UConn commit Saniya Chong, pictured above with Ossining High coach Dan Ricci (photo by Isaac Cass of MSG Varsity), was one of 20 players named to the WBCA All-America team Tuesday. She will compete in the WBCA All-America Game at New Orleans Arena April 6.

Here is what UConn coach Geno Auriemma had to say about Chong’s accomplishment …

“You feel great for kids when they get honors. You really do,’’ Auriemma said. “You’re a high school kid and you just go out and play and the next thing you know you get a phone call and somebody says, `Hey, you’re a WBCA All-American.’ It’s great for her. She’s put a lot of time and effort into this game. I’ve always said when people vote on things that’s meaningful, but only to a point. So I don’t know what the criteria is, but I guess they thought Saniya’s criteria fit the bill. So I’m happy for her. I’m happy for her mom (Leslie).

“And Saniya’s a special case. I might move (assistant coaches) Shea (Ralph) and Marisa (Moseley) up a seat and put an extra seat and have her mom sit right next to me because her mom is the absolute the loudest person in the gym for an entire 32 minutes of those high school games. You guys are in for a treat. In a good way. In a good way.’’

Chong, a 5-foot-9 guard, became the New York Section 1 all-time leading scorer today by scoring 40 points in a win over Blind Brook. She has 2,664 career points to break the previous record of 2,662 set in 1987 by Karen O’Connor, who went on to play at Arizona State.

According to MSG Varsity, Chong also now holds the New York State record for made 3-pointers (278).

Rich

It seems as though the instant high school players sign a National Letter of Intent to play for UConn they achieve a status that is larger than life. They are treated like veritable rock stars by fans. They are supposed to win every game by a wide margin and win four national championships in their career.

Is this unfair? Probably. But it takes a special type of individual to play for the Huskies. And Tuesday night at halftime of UConn’s 94-37 demolition of Marquette, you saw the most special individuals that are on the 11-player roster. Those players who also excel in the classroom, proudly representing the term “student-athlete.’’

Seniors Heather Buck, Caroline Doty and Kelly Faris, junior Stefanie Dolson and sophomore Kiah Stokes were honored for earning at least a 3.0 GPA during the 2012 spring or fall semester.

Faris was doubly honored for earning a 4.0 last spring. She is a perfectionist in all that she does on and off the court. And her overall hard work was on full display last night as she also finished the game with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists, five steals and no turnovers in 27 minutes.

“It’s no mystery why Kelly has a 4.0,’’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “One is she’s very bright. She’s very bright. And, two, she’s very prideful. She takes tremendous pride in everything she does. And, three, she wants to. She wanted to get a 4.0 so she got one. And we talked about that after the game in the locker room with the other players. How once you put a number on something, it holds you more accountable. And Kelly likes being held accountable.

“So I’m sure Kelly said `I want to get a 4.0 this semester,’ and now she’s going to be held accountable. If she gets a 3.9, she failed. So more kids could probably do better than they’re doing now academically if they just put a number on it and say, `This is the number I want to get,’ and then work their (butt) off to get it. We break the team up into three groups and those three groups compete against each other for the highest grade point average. So for some of them unless you make it competitive they’re kind of `Eh.’ But (Kelly) doesn’t need any of that. She was the first draft choice. I know that. Her and Heather.’’

Faris, a sport promotion and individual development major, does not expect anything less from herself than to earn straight A’s. So she does everything humanly possible to make sure that she achieves her goal.

“It’s nice to see everything pay off,’’ Faris said. “It’s kind of stressful. I put a lot of pressure on myself. That’s just how I’ve always been and whether it’s on the floor or academically if I don’t get a 4.0 I’m not happy about it. If I don’t get four A’s it’s like `I should’ve done this differently.’ That’s kind of just how I am with everything. So it’s nice to finally see some of it pay off.’’

Earning a 4.0 is hardly easy. But earning a 4.0 in the spring semester is even more challenging considering what Faris had to deal with from a basketball standpoint in terms of travel.

The Huskies had road trips to DePaul, Syracuse, Duke, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh and Marquette during the regular season. They missed one day of class prior to the Big East tournament final in Hartford. They then spent five days in Bridgeport for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, five days Kingston, R.I. for the regional and another five days in Denver for the Final Four.

Faris never missed a step.

“Basketball’s a really, really hard sport for kids academically because it encompasses two semesters,’’ Auriemma said. “So it can affect you toward the tail end of the first and then towards the beginning of the second. And then the back end of the second semester is a (challenge) because if you’re in the NCAA tournament you’re traveling a lot. I mean a lot. And I think what Kelly does better than most people is I think she puts everything in her little compartment, and then she works that compartment all the time. So today from 2-4, we’ve got practice and nothing else matters except practice. Tonight from 7-9, I’ve got to study, and she’s not thinking about basketball from 7-9. And tomorrow morning at 11, I’m in class and she’s not thinking about anything other than that class. She’s able to do that. A lot of kids are not able to do that. And it’s a credit to her mom and dad (Connie and Bob), and it’s a credit to her.’’

Faris’ immense success in the classroom has reached biblical proportions if you ask sophomore Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis.

“Kelly’s a genius,’’ Mosqueda-Lewis said. “Kelly is super smart and super talented. Kelly is All. Like I said, `Jesus.”’

Faris earned a 3.8 this fall. Of course, she was not pleased. She earned a B in a geography class.

“I was mad because it was in (general education),’’ Faris said. “It was a geography class and I’m horrible. I have no sense of direction. And I tried so hard. I had meetings with the professor and I was trying to figure out how I should study. And it was just the test and it just got me. So I was not happy about it.’’

Faris has about a 3.7 overall GPA. She will unquestionably be selected in the WNBA draft in April. Once her playing career is complete, she said she will make a decision as to which field of work she will pursue.

“I like to work with kids,’’ Faris said. “It’s not something I’m just going to say, `OK, this is the avenue I want to take.’ There’s options for me. If I want to do something with sports, if I want to do Special Olympics or be in the hospital setting like being a child life specialist. But it’s things I’m going to have to try when I get to that point to figure out which one I actually like.’’

Rich

Sophomore Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is playing like an All-American. She is playing like one of the Top 5 players in the country.

And Mosqueda-Lewis further bolstered her resume in tonight’s 94-37 win over Marquette. She had a game-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field (5-of-6 3-pointers), six rebounds, five assists and two steals in 23 minutes.

Mosqueda made her first eight shots before missing a jumper with 17:22 left in the game. She is just in that kind of a flow right now, averaging 18.8 points on 53.7 percent shooting (29-of-55 3-pointers) over the last eight games.

“I don’t know how you can be better,’’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “I don’t know how you can be better. We actually at one timeout in the second half we just said, `Look, I don’t want you to shoot any more 3s. I want us to score in the lane now. I want us to score some other way.’ We stopped shooting them. But when she’s in the game it’s almost like I never want to take her out. You talk about somebody that I never want out of the game … I never want her out of the game. Ever. That’s why tonight … She didn’t commit one foul. I want it to be like that all year. I don’t even want her to even think about fouling anybody because I know that in a three-minute stretch she’s going to blow the game open. That’s how much confidence we have in her right now.’’

Mosqueda-Lewis had one of those stretches tonight when she scored seven points in a span of 48 seconds late in the first half on a put back and a pair of 3-pointers.

Mosqueda-Lewis leads the Huskies in scoring (17.2) and is averaging 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 28.6 minutes. She has scored at least 21 points in four of the last eight games and at least 19 points in six of the last eight.

“I’m just confident right now,’’ Mosqueda-Lewis said. “My teammates are getting me the ball where I need to get it. Coach is calling the right plays. I’m just trying to keep moving on offense, and defensively just stay aggressive.’’

Tonight was the second time in the last four games that Mosqueda-Lewis did not commit a foul. She has committed just seven fouls in the last six games.

“Geno was probably pleased with the no fouls,’’ Mosqueda-Lewis said. “I’m trying not to foul as much. In a game like this, you want to practice not fouling because when I get in games like Notre Dame I can’t afford to foul. So you’ve just got to learn in games like this for big games.’’

The 15 3-pointers made by UConn tonight tied for the second most in a game in team history. They also made 15 at Oregon Dec. 31.

The record is 18 set against Syracuse Jan. 17, 2009. The Huskies also set a team single-game record for 3-point attempts in that game with 39.

Rich