LAS VEGAS, Nevada (February 8, 2024)—Las Vegas Aces general manager Natalie Williams announced today that the team has signed nine-year WNBA veteran guard Bria Hartley to a training camp roster.
Hartley was selected No. 7 by Seattle in the 2014 WNBA Draft and traded to Washington that day.
After playing three years for Washington (2014-16) and three for New York (2017-19), the 2014 WNBA All-Rookie Team member landed with Phoenix ahead of the shortened 2020 ‘wubble’ season. She was averaging career-highs of 14.6 points and 4.5 assists in 13 games before a torn ACL sidelined her for the remainder of the year.
Hartley returned from injury in time to see action in the Mercury’s last six regular season games in 2021, then played in 10 postseason contests for Phoenix, which fell to Chicago in the WNBA Finals.
Hartley’s 2022 season, during which she played for both Indiana and Connecticut, was cut short by another ACL tear in late July. She did not see action in the league in 2023.
Hartley has competed extensively in Europe during the WNBA offseasons, and is currently playing in Turkey for Galatasary, which will play in the EuroCup quarterfinals on Feb. 22 and 29. Gala is currently (as of 2/8/2024) in third place with a 15-7 record in Turkey’s KBSL, the top league in the country. Hartley started the year at Perfumerias Avenida in Spain, and competed in 10 EuroLeague games for that club before transferring to Gala.
A naturalized citizen of France, Hartley helped Les Bleus earn a silver medal at the 2019 European Championship and was a member of the French squad that went 3-0 at the 2020 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which clinched that nation’s Tokyo Olympic berth.
Before picking up French citizenship, Hartley was a member of the 2014-16 USA Basketball National Team pool, won three gold medals in junior-level international events, as well as a gold medal for the USA at the inaugural FIBA 3×3 World Cup in 2012.
A two-time All-American at Connecticut, over her four-year collegiate career Hartley helped the Huskies post a 144-11 (.929) record, claim the 2013 and 2014 NCAA Championships and advance to the 2011 and 2012 NCAA Final Fours. With Hartley on the roster, the Huskies also won a pair of Big East Conference Tournament titles, one Big East regular season crown, one American Athletic Conference regular season title and one AAC Tournament championship. Among her many accolades, Hartley was a two-time NCAA All-Final Four Team selection.