July 17, 2008
NEW YORK - For the second year in a row, the Army women's basketball team will take center stage at storied Madison Square Garden as a part of the third annual Maggie Dixon Classic. The Black Knights will meet a familiar face when they square-off against Rutgers for a second-straight year in the first game of a women's basketball doubleheader on Sunday, Dec. 14, at noon. Perennial powerhouse Connecticut will face Penn State in the second game.
Tickets for the Maggie Dixon Classic, starting at $15, go on sale on Friday, July 18, at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden box office, all Ticketmaster locations and online at www.thegarden.com.
Army is the lone team to participate in the Classic in each of the past three years. The event honors Maggie Dixon, who guided the Black Knights to their first-ever Patriot League title and NCAA Tournament in 2005-06. Just 19 days after making a trip to the Big Dance, Dixon collapsed and died from sudden cardiac arrest.
"To say that it's an honor to be invited to play in the Maggie Dixon Classic again this year is an understatement," said current Army head coach Dave Magarity. "This event is about celebrating women's basketball and honoring a young woman who enriched the lives of anyone that she came into contact with. That was evident in Maggie's short time here at West Point, and the fact that her spirit is still being celebrated just shows what an incredible individual she was."
Army met Rutgers in the 2007 Maggie Dixon Classic - the first year it was played at Madison Square Garden. Despite a valiant effort against the Scarlet Knights last December, Army dropped a 59-42 decision in what was the first women's basketball doubleheader to be played at The Garden in 26 years. Nearly 5,500 fans took in last year's doubleheader, which also featured Duke versus Pittsburgh in the nightcap.
"For this event to attract such elite competition year-in and year-out speaks volumes. It's fitting that an event of this caliber bears Maggie's name," Magarity said. "Rutgers presents a huge test for us again this season. They had a strong run to the Elite Eight in last year's tournament and have really established themselves as one of the premiere teams in the country."
The Garden has once again partnered with the Dixon family and Cardiac Arrhythmias Research and Education (C.A.R.E.) Foundation, Inc., who will conduct 1,000 free EKG's during the Maggie Dixon Classic, to help raise awareness of heart-related illness and to promote college women's basketball.
