Straight-A student Molly Bent has never regretted her decision to repeat her sophomore year of high school when she transferred to Tabor Academy, saying she would have never been a part of the UConn women’s basketball team without doing it.

Caroline Ducharme faced a similar decision five years ago. If she transferred to Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Mass., she would need to repeat seventh grade though she, like Bent, was a strong student.

“They usually didn’t accept eighth graders and I didn’t want to wait a year,” Ducharme said. “My mom went there and my sister was there. Nobles is a special place. It had everything I wanted and I’d be surrounded by passionate people. And the coach, Alex Gallagher, was a huge draw.

“Everything worked out. Would I be in the position I am now if it hadn’t? I don’t know. But everything that happened definitely benefited me.”

Ducharme, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, made her verbal commitment to attend UConn on Thursday. She is the third player from the Class of 2021 to choose the Huskies joining Saylor Poffenbarger (6-2 wing, Middletown, Md.) and Amari DeBerry (6-5 forward, Buffalo, N.Y.).

Among the schools she also looked at were Maryland, Oregon, Stanford, and Tennessee. She is rated the No. 41 recruit in the class by ESPNHoopgurlz.

“Every little girl from New England dreams about going to UConn and then as you get older you figure out what’s best for you,” Ducharme said. “I visited a lot of schools and when I did I just kept coming back to UConn.

“I really wasn’t planning to commit now, maybe May or June. But with everything going on with the coronavirus, I was home a lot and had time to think about it. I had all the information I needed and, really, nothing was going to change. So why not now?”

Ducharme, who turned 18 last November, averaged 25 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, and three blocked shots as a junior in leading Nobles to the New England Prep School Athletic Council Class AA tournament championship. In the final against Worcester Academy, she had 31 points and 14 rebounds in a 65-42 win that gave Nobles its eighth title in nine years.

She was named the 2020 Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year after missing her sophomore year with a torn shoulder labrum.

“I was so happy to be back,” Ducharme said. “Having won so many in a row and not winning it last year motivated people, but there are no guarantees.

“We had a lot of people returning and a lot of new kids. I knew we’d be good but didn’t know how it would all work out. We had such good chemistry and we worked hard and everyone played well for each other.”

It was her first healthy season in awhile.

Ducharme had surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in May, 2017 but ended up missing just one game to start her freshman season and averaged a double-double. She attended the trials for USA Basketball’s U-17 team in May 2018, advancing through to the last cut before the 18 finalists were announced. Two months later she sustained the shoulder injury that ended her sophomore season before it began.

“But I learned a lot about myself during that time,” Ducharme said. “I came to appreciate the time you have on the court and it made me realize more how much I loved the game. I think it also helped me it helped me become a better leader as it taught me to connect with my teammates without being on the court with them.”

She’ll join her older sister at the Division I level. Ashley Ducharme recently completed her sophomore season at Brown University.