It was expected that the No. 1 UConn Huskies would probably play a little sloppy to start the game. I don’t think anyone other than the Penn State Lady Lions expected to give the Huskies a tough game though. But they did as they gave UConn fits on both ends of the court.

But in the end, behind Tina Charles’ monster afternoon, the Huskies persevered and earned a 77-63 win over Penn State in the second game of the Maggie Dixon Classic at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.

This was the first appearance in the Maggie Dixon Classic for both teams. The event honors the memory of Maggie Dixon, the former Head Coach of the Army Women’s Basketball team, who passed away of a congenital heart ailment at the age of 28, just weeks after leading Army to their first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament back in 2006.

Charles’ led the way for the Huskies (7-0) with a double-double putting up 29 points and 18 rebounds with 5 blocks in her return to the Big Apple. Maya Moore was excellent as well as she added 21 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks. Renee Montgomery chipped in with 13 points and 5 assists. Caroline Doty added 6 points but saw her 10 straight consecutive 3-pointers made streak come to an end.

Penn State (5-5) was led by Tyra Grant’s 24 points and 8 rebounds. Mashea Williams had 19 points and 7 rebounds while Brianne O’Rourke added 13 points and 5 assists. Julia Trogele pulled down 8 rebounds as well for the Lady Lions.

Penn State came out ready to play and took a 4 point lead at 7-3. Over the course of the next 10 minutes, both teams exchanged baskets before a Montgomery jumper gave the Huskies the lead for good at 20-19. The Huskies would use a 16-2 run over the final 8 minutes of the half, including that jumper from  Montgomery, to take a 34-21 lead at the break.

The Lady Lions cut the lead down to 7 points early in the second half but the Huskies responded to push the lead back up to 13 points at 47-30. But Penn State wasn’t going away. They kept it close eventually getting it back down to 8 points but with 2:36 to play, a Moore layup off a Charles block put UConn back in control for the rest of the afternoon.

The Huskies head to Cancun on Monday morning to get ready for the Caribbean Classic on Thursday afternoon against the Washington Huskies at 4:30 PM. There is no television for that game but you can catch UConn’s final two games in beautiful Cancun on CPTV.

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Before the UConn Huskies women’s basketball game came on the air on CPTV, Larry Rifkin announced that CPTV will be broadcasting two of the three games while the Huskies are in Cancun participating in the Caribbean Classic.

They will broadcast the games on Friday night against the Northern Colorado Bears at 7:00 PM and the game on Sunday afternoon against the Florida State Seminoles at 4:30 PM. Originally none of the three games were scheduled to air on television.

There’s no word on who will be announcing the games but as the details become available I will update the post.

Just got this email from the Boston Red Sox:

Due to overwhelming demand for April and May single-game tickets and Sox Pax, which went on sale yesterday, the Red Sox have put an additional 15 September and October games on sale for the 2009 season.

The following games are now on sale:
• Sept 8-9 vs. Baltimore Orioles
• Sept 11-13 vs. Tampa Bay Rays
• Sept 15-17 vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• Sept 28-30 vs. Toronto Blue Jays
• Oct 1-4 vs. Cleveland Indians

The April and May games which went on sale yesterday have limited availability — only scattered single seats, obstructed view grandstands, and/or standing room tickets remain. save time! print your tickets at home. All Sox Pax are sold out.

Tickets can be purchased at RedSox.com or for accessible seating, call (877) RED-SOX9. The Red Sox’ TTY number for hearing-impaired fans is (617) 226-6644.

While we sit here on pins and needles awaiting the decision of  free agent Mark Teixeira, let’s take a look at what else is making news for the Boston Red Sox on this Sunday morning.

Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant will be voting to put former Red Sox great into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Here is a look at the case of Jim Rice to get into the Baseball Hall of  Fame.

And here is a look at the case of why Jim Rice should not get into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

There was over a 1,000 fans at Christmas at Fenway yesterday.

Dan Roche of WBZ takes a look at what he thinks the 2009 Red Sox lineup will look like.

Chibba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine likes the Red Sox signing of Junichi Tazawa.

Finally, I ran a poll last week when we found out the Red Sox would be changing their logo. 60% of you thought the Red Sox should change their logo.

[polldaddy poll=”1180516″]

Now that the changes are out to the logo, take a moment to vote in a new poll in the left sidebar to let us know if you in fact like the new logo.

It’s game day for the No. 1 UConn Huskies women’s basketball team as they return to action after final exams. They will take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in Game 2 of the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is scheduled for approximately 2:30 PM and the game can be seen locally on CPTV. The game will also be broadcast on ESPNU.

The UConn women are ready for a Garden party.

Geno Auriemma recalls meeting the late Maggie Dixon on a recruiting trip while she was at DePaul.

Geno thinks his son, Michael, needs to hit the weight room at St. Joe’s.

Roger Cleaveland of the Waterbury Republican-American has a look at the 5 things we should know about the UConn women.

Auriemma feels like a kid when he coaches at Madison Square Garden.

Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register takes a look at Kastine Evans who is the only Connecticut player on the UConn women’s radar.

Penn State coach Coquese Washington hopes to set something up on the schedule with the UConn women for the future.

Ed Daigneault of the Waterbury Republican-American has a look at 5 things we should know about the UConn men’s basketball team.

UConn men’s assistant coach Patrick Sellers is amazed at all the technology devices the players have these days.

Saturday’s game against Gonzaga has the look of a Final Four matchup.

David Gillett has a look at the top 10 UConn players in the NBA.

UConn football coach Randy Edsall is a glass half full kind of guy.

Don’t expect Penn State backup QB  Pat Devlin to transfer to UConn.

UConn offensive lineman Will Beatty is no longer flying under the radar.

Rob Lunn checks in with another entry over at Thoughts From a Fat White Guy.