Three-sport star Hartley boosts N. Babylon hoops hopes

Dennis Hartley was searching for answers. He couldn't get his daughter, Bria Hartley, to stay calm. Bria never sat still as a child, didn't take naps, and it was wearing Dennis out. So he decided the best way to tire her out was to take her to the gym with him.

"It backfired,'' he said, "because it built up her endurance. She was always energetic."

That must explain how North Babylon's 5-10 senior point guard does it. She has been on the basketball team since eighth grade, the lacrosse team since seventh grade and the soccer team since eighth grade - and excels at each sport.

Dennis thought soccer would be her sport of choice in college. Her mother, Simone Hartley, thought it would be lacrosse. Bria, after thinking about playing both basketball and lacrosse in college, chose basketball and signed with the University of Connecticut last month.

"If she were able to compete in track and field, she would be in the states every year," North Babylon assistant principal Michael Scottaline said.

She not only could get a scholarship in all three sports but is a top student with a 90-plus average while taking three advanced placement courses last year and four this year. She does community service through the local chapter of the National Honor Society and Students for a Better World.

A typical day for Hartley is waking up at 6:30 a.m., attending school from 7:30 to 2 p.m., going to basketball practice for three hours, working out with trainer Jerry Powell two to three times a week and doing homework late at night. In the summer, she travels with Exodus, her AAU basketball team. This past summer, she stopped playing travel lacrosse.

"It's difficult," she said. "At first, it was a lot. You learn to work through it. I've been doing it a while. It's the way I was brought up. My dad said if I can't do it, I can't play. My dad gets mad when I get below a 90."

Hartley's active ways helped play a part in her athletic prowess. Her brother, Eugene Montague, trained with Powell and had to babysit Bria, so she would go with him. She wouldn't sit still, and Powell began to train her when she was in fourth grade to tire her out. But it didn't work, and she's been going to Powell ever since.

"Jerry played an important role with Bria as a basketball player and a person," Dennis said. "I was thinking, 'Can my kid play at Connecticut?' Jerry envisioned her being this good. I would have been happy with a scholarship to Molloy. I wasn't even thinking this level."

His daughter didn't, either, until last year. "Basketball became the choice entering my junior year," she said. "I always thought I would play lacrosse in college, but I put so much work in basketball and enjoy it so much."

Hartley also enjoys helping others. She decided to wait as long as possible to make her college decision in order for her teammates to get scouted.

"UConn become a choice for her in June," Simone said. "She could have committed then. She's always looking out for everyone else but herself."

That translates to the court, too. In the first game of the season, Hartley incessantly attempted to get her teammates involved because she wanted the younger players to be comfortable. North Babylon has eight players who are freshmen or younger.

UConn women's coach Geno Auriemma, who came to watch her that day, noticed that.

"She's not limited to just being a ballhandler, just a passer or just a shooter," he said. "But when you watch kids play like that, you have to make a decision whether they're unselfish enough to be able to play with a bunch of other good players. When you see her play, you see how unselfish she is. She probably doesn't shoot enough. She probably doesn't take over the game enough."

Hartley has noticeably improved each season.

"Each year, she added something to her game, whether it was her basketball IQ, her pull-up jumper or her ability to attack the rim," North Babylon coach Mike Petre said. "This year, she's more physical and more vocal. She plays well without the ball, which is hard for a star player. She has unlimited endurance. She has a motor that never stops."

Her father certainly knows that.