Sept. 5, 2010
2010-11 Schedule
RUSTON - Non-conference match-ups against Conference USA foes Houston and Southern Mississippi and road games against LSU, Tulane and Georgia highlight Louisiana Tech's 2010-11 women's basketball schedule which was released Sunday.
The 29-game slate features 16 games against teams that participated in postseason tournaments last year, including 10 against NCAA Tournament participants.
Tech, which is coming off the program's 27th NCAA Tournament appearance, returns the nucleus of last year's team including two-time first team all-Western Athletic Conference honoree Adrienne Johnson as well as starters Whitney Jones, Jasmine Bendolph and Tarkeisha Wysinger.
Head coach Teresa Weatherspoon and Co. will also welcome four newcomers this season, including junior college all-American forward Shantale Bramble-Donaldson, New Zealand native Jelena Vucinic and a pair of combo guards in Angie Felton and Brittany Hardy.
This year's schedule features 14 regular season home games, 13 road games and an appearance in the Sun and Fun Classic hosted by Florida International following Christmas break.
"Our main focus with scheduling this year was building our RPI," Weatherspoon said. "We wanted to play great non-conference competition to prepare us for the WAC and the tournament. We believe we have put together a very competitive scheduled that will make us compete every night whether at home or on the road."
The non-conference portion of the schedule is challenging as the Lady Techsters play 10 teams that advanced to post-season last year, including NCAA Tournament participants Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Tulane, UALR and Southern. Tech will also face WNIT participants in Houston, Missouri State, Western Kentucky and Prairie View.
Southern Miss and Arkansas State are the only two teams on the non-conference portion of the schedule that posted a losing record last year while missing the post-season. Tech also has a potential match-up against either Marquette (WNIT) or Florida International in the second day of the Fun and Sun Classic which rounds out the non-conference portion of the schedule.
"We will have to work to get wins," Weatherspoon said. "You can just take a look at this schedule and see the likes of Tulane and LSU back to back. Our preparation leading into the season is very important."
The Lady Techsters will play a 16-game WAC schedule again with two games against each of the eight league schools, including 2010 NCAA Tournament participant Fresno State and WNIT's participants Nevada and New Mexico State.
"We are 14 deep this year, and it will be competitive each day in practice," Weatherspoon said. "It will be very challenging for the players and very difficult for us as coaches to settle on five. It will change (periodically) because of the talent we have at every position. We will have a very deep bench."
To purchase your 2010-11 women's basketball season tickets, email techtickets@latech.edu, log onto www.latechsports.com or call 318-257-3631.
