Lady Lions Meet No. 1/1 Connecticut in the Maggie Dixon Classic Sunday

Penn State and Huskies meet at 2 p.m. as part of a doubleheader; Game televised on ESPNU UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.; December 12, 2008 — The Penn State Lady Lions (5-4) close out their non-conference schedule with a special opportunity to play in the Third Annual Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. The Lady Lions will face off against No. 1/1 Connecticut (6-0) at 2 p.m., as part of a doubleheader in honor of former Army women's basketball coach Maggie Dixon, who died suddenly of a cardiac arrhythmia on April 6, 2006. Army and Rutgers square off in the first game of the day at noon. Both games of the doubleheader can be seen on ESPNU.   TV/RADIO/WEB: The game can be seen on ESPNU with Quint Kessenich (play-by-play), Brooke Weisbrod (color) and Melissa Knowles (sideline) calling the action. The contest can also be heard on the Penn State Sports Radio Network with Jerry Fisher describing play. The game will air locally WMAJ. The audio feed and a link to GameTracker are available at www.GoPSUSports.com <http://www.GoPSUSports.com> .   SCOUTING CONNECTICUT: The Huskies are the top-ranked team in both polls and are a perfect 6-0 on the season. UConn, which is outscoring its opponents by nearly 40 points per game, has four players averaging double figures, led by Maya Moore at an 18.5 per game clip. Renee Montgomery (17.3 ppg), Tina Charles (16.2) and Carolina Doty (11.3) are also averaging double figures.   ALL-TIME VS. THE HUSKIES: The Lady Lions are 3-5 all-time against UConn. The teams last met in the 2004 NCAA Regional Final in Hartford with the Huskies picking up the 66-49 victory. Five of the eight contests between the Lady Lions and Huskies have taken place at a neutral site.   LAST TIME VS. UCONN: Stout defense by the Huskies held the Lady Lions to just 13 first-half points on the way to a 66-49 victory in the 2004 NCAA Regional Final in Hartford, Conn. Kelly Mazzante finished with 14 points in her final game as a Lady Lions and Tanisha Wright led Penn State with 16 tallies in the loss. LAST TIME OUT: The Lady Lions jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and never looked back en route to an 81-44 win over Bucknell Tuesday. For the fifth consecutive game, the Lady Lions registered more than 10 steals with 12 thefts off of Bucknell's 30 turnovers. The last time the Lady Lions had five-straight games with 10 or more steals was from Feb. 16 – March 7, 2003. Junior guard Tyra Grant led the offensive charge for Penn State with 24 points, while senior guard Brianne O'Rourke added 15 points and five assists for the Lady Lions, who shot 45.7% from the field and 46.2% from three-point range.   FORMER TEAMMATES MEET: Junior Meredith Monroe will square off against former high school teammate and friend Kaili McLaren when the Lady Lions face UConn on Sunday. The pair led Our Lady of Good Counsel to the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship in their senior season. POP-A-BLOCK: Sophomore Janessa Wolff was solid in the post with nine points, a team-best six rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots in the Dec. 9 win over Bucknell. Her six rejections are tied for the 10th-highest single-game total in school history and are the most by a Penn State player since Amanda Brown had seven blocks against OSU on Jan. 11, 2007.   DYNAMIC "D" CONTINUES: The Lady Lions forced 30 Bucknell turnovers on Dec. 9 and converted those TOs into 37 points in the dominating win. The 30 turnovers are the most forced TOs by a Penn State team since the Lions forced 34 turnovers in an 88-37 victory over Fairfield on Dec. 2, 2001.   Penn State returns home for its Big Ten opener against Michigan State on Sunday, Dec. 21 at noon, a game that can be seen on the Big Ten Network. The PSU-MSU game is High School team day for the Lady Lions and fans will also receive a commemorative photo while supplies last. The Lady Lions will also face Illinois in the "Operation Warm" game for this season on Sunday, Dec. 28 at noon.  The game against the Illini is also a Subway Full Court 4-Pack day. For information on Lady Lion Basketball tickets, call the Penn State ticket office at 814-865-5555.   The 2009 WBCA Pink Zone at Penn State proudly supported by Mimi Barash Coppersmith (formerly known as THINK PINK Day) will take place on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m., as the Lady Lions take on Iowa in the Bryce Jordan Center. The game can be seen on www.bigtennetwork.com. The first two Pink Zone events have raised more than $50,000 for breast cancer awareness. This year's fundraising efforts will benefit the Penn State Hershey Breast Cancer Institute, the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition and the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. For more information on the Pink Zone at Penn State, visit the official Pink Zone website at www.gopsusports.com/pinkzone.