Who says you can’t go home?

Tina Charles broke out of her funk with 21 points and 6 rebounds to help the No. 1 UConn Huskies get past the St. John’s Red Storm 77-64 at Carnesecca Arena in Jamaica, NY.

The UConn women improve to 24-0 (10-0 Big East) while the Red Storm fall to 15-8 (3-7). This is the first time the Huskies have opened a season at 24-0 since 2002-03.

Renee Montgomery also added 21 points and 7 assists while Maya Moore had yet another double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds to go along with 4 blocked shots. Tiffany Hayes continues to impress since being thrust into the starting role as she added 12 points. The only other Husky to score was Meghan Gardler who had 3 points before fouling out.

Stamford, CT native Da’Shena Stevens led all scorers in the game with a career-high 27 points and had 9 rebounds for the Red Storm. Kelly McManmon added 13 points and Sky Lindsay chipped in with 10 points.

St. John’s held a couple of 1 point leads early on and then stayed close with the Huskies for the first 7 and half minutes. Then with UConn leading 22-20, the Huskies went on a 9-0 run to open up an 11 point lead. The Red Storm cut the lead back down to 8 points at 34-26 before a 7-0 run opened up a 15 point lead at 41-26. The Huskies took a 45-30 lead into the locker room.

Over the first 4 minutes, the Huskies built their lead to 20 at 54-34 before St. John’s made it a ball game again with 13-0 run to cut the lead to 7 points. Like any championship caliber team, the Huskies took the blow and responded back with a 6-0 run to keep the Red Storm from pulling off the upset of a lifetime.

The lead swelled to 19 at 75-56 when Moore hit two 3-pointers and Hayes added one of her own. The Red Storm would get no closer than the final margin the rest of the way.

Everyone expected the Huskies to blow out the Red Storm tonight and yes at times it looked as though might happen. But a resilient St. John’s team gave the Huskies a test and it was a test that the Huskies passed.

For Charles, it was good to see her bounce back from her poor efforts the past few games. She must now use this and build upon it as the Huskies close out the regular season.

The Huskies are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they host the Pittsburgh Panthers at 3:30 PM at Gampel Pavilion. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

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With Brett Favre getting ready to announce his retirement from football again, apparently the web editors at ESPN are only focused on that. Take a look at the right column and then look at the left.

On the right, you have the headline that says “Jeter will wait to talk A-Rod” while on the left you have Jeter talking about ARod. Nobody expects ESPN to be perfect but they should at least be consistent in my humble opinion.

Dustin Pedroia, author: Apparently anyone can write a book these days as Dustin Pedroia’s new book “Born To Play: My Life in the Game” will hit bookstores around the All-Star Break this year. “I’m really excited to be doing this book. I hope that by telling my story it may be something some people out there might connect with.” Now this is definitely a book I want to read. [Inside Track]

Everyone’s favorite former Boston Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez has a book coming out on March 10th. He didn’t write it but it’s an authorized biography written by Jean Rhodes and Shawn Boburg with the foreward written by Leigh Montville.

The book covers his entire life from the Dominican Republic and Washington Heights all the way to Los Angeles where he finished the 2008 season after his trade from the Red Sox.

Included in it is the incident with Red Sox traveling secretary Jack McCormick.

“Jack disrespected Manny for many years and on many occasions,” Ramirez’s former agent Gene Mato says in the new, authorized biography “Becoming Manny.”

Manny’s bride, Juliana, added that her husband’s request for tickets to a Sox-Astros game was for fewer seats than the 16 cited in media reports.

“Jack’s response was very rude,” she recalled. “And Jack had a history of insulting Manny in front of the other players.”

The big question though is will any Red Sox fans read it? I know I’ll probably will read it.

Book gives Manny Ramirez’s side of the meltdown [Inside Track]

[BecomingManny.com]

Alex Rodriguez: I’m sorry but this was too good to pass up and not share with y’all. I’m sure everyone has seen the interview with Alex Rodriguez and Peter Gammons by now. If you haven’t check it out and then check this out. You may have noticed ARoid’s orangey complexion. And now Total Pro Sports has photographic proof that ARoid may be an Umpa Lumpa. [Total Pro Sports]

Courtesy of Sneaker News comes the shoe that Boston Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen will be wearing in the All-Star Game this weekend in Phoenix, AZ.

Other Jordan Brand athletes and their All-Star Game shoes:

• Joe Johnson – Atlanta Hawks
• Chris Paul – New Orleans Hornets

Other Nike athletes and their All-Star Game shoes:

• Amare Stoudemire – Phoenix Suns
• Dirk Nowitzki – Dallas Mavericks
• Kobe Bryant – Los Angeles Lakers
• LeBron James – Cleveland Cavaliers
• Kevin Durant – Oklahoma City Thunder (Rookie-Sophomore Game)

Other Nike shoes for the All-Star Game

• Nike Foamposite Lite ASG – All-Star Game 2009 – East & West
• Nike Hyperdunk – East & West – All Star Game 2009
• Nike Zoom Air Huarache 09 – East & West – All Star Game 2009

Eastern Conference: Chris Bosh (Nike Huarache 09), Danny Granger (Nike Zoom Phenom, not pictured), Rashard Lewis (Nike Hyperdunk), Paul Pierce (Nike MAX P2 V, not pictured)

Western Conference: Pau Gasol (Nike Hyperdunk), Brandon Roy (Nike Zoom Phenom, not pictured), Tony Parker (Nike Huarache 09), Amare Stoudemire (Nike Foamposite Lite), David West (Nike Foamposite Lite)

Darius Butler & Will Beatty: In his latest mock draft for Scouts, Inc., Todd McShay has UConn’s Darius Butler being the first Husky taken in the draft. He has the New England Patriots drafting him in the 2nd round (47th overall). McShay also has the Patriots drafting Will Beatty in the 2nd round (58th overall). [ESPN Insider (pdf)]