.A.R.E.) Foundation, who will conduct 1,000
free EKG’s during the event, to help heighten awareness of heart
related illness and to promote women’s college basketball.

Rich

The Huskies learned the identity of their final non-conference opponent for the 2008-09 season Tuesday, one that finally fills the four-team field at the Caribbean Classic MTE in Cancun, Mexico in December. Along with Florida State and Washington, UConn will meet Northern Colorado in the three-game, four-day event Dec. 18-21.
The Huskies, who are expected to be ranked No. 1 when the national preseason polls are revealed, will host non-conference opponents Oklahoma Nov. 30 (ESPN, 8 p.m.), LSU Jan. 3 (CBS), Georgia Tech, San Diego State, Rhode Island, Holy Cross and Hartford. They will travel to North Carolina Jan. 19 (ESPN or ESPN2), BYU and South Carolina and will meet Penn State in the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden Dec. 14 (ESPNU).

Rich

The biggest mystery of the summer continues to remain unsolved for the UConn women’s basketball team. The start of the second summer session came and went Monday, and freshman Elena Delle Donne was not in class according to a UConn official.
Delle Donne continues to take what she labeled a “long personal break’’ last month when she went home June 3 after just two days on campus. Fellow freshman and long-time friend Caroline Doty said last week that she hopes to run into Delle Donne at the Jersey Shore this week. At this point there is no telling whether Doty or any other member of the Huskies will run into Delle Donne on campus this fall.
“The only thing I knew about her coming in was she was a really good player,’’ senior Kalana Greene said. “After she got here, people told me there was a lot of pressure on her. She had some personal dilemmas with basketball, nothing against us. She just had to deal with them. I think she’s bold. I think it takes a lot of courage for someone to step away from basketball being that she was the No. 1 player since she was 12-years-old. Everyone’s on her saying, `You’re the greatest basketball player. You should do this, you should do this.’ So the pressure on her was to play basketball. It took a lot of courage for her to do it, especially coming into college.’’
Speculation has run rampant since Delle Donne, who did not return an e-mail seeking comment, left abruptly. It has been uttered that Delle Donne was displeased after being chastised by teammates for a lack of hustle during a pickup game or that she now wants to play volleyball instead of basketball or that she is simply homesick.
Neither Delle Donne, any member of her family nor any member of the UConn program has said publicly what it is that prompted her to leave. Doty told the assembled media that she believes Delle Donne will return in time for the start of the fall semester Aug. 25. Coach Geno Auriemma recently told a local television station in Philadelphia that he, too, expects her to return.
In asking Greene, she was not so optimistic.
“There’s a lot of things going around about why she left,’’ Greene said. “But if it’s what I hear, I don’t think she’s coming back. And I think if she does it’s going to be even tougher than before because she’s going to have to gain the trust from her teammates and the coaching staff. We don’t really trust people. We only trust each other. So when you do something like this, it’s going to be really hard because who knows if you might decide to leave if it gets really tough in the tournament. We don’t know. I think it’s going to be more pressure on her now if she comes back. If she comes back, we’re going to welcome her. But she just has a lot of trust to be gained.’’
The last incoming freshman to leave the program during the summer was point guard Kia Wright in 2003. She arrived on campus three days after graduating from Copiague (N.Y.) High. Her stay lasted only a couple of weeks as she found herself homesick and overwhelmed by the intensity level of the workouts.
Wright went on to have a fine career at St. John’s. Should Delle Donne follow the same path, Greene is happy that she chose this time to make her decision.
“I’m happy she did it now,’’ Greene said. “But we’re not really missing anything because we didn’t have it from the beginning. Coach is a great coach, and he’s going to find a way to win games with or without anyone who’s missing. He found a way to win games without me and Mel (Thomas) the whole entire season. And he always tells us, `Don’t ever depend on freshmen.’ That’s something that we’ve learned to do and that’s something we have to continue to do.’’
Greene was not being malicious in her comments in anyway, just completely honest. She reiterated the fact that the Huskies will support Delle Donne in the direction she eventually chooses to take.
Greene did say, however, that Delle Donne would have to apologize to the team and to the coaching staff if she returns and that she would not be pampered in any way. Delle Donne might be regarded as the nation’s top incoming freshman, but what occurred at the high school level has no merit in the minds of the Huskies. It never has and it never will.
“If you don’t want to play, don’t play,’’ Greene said. “If you want to play and be a part of this, then come. You’ve got to be committed when you come here. If we’re depending on her we need her to show us that we can trust her. If she comes back, it’s probably going to take like a year and a half for everyone to fully trust her. We’re going to be nice to her, but we’re not going to be pampering her like, `Oh, it’s OK if you don’t feel like playing today.’ There’s not going to be any of that. And Coach is the one guy you know that doesn’t pamper anyone. So it’s going to be tough. She’s going to get a lot of hell from us, but from the coaching staff she’s going to get a lot too. If she comes back. I can’t say I hope she comes back… I can’t say that. I don’t know what to expect if she does or she doesn’t. But if she comes back, it’s going to be a lot tougher than if she just stayed the whole time. A lot tougher. It’s not like I’m going to give her … She has to prove herself because it’s all about trust. We all support each other. Each link in the chain makes you stronger, and she broke away from the chain.’’

Rich