Columbus, Ohio — The city of Murfreesboro, Tenn., is 34 miles southeast of downtown Nashville and the home of Middle Tennessee State University, smack in the midst of Lady Vol country. That is the hometown of UConn sophomore guard Crystal Dangerfield.

“I love Tennessee,” Dangerfield was saying Thursday morning from Nationwide Arena, where she'll compete for UConn in the Women's Final Four on Friday against Notre Dame.

“When the news broke that (former Tennessee Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt) had Alzheimer's, it was devastating. But even before that, I started to like UConn.”

Dangerfield, the two-time Tennessee state champion from Blackman High School, the three-time Gatorade Tennessee Girls' Basketball Player of the Year, became the first-ever UConn recruit from the state of Tennessee. The Tennessee women's basketball team, when coached by the late Summitt, was long considered the water to UConn's oil (they don't mix), with the teams combing for 19 national championships.

Dangerfield committed to UConn on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014, via Twitter.

“Blessed to be able to say that I committed to UConn this weekend #BleedBlue!” Dangerfield wrote.

That was immediately followed by another tweet, from an observer to the proceedings: “OH WOW, Geno coming in the Lady Vols front door.”

“I think they kind of understood,” Dangerfield said of her friends' reaction to the decision. “I'm sure there were some people somewhere … I'm never going to listen to anything outside. I don't think anything of it.”

Now, Dangerfield is one of the reasons UConn is at the Final Four, contending for its record 12th national championship.

Hobbled by shin splits throughout the season, which caused her to miss a great deal of practice time and two games early in February, Dangerfield was at her finest when it mattered most in Monday night's Albany Regional final, being named to the All-Tournament Team as the Huskies (36-0) advanced to their 11th straight Final Four.

Dangerfield was 5-for-5 from 3-point range in the first half as UConn built a 54-33 lead over the defending national champion Gamecocks. She finished with 21 points, six assists, two steals and just one turnover in 30 minutes.

“From Feb. 1 until now, it's been off and on the whole time,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said during Thursday's news conference. “If we're working on something half-court (in practice), she'll come out and she'll be involved. The minute we start going up and down, she's over on the bike. … But where she was the other night, that's the kid that we recruited. That's the kid that I saw.”

“Crystal does such a good job of setting everybody else up,” UConn junior Azurá Stevens said. “It was good to see her set herself up.”

UConn senior Gabby Williams described Dangerfield as generally more matter-of-fact on the court, but said that her teammates know her differently away from it.

“She's just really goofy and kind of child-like,” Williams said of the 19-year-old Dangerfield. “Me and her just laugh all the time. We have the funniest inside jokes.”

Dangerfield perhaps gets her discipline as an athlete from her parents, Davonna and Chris, who both formerly served in the U.S. Army. They've been employed as civilians since before Crystal was born — Davonna in marketing and Chris for the U.S. Postal Service — but were both deployed overseas during the Gulf War.

“Growing up I had a lot of discipline, bring my phone downstairs at 9 o'clock,” Dangerfield said. “… (On the court), I know it's business. We have work to do.”

As for the fun side, Dangerfield is a diehard watcher of the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants. Her favorite movie is Lion King. Her ideal meal is Chick-fil-A, minus the pickles. The most difficult thing in adjusting to the Northeast was “definitely the weather.”

Dangerfield finished her high school career at Blackman with a school record 2,186 points, 507 rebounds, 503 assists and 362 steals, averaging 23.9 points per game as a senior. She won the 2016 Morgan Wootten Award as the McDonald's National Player of the Year and earned first-team All-America honors.

But while Dangerfield's high school teammate Meme Jackson headed for the University of Tennessee, 180 miles East, the highly sought-after Dangerfield headed to UConn, where she had come to admire the speedy point guard Moriah Jefferson, as well as former stars Tina Charles and Maya Moore.

Playing in her second Final Four, she is in search of a title of her own.

“I think the history of this program,” Dangerfield said of her motivation this weekend. “The players that came before us have really built this program up and I don't want to be a part of the team that lets that drop or slide in any way.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com