5 Players Receive Big East Honors

The Huskies didn't have their usual dominating season -- and this may have bugged Geno Auriemma to no end -- but it's not like they lost nine of their last 12 games and were the first names that came up in every "so, they're definitely a bubble team, right?" conversation. UConn is still one of the top five outfits in the country even if they're no better than second in the Big East, at least for now.

Whatever, the conference handed out it's end-of-season honors and the Huskies were well represented. Five players were recognized with freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis leading the way. She was named the Sixth Man of the Year, as well as Freshman of the Year and the All-Freshman Team. Teammates Tiffany Hayes and Bria Hartley made Big East All-First Team, Stefanie Dolson earned an Honorable Mention and Kiah Stokes was selected to the All-Freshman Team.

Details via the school's official website:

Mosqueda-Lewis is the second leading scorer for the No. 4 Huskies with 14.4 points per game and has tallied 24 double figure performances and eight 20-plus games. …Coming off the bench in 29 of UConn’s 30 games, Mosqueda-Lewis has been awarded the Freshman of the Week accolade eight times after being selected the Big East Preseason Freshman of the Year.

Hayes is Connecticut’s leading scorer with 15.9 points per game, second on the team in rebounding (5.7 rpg) and has the most steals with 71. … This marks Hayes’ second BIG EAST First Team accolade.

Hartley, the 2010-11 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, has started all of UConn’s 30 games and is third on the team in scoring with an average of 13.7 points.

Auriemma spoke recently about the importance of Hayes and Hartley to this year's squad. "They've both never been in the position before this season where they have been required to do it on a consistent basis," he said via the Hartford Courant. "They've never had that kind of pressure on them before this season."

And they've responded. And should the Huskies get on a run in the conference tournament and then the NCAAs, they might have to name a new MVP: Notre Dame forward Becca Bruszewski.

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