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UConn women's basketball

Huskies Find Success On And Off the Court

February 10, 2012 at 8:51 pm by Rich Elliott

For all of the wins and Big East and national championships the Huskies have earned on the court, it’s easy to overlook that they are, after all, student-athletes. Aside from learning and excelling at Coach Geno Auriemma’s system, they must also excel in the classroom.

Having success off the court is also something that UConn takes great pride in. And at halftime of Saturday’s game against No. 14 Georgetown at Gampel Pavilion, the most successful players on the team will be honored for earning a 3.0 GPA in either the Spring 2011 or Fall 2011 semesters.

Heather Buck, Caroline Doty, Stefanie Dolson, Kelly Faris and Kiah Stokes will be recognized before what possibly could be UConn’s first sellout crowd in 16 home games this season. The Huskies drew season-highs of 9,882 at Gampel Pavilion against Rutgers Feb. 4 and 13,771 against No. 4 Stanford at the XL Center Nov. 21.

“I do (take pride in that), especially in this day and age when everybody is talking about that kind of stuff,’’ Auriemma said. “I think it’s important that you recognize that there’s a tremendous amount of kids, all over the country really, that do a great job of trying to balance the two things … Playing basketball or any other sport and doing really academically. And that’s a something that our team takes great pride in.’’

Said Dolson: “I didn’t even know we were being honored until the coaches told us after we all got our grades. But it’s definitely motivation because it’s nice to be honored for things. When you come to a place like this where there’s so much basketball, to be honored for something academic that’s not basketball is definitely a motivation.’’

In an effort to provide the Huskies with further incentive in their quest to earn high marks in the classroom, the coaching staff makes a game out of it. It’s a game the Huskies want to win too. They are divided up into three teams with UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey and assistant coaches Marisa Moseley and Shea Ralph each drafting a team.

The team with the highest combined GPA wins.

“I don’t have a team,’’ Auriemma said. “Nobody wants to be on my team. All three of those guys on my staff were really good college students. So they know what it takes to be a really good college student. I don’t think anybody would be on my team. They wouldn’t learn. If I taught them what I did in college I don’t know that they’d win any prizes.’’

Doty, Tiffany Hayes, Lauren Engeln and Stokes were on Ralph’s team. Buck, Brianna Banks and Dolson were on Dailey’s team. And Faris, Bria Hartley, Michala Johnson and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis made up Moseley’s team.

Dailey’s team apparently won the competition, while Ralph’s team was second. But a team spokesman said today that there was some technicality so this semester it is double or nothing.

Faris said she thought her team was doing well. She was not happy about finishing last. Academics is something that has been important to her for many years.

“I would like to think it’s important (to the team),’’ Faris said. “I know personally it is for me. I kind of grew up that way. I’ve definitely always been taught to excel in both aspects of it. The second you decide you want to be an athlete you constantly hear from people that your career could end any day, any moment, any play. So that’s kind of what you constantly hear. And it depends. It depends on your motives and your attitude (how you react). But they’ve definitely instilled in us that they want us to do well in the classroom. We have academic teams. Any competition with us is a challenge, and we constantly try for it whether it’s at Ping-Pong or school. There’s always going to be a challenge and we’re always going to make a game out of it.’’

Here is what Dolson had to say about the difficulty the Huskies face when it comes to balancing academics and athletics …

“It’s definitely hard,’’ Dolson said. “I think it’s hard when you first get here. But I think when you’re around so many players on the team that everyone in the same boat, we all have to balance basketball and academics. So I think you kind of get used to it. You kind of get into a rhythm or like a routine of when’s a good time to study, when to focus on basketball. When you’re on the court it’s all about basketball. When you’re off the court you’re still working on your game but you have to focus on academics. It’s hard, but we have so many resources that help us. We have tutors that help. Everybody helps.’’

Rich

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Rich Elliott

Rich Elliott covers UConn women's basketball and the Bridgeport Bluefish for the Connecticut Post.
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