STORRS, Conn. – For the second time this season, UConn senior guard Bria Hartley (North Babylon, N.Y.) has been named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week in honors announced by the league on Monday. Hartley collects the nod after averaging 23.5 points in two games against ranked opponents in No. 7 Baylor and No. 23 Rutgers. The senior combined to shoot 52.5 percent from the floor and 57.1 percent from 3-point range in the wins.
In a Monday night showdown with Baylor, Hartley scored 17 points and chased down three rebounds in 37 minutes of action. The New York native dished out three assists and snagged a pair of steals in the win, also working defensively to hold Baylor standout Odyssey Sims to 4-of-25 shooting. On Sunday against conference foe Rutgers, Hartley dropped a career-high 30 points on an impressive 11-15 shooting. The senior drained a career-best six three-pointers on eight attempts from long-range. To round out a superb performance against the Scarlet Knights, Hartley distributed five assists in 33 minutes and sank both of her freethrow attempts with two rebounds to boot.
Sunday capped a stellar week for Bria Hartley in which she was also named to the 2014 Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List and the 2014 Wooden Top-20 Midseason Watch List. She ranks second on the UConn squad in scoring and assists, averaging 14.8 points per game and 4.4 assists per contest.
The top-ranked Huskies face Memphis for the second time this season at the XL Center on Wednesday night at 7:00pm.
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photo credit: cloe poisson – hartford courant
