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‘Exactly what they needed’: What star student Kayleigh Heckel has added to UConn’s Final Four run
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- ‘Exactly what they needed’: What star student Kayleigh Heckel has added to UConn’s Final Four run
PHOENIX – The fact that she was going to the Final Four for the first time didn't really hit UConn 's Kayleigh Heckel until she arrived in Phoenix the other day.
"When we got here and I saw the logo everywhere, it was kind of setting in that I'm actually here," Heckel said Thursday. "It's funny because Coach (Geno Auriemma) keeps teasing me about how I wasn't here last year and how they beat me to get here."
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"He walked in when I was taking pictures with the trophy and he was like, 'Oh, remember when you did this last year? Oh right, you weren't here last year.'"
Heckel, a sophomore guard, takes the teasing in stride; she was a freshman on the USC team which UConn beat last year in the regional final in Spokane to go to the Final Four. Heckel, who was born in Greenwich and grew up in Port Chester, N.Y., transferred to UConn in May and now she's at her first Final Four as the top-seeded Huskies (38-0) get ready to face South Carolina (35-3) Friday (7 p.m.) in the national semifinal game at Mortgage Matchup Center.
Wednesday, she won an award that no Husky has won since Maya Moore did it in 2011 – Heckel was honored as the 2026 NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete for women's basketball. An analytics and information management major, Heckel has a 3.967 GPA.
"We have some really good professors to work with us, they kind of help us out when it comes to deadlines, but I think we're also really on top of our work," Heckel said. "We have people who travel with us who keep us on top of that and we have study hall. We make (academics) just as important as we do athletically here so that's really helped.
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"I've always been a good student. My family kind of pushes that for me and my brothers. We've all been high in academics as long as I can remember. It's really important to us."
Ashlynn Shade , who is a finance major, and Heckel were both in the same class once and have spent time working on schoolwork together.
"She's such a great student, she's so smart; I think it's so well deserved," Shade said. "We have a great support staff when it comes to academics. You have to take advantage of that and be willing to put in the work."
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On the court, Heckel has put in the work as well, contributing 6.9 points and 2.8 assists per game off the bench. In the regional final against Notre Dame, Heckel drove past her defender and hit a falling-down right-hander that bounced perfectly off the glass and in right before the buzzer and gave UConn a 32-25 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
"She's kind of exactly what they needed," ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo said. "UConn played Louisville in the season opener and Coach Auriemma told us before that game, the question is: What are we going to get from our point guards, what are we going to get from KK (Arnold) and Kayleigh and they've gotten exactly what they needed from both – ferocity on the defensive end and mostly calm offensive way to get the team into what they're trying to do. They've been exactly what Coach Auriemma needed.
"Kayleigh has found her niche in a really productive way."
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