No. 1 UConn women host Wichita State in Hartford matinee

The only two American Athletic Conference women's basketball players with at least 30 steals and 30 blocked shots this season will get the chance to square off early and often in today's UConn-Wichita State matinee at the XL Center (1 p.m., SNY).

Being disruptive defensive forces aren't the only similarities shared by UConn's Napheesa Collier and Wichita State's Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage, who each include sign language to the ways that they can communicate.

Collier has taken a class incorporating the ability to sign as she works toward graduation.

"I need it to fulfill one of my requirements and my grandma is an interpreter so I thought it would be

really cool to learn that," Collier said. "I do enjoy it."

No classes were necessary for Lozada-Cabbage to learn how to communicate with the hearing impaired. Her parents Roddy Cabbage and Emma Lozada are both deaf. They met at Galluadet University where her dad played soccer and football.

"It was my first language," Lozada-Cabbage said. "I started when I was 6 months old communicating with my parents."

When she returns home, the communication with her parents and siblings is done through sign language. It has given Lozada-Cabbage a chance to be an advocate for the deaf community.

"I really like being a part of the deaf community, we basically were raised in the deaf community and have a lot of deaf friends in Idaho," Lozada-Cabbage said. "Both of my parents are teachers at the deaf schools in Idaho and in New Mexico so we are always there for their events, basketball games, volleyball games, football games or whatever they had going on we were always there basically."

When Lozada-Cabbage was a freshman, one of the Shockers' home games included a deaf night promotion.

"That was my (introduction) to get into the deaf community in Kansas so it was great," Lozada-Cabbage said. "I met some really good people and want to keep bridging the gap between hearing and deaf community and everybody get involved.

"There was a good crowd of deaf people, my mom was able to come with one of her friends so they recognized my mom. It was really good, I got a lot of positive feedback from the deaf community and other people."

Lozada-Cabbage takes great pride in the #askmewhyIsign campaign on various social media campaigns.

When she speaks to those in the hearing community about what it was like growing up in a deaf household, she lets them know it wasn't really that different from their experiences.

"A lot of people think it is a really bad disability, it is really not," Lozada-Cabbage said. "If you can't hear, you can function just fine. My dad would go to the doctor's office for an eye appointment and they would say, 'you drove here?' They can do anything but they can't hear. Is it that bad? It is really not, they just can't hear but nothing else is wrong."

Her teammates at Wichita State have done what they can to be open minded but none more than senior forward Jaleesa Chapel who has taken three semesters of sign language while at Wichita State. When Lozada-Cabbage's parents make it to games, Chapel derives great pleasure in being able to take what she has learned and carry on a conversation with them.

"It is great, it is somebody else to talk to in my language," Lozada-Cabbage said. "It makes me parents feel more involved, they can talk to somebody."