This just in, Tina Charles seems to have the hang of this championship game deal.

Charles' performance in the 2009 national championship game will go down as one of the best effort in the glorious history of the UConn women's basketball program.

Charles delivered with a title on the line again on Saturday in Belgrade, Serbia.

Charles had 28 points and 18 rebounds (one shy of Ayana Walker's U.S. single-game record) as the U.S. defeated Russia 83-64 to win the gold medal at the World University Games.

"I just wanted to go out and play the way I know how to play," Charles said. "I treated this like it was a national championship game or a Big East Conference championship game. I know everybody worked hard, everybody wanted to win, and that's what was always on my mind."

Charles finished as the leading scorer (16.1 points per game) and rebounder (6.5 average in the seven games) for the undefeated U.S. squad.

Even with her UConn teammate Maya Moore forced to miss the tournament with a sprained knee, Charles had plenty of help. Danielle McCray of Kansas and Ohio State's Jantel Lavender were also double-figure scorers, averaging 12 and 10.4 points respectively.

UConn rising sophomore Tiffany Hayes led the U.S. with nine 3-pointers, was the fourth-leading scorer with an average of 8.9 points per game, tied for second with 12 steals and was third with 12 assists.

For those who get Fox College Sports, USA Basketball is saying the game will be aired on that station at 7 p.m.

Here's the info:


Belgrade, SERBIA (July 11, 2009) - Fox College Sports will air the 2009 Women's World University Games Gold Medal Game online at the following link www.sportzu.tv
. The broadcast will air at 7 p.m. EDT and loop three times.

Former Cheshire Academy star Johannah Leedham's 24 points, seven rebounds and five steals were not enough as Great Britain lost to Poland 89-94 in overtime in the fifth-place game in the World University Games Friday in Belgrade, Serbia.

Unless Katerina Elhotova of the Czech Republic scores 31 points and/or Australia's Elyse Penaluba has 34 points in Saturday's bronze-medal game, Leedham will finish in a tie for third in scoring at the World University Games with an average of 18.9 points per game. The rising senior at Franklin Pierce is also tied for fourth in steals (2.4 a game) and tied for fifth with 17 3-pointers.

Leedham's older sister Jennifer, who also played at Cheshire Academy and Franklin Pierce, averaged 6.4 points and tied her sister for the team lead with 22 assists.

The U.S. will play Russia at 9 a.m. Eastern time in Saturday's gold-medal game. UConn's Tina Charles leads the 6-0 U.S. in scoring (14.2 points per game), is second behind Ohio State's Jantel Lavender in rebounding (6 per game). Charles' UConn teammate Tiffany Hayes leads the U.S. with nine 3-pointers, is fourth in scoring (9.7), third with 12 assists and second in 12 steals in the first six games of the tournament.

There's a chance that Amber Holt will play her first regular-season game with the Connecticut Sun on Saturday night.

Holt has been out since breaking a bone in her right hand in a May 27 preseason game against Atlanta. She practiced without restriction for the first time since suffering the injury on Thursday and went again on Friday.

Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault and head athletic trainer Jeremy Norman will meet before the game to decide whether to let Holt play against Detroit or hold her out until Tuesday when Los Angeles comes to Mohegan Sun Arena.

"The doctor said it is my decision if I want to play tomorrow but I am going to leave it up to Coach (Thibault)," Holt said. "Hopefully I’ll play."

Holt is not the only player who will be a game-time decision. Tamika Whitmore missed half of Friday's practice as one of the muscles under her knee is still a bit tender.

"Some days it feels great, some days it is pretty sore," Thibault said of Whitmore.

If Whitmore sits the game out, that would be noteworthy based on her ironwoman reputation.

Whitmore missed five games as a rookie with the New York Liberty in 1999 with a left ankle sprain. Since the beginning of the 2000 season, she has missed just one game (on June 25, 2003 when the Liberty played the Phoenix Mercury because of a sprained right foot.) Whitmore has played in 169 straight regular-season games.

ALL-STAR PRACTICES OPEN TO PUBLIC
Mohegan Sun Arena will host open practices for the East and West All Stars on Friday, July 24th, the day before the 2009 WNBA All-Star Game.

The East All Stars are scheduled to practice from 3-3:45 p.m. The West All
Stars will follow, practicing from 4:15-5 p.m. Arena doors will open at
2:30 p.m. and there will be no admission charged.

The All-Star lineups will be announced on Tuesday during the nationally-televised game between Connecticut and Los Angeles.

UConn rising senior Tina Charles had her second double-double of the tournament and scored in double figures for the fifth time in six games to lead the U.S. past Australia 81-66 and into Saturday's gold-medal game in the World University Games.

Charles finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Kansas' Danielle McCray had a team-high 15 points (her fifth double-digit scoring game) as the U.S. set up a showdown with Russia on Saturday at 9 a.m. Eastern time for the title.

Alexis Gray-Lawson of California and Oklahoma's Danielle Robinson added 10 points each while UConn's Tiffany Hayes had four points and six rebounds. In the first six games, nine of the 11 U.S. players (Maya Moore of UConn is sitting out the tournament with a sprained knee) had scored in double figures at least once led by Charles and McCray. Gray-Lawson and Ohio State's Jantel Lavender had three double-figure games while Hayes and Georgia's Ashley Houts have a pair of double-digit scoring games.

Russia earned a spot in the final with an 106-64 win over the Czech Republic.

DUNN, HUGHES GET THE CALL
Dan Hughes of the San Antonio Silver Stars and Lin Dunn of the Indiana Fever will be the coaches in the July 25 WNBA All-Star game at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Hughes earned the honor by virtue of leading San Antonio to the 2008 Western Conference title but with Bill Laimbeer of the defending WNBA champion Detroit Shock having stepped down, the nod went to Dunn as she has led the Fever to the best record in the Eastern Conference (8-2).

UConn teammates Tina Charles and Tiffany Hayes combined for 36 points as the United States defeated the Czech Republic 115-78 to advance to the semifinals of the World University Games.

Charles had 20 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes while Hayes 16 points and four 3-pointers in 16 minutes. Danielle McCray of Kansas had 15 points and seven rebounds, Ashley Houts (Georgia) had 13 points, Jantel Lavender (Ohio State) 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Kayla Pedersen of Stanford nine points and 11 rebounds for the U.S., which will face Australia in the semifinals on Thursday (11:30 a.m. Eastern time). Russia and Czech Republic play in the other semifinals on Thursday. The semifinal losers play in the bronze-medal game on Saturday (6:30 a.m. Eastern time) with the gold-medal game set for 9 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday.

Charles leads the 5-0 U.S. squad in scoring, averaging 14.6 points per game and is third in rebounding (5.8). Hayes is fourth in scoring (10.8), tied for the team lead with 11 steals and third with 12 assists. Maya Moore, the consensus national player of the year, is sitting out the tournament with a strained right knee.

Former Cheshire Academy star Johannah Leedham headed into Tuesday's play third in scoring (21.3) and steals (12) and tied for the tournament lead with 11 3-pointers. Leedham and her Great Britain team lost to Poland 74-64 on Tuesday. Great Britain plays Taiwan on Thursday. With a win, Great Britain will play in the fifth-place game on Friday. With a loss, it will take part in the seventh-place game on Friday.

FARIS NAMED TO U.S. SQUAD
UConn incoming freshman Kelly Faris was named to the U.S. Under-19 team which will begin training camp on Thursday.

Faris originally was named one of the 14 finalists for the team following tryouts in May. With Stanford’s Sarah Boothe and Pepper Wilson of Pittsburgh pulling their names from consideration because of injuries, the remaining candidates were named to the final U.S. roster.

Faris and the U.S. will open play in the FIBA Under-19 World Championships against Spain on July 23 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The last piece of the puzzle (unless you include the wait for second-year forward Amber Holt to recover from the hand injury she suffered in the preseason) for the Connecticut Sun has arrived.

Sandrine Gruda, a gifted 6-foot-4 forward, joined the Sun on its midwest road trip and will play in Sunday's game at Detroit. Connecticut waived rookie forward/center Lauren Ervin to stay at the WNBA maximum 11-player limit.

Gruda averaged 6.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and tied for the team lead with 26 blocks in 31 games last season. Her arrival was delayed as she led France to the Eurobasket championship and was given permission to take some time to visit her family before joining the Sun.

Gruda had an outstanding performance at the Eurobasket championship and was one of the leading candidates for the tournament's MVP honor which went to former Connecticut Sun guard Evanthia Maltsi. She joins a Connecticut team which ranks last in field-goal percentage, 11th in scoring offense and 10th in rebounding margin.

Not only is Gruda further along as a player than she was a year ago but watching an interview (in English) of Gruda after the Eurobasket semifinals, I barely recognized Gruda's confident, easy-going persona. It was a stark contrast to the shy, reserved way she carried herself around the media with the Sun.

I spoke recently to Asjha Jones, a teammate of Gruda's on the UMMC Ekaterinburg (Russia) squad and Connecticut coach Mike Thibault about how much she has matured in the last year.

"There is a lot of growth," Jones said. "Last year was her first year in America and she is a young player, she didn't go to college and didn't have that experience that we all had. I thiink she tries to treat it as a learning experience and grow every year."

Jones credits the work of Los Angeles Sparks assistant coach Marianne Stanley, who was an assistant for UMMC Ekaterinburg, for helping Gruda grow as a player on the court to the point where she is considered to be one of Europe's top players.

"She came here (last season) as kind of the young kid on the team and for the (French) team she has become a leader and expected to be a leader. I think it will change her demeanor towards how she plays in the league."

Sandrine Gruda, fresh off leading France to the Eurobasket championship, reported to the Connecticut Sun on Saturday.
Gruda, a 6-foot-4 forward, averaged 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 31 games with the Sun last season. She also tied for the team lead with 26 blocks in her first WNBA season. She will be in uniform for today's game at Detroit. Rookie Lauren Ervin, a third-round pick out of Arkansas in the 2008 draft, was cut to make room for Gruda. Ervin averaged 2 points and 1.6 rebounds in eight games for the 4-4 Sun.

Led by 17 points from UConn rising senior Tina Charles, the U.S. defeated host Serbia 84-50 to wrap up the Group A title with a 3-0 record at the World University Games.

Danielle McCray of Kansas and Georgia's Ashley Houts added 12 points each and California's Alexis Gray-Lawson added 10 points and four steals for the U.S. UConn's Tiffany Hayes added six points, three rebounds and five assists for the U.S., which now heads into the second stage of round robin play in Group E along with Great Britain, Czech Republic and Poland. The United States will be given credit for its previous win against Great Britain. After a day off tomorrow, the U.S. will face Poland on Sunday and the Czech Republic on Monday. The top two teams in each of the four groups advance into the championship bracket with the third and fourth-place teams relegated to the consolation bracket.

UConn's Maya Moore missed her third straight game with a sore knee. I reached out to USA Basketball and the early word confirmed early reports that the move was simply a precautionary one. When or if further details become available, I will pass them on but it should be noted that after every game I have seen Maya play, she was worn ice packs on both knees. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, there's no way they are going to risk Maya's health even if it means holding out the team's best player.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that former Cheshire Academy star Johannah Leedham was the tournament's leading scorer through two games, averaging 22 points a game for Great Britain. Some day somebody can explain to me how it is she ended up playing at Franklin Pierce and not for a Big East team or one of the other Division I teams in the state. Something tells me she would be an All-Big East candidate if she went to Seton Hall, Providence or other teams who would use a versatile 5-foot-11 offensive dynamo. It should be noted that Leedham had 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals (as well as seven turnovers) while her sister and Jennifer (who also went from Cheshire Academy to Franklin Pierce) had eight points and four steals in a loss to the U.S. so it's not like they are padding their stats against inferior competition. Unfortunately, the stats are not available for the other games on Friday other than the U.S. so I can't update how the Leedhams did in Great Britain's 80-56 win over France. Johannah Leedham, the 2008 WBCA Division II national player of the year, has one year remaining with the Ravens while Jennifer will stay with the program as an assistant coach after graduating. Personally, if UConn schedules a Division II opponent in the preseason for the third straight season, let's hope it is Franklin Pierce.

With the news that former UConn star and perennial WNBA All-Star with the Phoenix Mercury Diana Taurasi was pulled over on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol the question is what's next for one of the game's most well-known players.

Let's start with this, Taurasi has not been convicted of a crime and the ramifications of the citation she received for suspicion of DUI won't be known until the results of her blood test come in.

The Mercury addressed the story by stating that they are aware of Taurasi's situation. Taurasi was quoted in a Phoenix publication but said very little other than the standard public relations spiel I sure she was instructed to repeat.

I reached out to a Connecticut lawyer who has handled DUI cases in the past to try to get an idea of the time frame of getting blood tests back and he said in Connecticut it is a very long, drawn out process. He also questioned the fact that Taurasi refused to take a breath, opting for a blood test instead stating that would be up to the discretion of the arresting officer. Now it is possible Taurasi, who was said to have been cooperative during her arrest, requested a blood test rather than a breath test. In Connecticut, refusal to take the breath test results in automatic suspension of your license. A report shows that to also be the case in Arizona so if Taurasi is said to have refused to take the breath test, she will be without a license regardless of the outcome of her court case.

Arizona is notorious for its strict DUI laws. so it figures to be a rough road for her if she is shown to have been over the legal limit.

Something tells me that Taurasi, always a popular interview with the Connecticut media, will receive even more attention when she comes to town for the WNBA All-Star game which is being held on July 25 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

On a brighter note for Taurasi, her powerhouse Spartak Moscow Region team just got stronger with the news that Anete Jekabsone-Zogota, who played in her first game with the Connecticut Sun on Friday, will join the squad already featuring Taurasi, Bird, Lauren Jackson and Sylvia Fowles. Jekabsone-Zogota had been playing for Moscow Dynamo since 2006.

Having this week off, I haven't exactly been in a blogging state of mind. I think I have been too busy pondering the impending farewell of my trust old couch which will leave on the back of the (shameless plug alert) Pilgrim Furniture truck in the morning. I'm not saying my couch is old, but it's very likely Geno Auriemma was still an assistant at Virginia when it first made its way to my former apartment.

Since I assume you don't read this blog for couch updates (for those who do, you can't say I don't offer a bit of versatility), I will get down to the matter at hand.

UConn teammates Tina Charles (18 points, six rebounds in 15 minutes) and Tiffany Hayes (15 points, five steals in 22 minutes) as the U.S. opened play in the World University Games with an 115-30 win (sounds like a score of a few UConn games). Maya Moore did not play because of soreness in her knee. I haven't heard any further updates on Maya but I wouldn't try to panic about that. USA Basketball does everything first-class and the medical personnel on the trip with the team are among the best in the business. They will not do anything to jeapordize Maya's health. I would expect more on the subject in the coming days. The U.S. plays Great Britain on Thursday with the winner taking over sole possession of first place in Group A.

Now here's a little update on a former teammate of Moore, Charles and Hayes. Renee Montgomery is holding her first Renee Montgomery Basketball Camp in South Charleston, W. Va. on July 25 (that happens to be the same day as the WNBA All-Star game so I guess she didn't think she would be selected to play when she started planning the event). Among those scheduled to be on hand are her former UConn teammates Kaili McLaren and Kalana Greene.

Speaking of ex-Huskies, four of them are in action tonight as Seattle (featuring Sue Bird and Swin Cash) meet Diana Taurasi, Ketia Swanier and the rest of the Phoenix Mercury. The game is nearing the end of the first quarter. Cash has seven points and Bird five as Seattle leads 21-19. Swanier has two points and Taurasi one for Phoenix.

Last but certainly not least, congratulations to former UConn star Jennifer Rizzotti for being elected to the Jackie Robinson Professional Wing of the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame. She will be inducted in a ceremony on Oct. 19 at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich.