University of Memphis Athletics
Women's Basketball Releases 2007-08 Schedule
Sep 10, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Sept. 10, 2007
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A schedule featuring 17 home games, two SEC opponents and three non-conference road trips highlight the 2007-08 Lady Tiger basketball schedule that was released Monday.
"We felt it was important to get a young team some home games," Head Coach Blair Savage-Lansden said. "One of our advantages this year is that even though we're young, all our returnees played a lot last year and it will not take us five or six games to figure out what competing at the NCAA Division I level is about. We will be ready to go right from the beginning of the season."
Memphis will open the season with a two-game home stand, opening against Tennessee Tech, Nov. 10th, then following that game with a second visit from Southeastern Louisiana, Nov. 16th. The Lady Tigers will then fly to Omaha, Neb., to face Creighton in a return trip from last year that will allow sophomore point guard Se'erra Fantroy an opportunity to play a game in her home state.
Memphis then will host the 23rd Annual Lady Tiger Thanksgiving Classic, Nov. 23-24th with Louisiana Tech, Northwestern State and Tennessee State participating. Louisiana Tech is a team that went 17-13 last season and which could have gone to the WNIT, but declined the bid after getting upended in the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
The Lady Tigers will play three more home games after the Thanksgiving Classic, hosting an Alabama A&M team that went 17-13 last season on Nov. 28th. The three-game home stand also includes a Dec. 2nd match-up with Mississippi State, the first game between the two programs since 2002-03, and a Dec. 14th match-up with NCAA participant Belmont University, the defending Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament champs.
Memphis then embarks on a three-game road swing that will include a second SEC opponent with a Dec. 18th stop at Arkansas and then a second tournament of the year, this one at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Meyers, Dec. 20-21st. Florida Gulf Coast was 34-1 last season, going undefeated until the NCAA Division II national championship game. FGC returns three starters and nine letterwinners from that team, and will be joined in the tournament by NCAA Division I independent Texas Pam American and Loyola-Chicago in Fort Meyers.
The Lady Tigers will wrap their non-conference schedule win a pair of home games against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Dec. 28th) and Toledo (Jan. 4th). UAPB last appeared on the Memphis schedule in 2003-04, while this will be the first-ever meeting between the Lady Tigers and Toledo.
The Conference USA schedule will open on the road for the Lady Tigers, as Memphis ventures to Birmingham to face UAB, Jan. 6th in both team's league opener. Back in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, Memphis will host Marshall (Jan. 10th) and defending C-USA Tournament champion East Carolina (Jan. 12th). A two-game road swing through New Orleans (vs. Tulane, Jan. 18th) and El Paso, Texas (vs. UTEP, Jan. 20th) will follow the home opening weekend, while the month of January will close out with a home game against UAB, Jan. 27th.
February will be the month of road trips for Memphis, with just four home games against five league road trips. The month opens with a pair of Houston-based schools visiting the Lady Tigers, with the Cougars of Houston coming to town Feb. 1st , while Rice visits Feb. 3rd. A three-game league road swing will follow, with games at Southern Miss (Feb. 7th), UCF (Feb. 9th) and SMU (Feb. 14th). Tulsa will return to Memphis for a second straight season, Feb. 17th, before Memphis closes out its 2007-08 league road schedule at Marshall (Feb. 21st) and East Carolina (Feb. 23rd). The month closes with a Feb. 28th game against Southern Miss, and the regular season schedule will close with a Mar. 1st game against UCF for Senior Day.
The 2008 Conference USA Championships will be hosted at UCF, Mar. 6-9th.
Memphis returns four starters and seven letterwinners for the upcoming season, including senior Aroha Jennings and juniors Ashley Thornton and Paris Leonard.
