By Kim J. Harmon

Even though she still has another year of high school basketball in front of her, senior Kelley Haines has already decided where she will be attending college in 2004-05.

Haines, the third-leading scorer in Newtown High School history, has made a verbal commitment to the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire and will sign her official Letter of Intent in November.

Haines considered Boston University and Delaware as two of her other top choices.

“I felt like I found the school I wanted to go to,” said Haines, who will receive a full four-year scholarship from the Lady Wildcats, “so there was no sense in delaying the decision.”

UNH finished 13-16 overall and 7-9 in the America East Conference in 2002-03. Maren Mathias of Guilford, one of the twin towers who helped oust Newtown High School from the CIAC Class LL state tournament back in 2000, presently is the ‘Cats senior center and leading scorer.

“I really like the coaches there,” said Haines. “They are really nice people. And the campus is a really beautiful place.”

UNH squares off against teams like Stony Brook, Quinnipiac University and the University of Hartford.

Now, the 2003-04 high school season figures to be a chaotic one for the senior, who is just 142 points shy of passing the 1,000-point barrier … something only one other female player (Lynn Lattanzio) has ever done.

And Lattanzio’s all-time school record of 1,115 points is also well within the grasp of the sharpshooting (she owns the school record for three-pointers in a season) No. 2 guard.

But after a successful summer campaign with the Connecticut Starters 17-and-under team – which won better than 40 games and finished third at the Nationals in Florida – Haines should be on the top of her game.