Behind the strength of a 29-2 run after falling behind 4-0, the UCONN Huskies defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers by a final score of 82-68. Leading 4 Huskies in double figures was Charde Houston, who had a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Renee Montgomery chipped in 17 points, Tina Charles 16 points and Mel Thomas had 10 points. Pittsburgh was led by Marcedes Walker’s double-double, 22 points and 16 rebounds. Selena Nwude added 14 points, Xenia Stewart 12 points, and Shavonte Zellous 11 points for the Panthers.

As I stated above, UCONN used a 29-2 run to get out to a 29-6 lead with about 10 minutes to go in the first half. Pittsburgh then went on a 8-0 run to get back within 15 points. Houston was pivotal to the Huskies in the first half as she had 14 of her 23 points in the first half. UCONN made a small run at the end of the half and went into the locker room leading by 20 (45-25) at the break.

Throughout the 2nd half, Pittsburgh kept chipping away at the UCONN lead but could never get closer than 13 points on their way to a 14 point loss to the Huskies.

Notes and Observations:

• The starters were Montgomery, Thomas, Greene, Charles and Houston.
• Houston also added 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
• Charles just missed another double-double with 9 rebounds. She also blocked 4 shots.
• Amazingly enough, Charles, who is by far the worst free throw shooter the Huskies have, was 8 of 10 from the line.
• Montgomery was of 4 of 5 from 3 point land, while her backcourt mate Thomas was only 1 of 6.
• Kalana Greene added 8 points and 8 rebounds. If I had a vote, I would vote for her as Most Improved Player in the Big East this season.
• Brittany Hunter missed her 4th consecutive game because of her troublesome right knee.
• Meghan Gardler took a hard fall at the end of the game. She was going up for a rebound and somehow her feet went out from under her and she hit the floor like a ton of bricks. Hopefully, she was just shaken up and everything is ok.
• UCONN recruit, Maya Moore, was named the 2007 State Farm/WBCA High School Player of the Year and will also play in the WBCA All-Star game in Cleveland on March 31. Lorin Dixon, another recruit for UCONN, was also selected to play in the game.
• Shea Ralph, Pittsburgh assistant coach, was honored for her induction to the ‘Huskies of Honor’ during the game. She had been unable to attend the original ceremony due to her coaching commitments with the Panthers.

The 10th consecutive win (24-2 overall, 13-0 in the Big East) for the Huskies clinches at least a share of the Big East title for UCONN. The current Huskies have not won a Big East regular season championship. The Huskies can clinch the title on Tuesday, February 20th, with a win at South Florida. That game will be broadcast locally on CPTV at 7 PM.

Technorati: UCONN Huskies, Geno Auriemma, Pittsburgh Panthers

@ Syracuse at 3:30 PM. The game is being televised nationally on ABC.

vs Pittsburgh at the Hartford Civic Center at 12:00 Noon. The game is being televised locally on CPTV. Shea Ralph will receive her plaque for being named to the ‘Huskies of Honor’.

Today was the official reporting day for pitchers and catchers at Red Sox camp. Physicals are scheduled for tomorrow and the first official workout is on Sunday.

Theo Epstein wins again. The Red Sox avoided arbitration with Wily Mo Peña today when he agreed to a 1 yr $1.875 million dollar contract. Theo hasn’t had a case go to arbitration since taking over as GM back in 2003.

Former Red Sox closer, Keith Foulke, retired before even throwing a pitch for the Cleveland Indians. He felt some discomfort in his elbow and felt it was time to walk away from the game.

Here is a link to an interesting article on what goes on behind the scenes with the truck and the people that drove the it down to spring training.

Daisuke Matsuzaka worked out again today. And if you really didn’t believe how much media was there following his every move, here are some pictures from today to prove it.

Amalie Benjamin, Red Sox reporter for the Boston Globe, wrote in her blog today that there were some more big names that arrived at camp today. She reports that the “Captain”, Jason Varitek, Mike Timlin, Matt Clement, Tim Wakefield and Doug Mirabelli arrived at camp today.

Technorati: Boston Red Sox, Theo Epstein, Wily Mo Pena, Keith Foulke, Daisuke Matsuzaka

In an article from the Boston Herald, Kevin Youkilis spoke out on Roger Clemens and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

“I’d love to play with Roger Clemens,” the Sox first baseman said. “He’s one of the greatest pitchers in the game’s history, and to be a part of the guy coming back to Boston and retiring in Boston and to be a part of that team and seeing it all, I can’t even put it into words how exciting that would be. And then you’ve got (Daisuke) Matsuzaka here. It could be an electric year with everything going on.”

“For players, it opens up a lot of gates, getting out in Japan,” he said. “That’s another market that loves baseball. Who knows, maybe we’ll all be heading to Japan to do some appearances and hang out there. It would be cool to branch out and go to Japan and have fans there and do something with them. It would be fun.”

“A lot of us are trying to get past the Spanish, (so) this is getting tough,” he joked. “But a lot of us will deal with (Japanese) and try to get some good humor and learn some funny stuff because it’s a hard transition.”

I would totally love to see Roger back where his career started as well but the big question is, Do we really need him? We already have 6 starting pitchers competing for 5 spots, even though the odds are that Jon Lester will start out in Triple-A Pawtucket.

I agree with Youk’s statement about it opening doors in a new a market. I had pointed this out in the Matsuzaka press conference post that the Red Sox will pick up new fans. When the Japanese fans see how Youk plays the game, I think they will enjoy watching him. He’s one of those players who doesn’t mind getting dirty and will do anything to get the job done.

The language barrier will be tough to overcome. I know it was for me when I started out working in baseball. Luckily for me, I had 5 years of Spanish under my belt so I was able to communicate a little with the Spanish speaking players.

Technorati: Boston Red Sox, Kevin Youkilis, Roger Clemens, Daisuke Matsuzaka