West Hartford, Conn. – For the first time since taking over the Hartford Hawks women's basketball program in 1999, Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti will have the opportunity to play her alma mater on the Hawks home court, the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. The University of Hartford and the University of Connecticut will begin a new three-game women's basketball series with the initial game scheduled to be played in West Hartford on December 22, 2012.

The series, which will continue through the 2014-15 season will include two additional games played either at Gampel Pavilion or the XL Center in downtown Hartford.

The series, which began during the Hawks second year in Division I, dates back to December 3, 1985 with the Huskies winning all 12 of the previous meetings. Following Rizzotti taking over the Hawks program, Hartford began a six-game series with Connecticut with all six games played at the XL Center. In addition to those six games, the Hawks have played Connecticut one other time, which was the first round NCAA Tournament match-up in 2011. Overall the Hawks are 0-12 against Connecticut.

The meeting at the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion will not be the first against Connecticut in West Hartford as the Hawks and Huskies played twice during the early years of the series. The first meeting on the Hartford campus was on December 12, 1987 at the then Physical Education Center, while the teams played again in West Hartford on December 23, 1990 under the newly opened University of Hartford Sports Center.

Season tickets for the 2012-13 season go on sale approximately July 1, 2012. Fans interested in being among the first to purchase tickets for the Connecticut game should contact the Malcolm & Brenda Berman Athletics Ticket Office at (860) 768-HAWK (4-2-9-5) or tickets@hartford.edu, to be included on a waiting list. Fans on the waiting list will be the first to be contacted as soon as ticket information becomes available this summer.