Three UConn recruits playing Friday night

Incoming UConn freshman Lexi Gordon, Mikayla Coombs and Megan Walker are all scheduled to play at the Jordan Brand Classic, being held at the Barclays Center Friday night.

NEW YORK >> It wasn’t Lexi Gordon’s original intention to be the bearer of bad news. However, having promised her future UConn teammates to provide a first-hand account of the Huskies’ national semifinal game against Mississippi State left her no choice.

As painful as it was, Gordon filled in Mikayla Coombs, Andra EspinozaHunter and Megan Walker on the stunning turn of events resulting in the end of the Huskies’ NCAA basketball all-division record 111-game winning streak and depriving UConn of winning an unprecedented fifth straight NCAA Division I women’s basketball title.

“I was there and it was really heartbreaking,” said Gordon during media day festivities for the Jordan Brand Classic at the HSS Training Center in Brooklyn. “When I saw the shot (by Mississippi State’s Morgan William) go in, I almost cried. I was keeping everybody updated. I know the TV runs a little behind so I kept everybody updated. It was sad.”

The game-winning shot by William made it clear that the four incoming freshmen would be joining a talented nucleus of players determined to write a different ending than the one that played out in Dallas.

The quartet had engaged in countless snapchat sessions but none were as melancholy as the one after the UConn women’s basketball team suffered its first loss since 2014.

“I am a super-laid back person and I was really upset,” Coombs said. “Because I see the brighter side of things so we can try to build our own streak. We texted each other. I think Lexi was the first one and she said, ‘it is time to build a new streak.’ I was very upset about the loss but I think it gives us a chance ... It would have been cool going to go in and keep up the streak but I think it is cool to build a new streak now.”

Before that happens, there is a little bit of business to take care of as Coombs, Gordon and Walker will play in the final games of their high school career. Espinoza-Hunter was not picked to play in Friday’s game, despite being the only New York native among UConn’s incoming freshmen and coming off a season when she had 12 games with at least 40 points.

With Coombs playing on the West team while Gordon and Walker playing for the East, there figure to be a few UConn-on-UConn matchups during the 5:30 p.m. game at the Barclays Center.

“I think it is going to be different because last time for McDonalds’s Mikayla was on my team so it wasn’t like we were battling against each other, it was us against them,” Walker said. “Now it is going to be different, we are split up.”

However, that won’t stop the bond from continuing to form between the three future teammates even if they will be squaring off in New York.

“I think it will give me a look into what practices are like,” Coombs said. “It will be fun. I got to play with Megan and now I play against her so I think it will be cool, a different perspective.”

The event will be extra special for Coombs as her high school coach Jan Azar is one of the three coaches for the West squad.

There figure to be some USA Basketball junior national team trials for them to take part in. As for their arrival at UConn, the plan is for them to arrive on campus on May 29. They will take some summer school classes, take part in UConn’s offseason conditioning program and get in some work on the basketball court as well.

“It is crazy bit I think I am ready for that higher (competition level),” Walker said. “I am anxious, ready to get up there and start working out, just learning the system.”