Spent the weekend in State College (or it is University Park) Pennsylvania to cover the Yale volleyball team's participation in the NCAA tournament. The schedule makers were kind and had the Penn State women's basketball team play at noon on Saturday which enabled me to check out the Penn State game before heading over to the second round of the volleyball tournament between Yale and defending national champion Penn State.

Curious about Penn State, which happens to be UConn's next opponent? Well, Dayton 67, Penn State 66 should answer some of the questions.

I'm glad Penn State doesn't copy a page from the UConn fans by standing until the home team scores because there would have been some fatigued Lady Lion supporters as Penn State needed 3:47 to break Dayton's shutout bid. The first Penn State field goal didn't come until the 5:33 mark, the second field goal was registered with 9:50 remaining in the half. For those scoring at home, the Lady Lions missed their first nine field goals and after Mashea Williams hit a jumper, Penn State missed their next seven shots. Let's be honest, most of the shots were not close to finding their mark. To their credit, Penn State rallied from a 13-point deficit to take lead on Williams' jumper with 9:35 to play. But two missed layups (including one by Meredith Monroe, a former high school teammate of Kaili McLaren) on the next offensive possession proved costly as Dayton came down and converted on a Casey Nance layup.

I spoke to junior Tyra Grant, who recently scored her 1,000th point, and Penn State coach Coquese Washington after the press conference was over and will have more from them later in the week about playing UConn and taking part in the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden. Obviously, Penn State is thrilled to play at the Garden willing to give their best shot against the top-ranked Huskies.

Penn State sold tickets for two bus loads of fans to make the trek to New York and during the game, it was announced that no seats were left on either bus. The New York chapter of the Penn State alumni association is gobbling up plenty of tickets so expect a decent amount of fan support from the Penn State end a week from today when Penn State meets UConn in the second game of the Maggie Dixon Classic at 2:30 p.m. Rutgers and Army will play in the first game at noon.

During the event, the memory of former Army coach Maggie Dixon, who passed away at the age of 28 on Apr. 5, 2006 as a result of an enlarged heart and an issue with a heart valve. Using the high-profile event to help raise awareness for the Cardiac Arrhythmias Research and Education (C.A.R.E.) Foundation, there will be a health expo at MSG.

Fans can eceive a free ECG and blood pressure check. Other features of the Heart Health Expo include free CPR & AED training provided by the FDNY, stress test demonstrations, nutritional counseling and testimonials from heart patients. Additionally, the Knicks Groove Truck will be onsite with plenty of giveaways as well as video games and basketball hoops.

The Heart Health Expo, which is open to all fans attending the games, will be located in Madison Square Garden's Expo Center adjacent to the basketball court throughout the doubleheader event.

Tickets for the Maggie Dixon Classic can be purchased at the MSG box office, all Ticketmaster locations and online at www.thegarden.com . ESPN U will televise both games.

WALKER SHINES
UConn commit Samarie Walker, considered among the premier players in the current class of high school juniors, had 18 points as her Chaminade-Julienne team improved to 2-0 with a 55-41 win over Thurgood Marshall on Saturday.

Walker and C-J out of Dayton will be competing in the prestigious Tournament of Champions event in Chandler, Ariz. beginning on Dec. 18 against California power Long Beach Poly.