MURFREESBORO – Crystal Dangerfield spent the weekend visiting the University of Connecticut.

The Blackman junior made it clear she wants to be a Huskie.

Dangerfield became Rutherford County’s first UConn women’s basketball commitment this weekend.

“I had a list of six schools and had visited three of the six,” she said. “(UConn) made it four. I knew that’s where I wanted to go when I got up there.”

The 5-foot-6 point guard who averaged 14.5 points, 3.6 assists and 2.9 steals last season, had numerous college basketball offers, including Tennessee. She is the third-ranked player in the country for the Class of 2016, according to ESPN, and No. 1 at her position.

Dangerfield visited Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Maryland before going to Connecticut. Tennessee had been in contact with her and had watched her at an open gym during the evaluation period.

Commitments are non-binding for both the athlete and the school. Dangerfield cannot sign until November of 2015.

In Connecticut, Dangerfield committed to a program that just completed a perfect season. The Huskies have won nine national titles and have reached 15 Final Fours since Geno Auriemma arrived in 1985.

“Coach Auriemma knew my desire in college,” Dangerfield said. “He knew I want to win. That was a selling point for me.”

Dangerfield said she watched a UConn practice over the weekend and was impressed. She said she felt comfortable with her future teammates.

For now she plans to concentrate on the Lady Blaze — the defending TSSAA Class AAA state champions and defending national champions by USA TODAY, MaxPreps and ESPN.

“I can just focus on my last two high school seasons now,” she said.

Blackman, which begins practice next week, returns all but one player from last year’s team.

And while Dangerfield is the fifth Blackman girls basketball player to commit to a Division I school, she never felt any pressure to commit early, Lady Blaze coach Chad Hibdon said.

“Over the last three or four months she’s been narrowing down her choices. I think she wanted to do it after the season at some point,” Hibdon said. “But as things played out and as the recruiting maturation went on with other people signing people, she narrowed it down to two or three schools. She was comfortable with things. And Connecticut was her last place that she was taking a visit.”

Dangerfield garnered numerous accolades as a sophomore, when she led Blackman to its first TSSAA girls basketball state championship. She was the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year, a finalist for Miss Basketball, a third team MaxPreps All American and an all-state team member.

Other Lady Blaze players who have made their college commitments: seniors MeMe Jackson (Tennessee), Alex Johnson (MTSU), Angel Allen (Western Carolina) and K.K. Williams (Georgia State). They will sign next month.

Contact Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 or tkreager@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter@Kreager.