Charles' double-double helps top-ranked UConn shake off rust

NEW YORK -- With her team struggling to find its shooting touch, Connecticut center Tina Charles took over.

Charles had 29 points, 18 rebounds, and four blocks to help top-ranked Connecticut beat Penn State 77-63 on Sunday in the second game of the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden.

"Tina was obviously the big difference in the game," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. "No one could match what she did."

The Huskies came into the game shooting nearly 60 percent from the field and 44 percent on 3-pointers. They struggled against the Nittany Lions, shooting 38 percent from the field and going 7-for-30 from behind the arc.

"You can't realistically keep shooting the ball the way we were shooting it," Auriemma said. "You have to win in a variety of ways to be a great team. When you're making a lot of jump shots you start to look for jump shots. Today we tried to get back to a balance throwing the ball into the post a little more."

UConn (7-0) had been on an 11-day break for exams since beating Holy Cross on Dec. 3. The rust showed as Connecticut was sloppy in the early going in front of a crowd of 9,417.

Trailing 19-18 with 9 minutes left in the half, UConn went on a 16-2 run to close the period. Maya Moore started the spurt with a steal that led to a basket by Renee Montgomery. Moore had seven points during the run. Charles finished the half with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

"It came down to getting stops," said Montgomery, who finished with 13 points. "When you're not scoring the only thing you can do is get stops. You can't rely on making 60 percent of your shots which we've been doing for a long time. It's always going to come down to defense."

Tyra Grant scored 26 points for Penn State (5-5).

"Being that it was the No. 1 team in the nation, we hung with them all the way till the final buzzer went off," Grant said. "Our whole schedule we played tough teams, ranked teams, we've always come close to beating them. When we hit the Big Ten Conference, hopefully these type of games will get us over the hump."

Moore added 21 points for the Huskies, who will head to Cancun to play in the Caribbean Classic this week.

Mashea Williams scored 17 points and Brianne O'Rourke added 13 for the Nittany Lions, who open Big Ten play next Sunday against Michigan State.

Rutgers (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 14 AP) beat Army 59-38 in the first game of the doubleheader staged in honor of the former Army coach. Dixon died April 6, 2006, of arrhythmia, probably caused by an enlarged heart. Her death came three weeks after her first season as Army's coach, a performance that won the admiration of the academy and all of college basketball.

Connecticut struggled to put away Penn State. The Huskies extended their lead to 58-42 on Kalana Greene's free throws with 10:24 left in the game, but the Nittany Lions answered with a 7-0 run capped by O'Rourke's 3-pointer to make it 58-49. Penn State could get no closer than eight the rest of the game as Charles came up with key baskets and rebounds down the stretch.

"I think Tina Charles made a couple of big plays whenever we cut it to eight," Penn State coach Coquese Washington said. "She had two blocks in the second half and also was able to chase down the ball for baskets on the other end. Those were the things that tried to hurt us. Had we been able to cut it to six or five it's a different ball game."

Caroline Doty missed her first 3-pointer 40 seconds into the game. The UConn freshman had made her previous 10, falling four short of the NCAA record set by Portland's Deanna Lansing in 1996 and matched by Lauren Howell of Mount St. Mary's last season.

A portion of the proceeds from the games will go to C.A.R.E (Cardiac Arrhythmias Research and Education Foundation, Inc.). C.A.R.E. offered free heart screening for anyone attending the Classic.