University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Lady Eagle Basketball Releases Schedule
8/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Lady Eagle Basketball Releases Schedule
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Fifteen home games, including the annual Hattiesburg Inn Classic, highlight the 2002-03 Southern Miss women's basketball schedule released today by head coach Rick Reeves. Nine of the Eagles? opponents played in the 2002 postseason tournaments, five in the NCAA and four in the NWIT. Two were listed in the final Associated Press top 25 poll.
?Once again, we have a competitive schedule,? Reeves said. ?We have Purdue and Texas Tech coming to Reed Green Coliseum this year as part of our non-conference schedule. Those games should draw a nice crowd.?
Southern Miss opens play at home with an exhibition game on Nov. 13, before beginning the regular season on the road, Nov. 22, against Hampton University and Nov. 24, at Louisiana-Monroe. The Eagles return home of a six-game homestand, including national power Purdue and their own Hattiesburg Inn Classic that features Mississippi Valley State, Tennessee-Martin and Birmingham Southern. The Golden Eagles play three straight on the road, before returning home with face another national power, Texas Tech. Other nonconference opponents include South Alabama, San Francisco, McNeese State, Centenary and UNO.
Conference USA will once again be one of the stronger conferences in the nation. Last season, three C-USA teams (Cincinnati, TCU, Tulane) were part of the NCAA Tournament field, and all three advanced to the second round, while another three teams (DePaul, Houston, Louisville) were invited to the WNIT. Houston advanced to the championship game.
The Golden Eagles will host Tulane, DePaul, Houston, Marquette, Memphis, Saint Louis and TCU, while traveling to Charlotte, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Louisville, South Florida, Tulane and UAB in the 14-game conference slate. The top 12 teams advance to the Conference USA Tournament in Memphis, Tenn., Mar. 6-9.
?This league gets better every year,? Reeves said. ?This year won?t be any different than the years past. TCU and Cincinnati had really good seasons and they return the core of their teams. Overall, I think the conference had an excellent recruiting year.?
Southern Miss returns 11 letterwinners, including four starters for the upcoming season.
--SouthernMiss.com--
