The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Olympic dreams on hold, ex-Husky Hartley adjusts
Bria Hartley intended to take a break. Not now, of course, but sometime later this year.
She was to make her Olympic debut with France this summer in Tokyo and finish up her seventh WNBA season — and first with the Phoenix Mercury — in September, if not later. And then, she was going to stay home rather than head overseas.
Mind you, that’s before her plans were thrown into disarray because of the coronavirus.
Instead of being with the Mercury, whom she signed with in February, Hartley’s currently stationed at her parents’ house in New York. On a positive note, the unexpected break has meant more time with her 3-yearold son, Bryson.
“He’s comfortable here,” Hartley, 27, said. “He’s got his own room.”
It remains unclear when the WNBA season, originally scheduled to tip off May 15, will get off the ground. So, like many of her peers, Hartley — a former UConn standout — is trying to keep active, stay occupied for the time being. Of course, working out from home isn’t ideal, but she was able to get in the gym earlier this offseason while staying with her boyfriend in Minnesota.
“Things are a lot more strict here. My dad has keys to a gym because he coaches boxing, and they have a basketball court in there,” Hartley noted. “But they don’t want anyone in the gym regardless.”
On the heels of a solid season with New York, in which she averaged career-highs in points (9.8) and rebounds (3.2) across 24 games, Hartley joined the Mercury in free agency. Connecticut and Las Vegas also showed interest in the 5-foot-8 guard, as did the Liberty, but the opportunity to play alongside Diana Taurasi — a fellow UConn alum, and the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer — Brittany Griner and the newly acquired Skylar Diggins-Smith was too good to pass up.
“Leaving New York was definitely
tough. All my family’s here,” said the North Babylon, N.Y., native. “I have a great support system here. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone, just going to the West Coast.”
She added: “I have never played with (Taurasi), so this is definitely going to be an awesome opportunity. This is definitely going to be different. It’s definitely going to make my life easier passing her the ball.”
The WNBA was planning to break for the Summer Games in July, allowing the world’s best players to compete for their respective countries. Hartley, who holds French citizenship through her grandmother (on her mother’s side), was poised to make her Olympic debut. Unfortunately, those plans are now on hold with the Olympics being postponed until 2021.
Hartley was obviously disappointed at first, but is treating this as an opportunity to get rest. Between playing in the WNBA and overseas in Turkey, she rarely has had time off.
“It was just a really, really exciting opportunity for me,” she said. “But with everything, I’ve just tried to have a positive spin on it.
I’ve been going the last few years back-to-back with not much rest from playing. Now I’ve had more rest to heal minor aches and pains that you deal with throughout the season. I’m trying to use this time to the best of my ability. Obviously, it was going to be the highlight of my summer, and that’s pretty much a bummer. But we have next year, and I’ll rest up and get ready for that.
“Just to represent my grandmother, she’s older now [81], it would definitely make her really proud.”