Basketball: Women's 2008-2009 schedule released

By: Brittany Perotti

Posted: 9/4/08

The women's basketball team released its 2008-2009 schedule Wednesday, which is highlighted by games against LSU and North Carolina, as well as two games against Big East rival Rutgers.

Head coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies will open up the season with an exhibition game against Stonehill College at Gampel Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 6. Regular season action will start on Nov. 16 against Georgia Tech at 2 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion.

UConn will host eight regular season games at the XL Center in Hartford and seven at Gampel Pavilion during its 30-game regular-season schedule. One of its most formidable non-conference opponents, Oklahoma, will play UConn on Nov. 30 at 8:15 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion.

Big East play will open up with the Huskies traveling to South Florida on Jan. 6. The Huskies' first conference game at home will be held on Jan. 13 against DePaul at Gampel Pavilion at 7:30 p.m.

This season, UConn will also participate in the Maggie Dixon Classic, a doubleheader event held in honor of Army's former women's basketball coach who died suddenly from a heart ailment in 2006 after leading her team to the NCAA tournament. She was 28. The Huskies will face Penn State on Dec. 14 at 2:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden in New York. Rutgers and Army will also play in the Classic.

The Huskies travel to Cancun, Mexico, from Dec. 18 to Dec. 21 to participate in the Caribbean Classic along with Florida State, Washington and Northern Colorado.

Those hoping to see the LSU-UConn matchup can catch it on Jan. 3 at the XL Center at noon. The Huskies will travel to UNC on Jan. 19 just before the spring semester resumes.

Assistant coach Shea Ralph will face her former team which she coached for, Pittsburgh, for the first time since joining the UConn staff on Feb. 15 at Gampel Pavilion at 3:30 p.m. UConn will play its last regular season home game against Seton Hall on Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the XL Center.

The XL Center will once again play host to the Big East tournament this season, to be played from March 6 through March 10. The Huskies have participated in the postseason tournament each year since the 1982-1983 season and have 14 tournament titles in that time.

The team will close out the season with an away game against Rutgers, the only team to defeat them during the regular season last year. It was in the Louis Brown Athletic Center, known as The RAC, that the then-No. 7 Scarlet Knights squeezed past the No.1 team in the country at the time, winning 73-71 in a shocking upset that resulted in the final game of the season determining the Big East regular season winner.