MOBILE, Ala. ? University of South Alabama women’s basketball head coach Rick Pietri announced the 2006-07 schedule Thursday afternoon. The Jags will face seven teams that reached postseason play a year ago and make the program’s first ever trip to New York in November.
The seven 2006 postseason teams include Florida (NCAA), Middle Tennessee (NCAA), Florida Atlantic (NCAA), Southern (NCAA), Tulsa (NCAA), Florida International (WNIT) and Western Kentucky (WNIT). With the new Sun Belt divisional alignment, USA will face MTSU, WKU, FIU and FAU each two times this season. Among USA’s 13 regular season home games are non-conference match-ups with Florida and Southern Illinois, as well as cross-town foe Spring Hill and nine conference home games.
“I think it is a good early test when you play programs like Tulsa, Florida and Southern, who are all coming off NCAA Tournament appearances,” said Pietri. “Those are programs that are successful and are use to being successful. As we do every year, we try to compete at a place that we normally wouldn’t travel to. This year we are going to New York to participate at Long Island University’s tournament that has a solid field. We also have Southern Illinois coming here who beat us soundly a year ago up there and we will go to Georgia Southern who had a little bit of a down year last year, but is usually always solid. Our non-conference schedule will definitely give us enough challenges to put us in position for conference play. “
South Alabama tips off the 2006-07 season with West Florida, its lone exhibition match, on Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. USA and UWF squared off with each other a season ago and the Lady Jags needed overtime to defeat the Lady Argonauts. The regular season gets started at home when Spring Hill makes the trip down Old Shell Road to face the Jags on Nov. 12. The meeting between the two clubs will be the first since the 1988-89 season. After facing the Badgers, USA will travel to take on the defending Conference-USA champion Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (Nov. 17). The Hurricanes finished last season with a 26-6 mark and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. TU also returns Honorable Mention All-American and C-USA Player of the Year Jillian Robbins. South Alabama will then return to the Mitchell Center to square off with Belhaven College (Nov. 20) before closing out the month of November on the road. South Alabama will make its first ever trip to New York (Nov. 24-25) when it competes at the LIU Thanksgiving Classic in Long Island, N.Y. The Jags will open up tournament play with the College of Charleston and then face either LIU or Cleveland State. After the Blackbird tournament, USA will then head to Atlanta to face Georgia Southern on Nov. 28.
The Jags begin December at home when they take on Florida (Dec. 1), their second NCAA Tournament participant from a season ago. After facing Southern Illinois at their place last year, SIU makes the return trip to Mobile five days later. USA will look to avenge road losses to both the Lady Gators and Salukis. On Dec. 9, South Alabama makes its second trip in three years to Baton Rouge to take on Southern University, who won the SWAC last season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
After facing the Jaguars, USA opens the SBC conference schedule at home when it takes on the defending conference tournament champion Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Dec. 14). MTSU is coming off a 20-11 record and its third straight conference tournament title. The Jags will again be tested in their very next game as USA travels to Bowling Green, Ky., to take on the regular season conference champions, Western Kentucky. WKU finished the season with a 27-7 overall mark and advanced all the way to the WNIT Semifinals before falling 57-56 in overtime to the eventual champion, Kansas State. The Lady Toppers are also ranked in the preseason Top-25 by one publication.
“The move to the East is clearly an upgrade in the level of play that we were in last year,” said Pietri. “When you factor in the fact that the two teams that fought for the conference championship (Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee) along with Florida International, who is always perennial strong, and Florida Atlantic, who comes to the Sun Belt after winning their conference title and advancing to the NCAA Tournament last year, there is no question that we will have some major challenges. Our conference schedule is certainly more difficult for us this year.”
On Dec. 21, South Alabama steps out of conference play for its final non-conference game of the season when the Lady Jags travel to Stetson. USA will then close out December when they face Arkansas State on the road Dec. 29.
The Lady Jags open up 2007 with two straight home games facing Florida International on Jan. 4 and then SBC newcomer Florida Atlantic on Jan. 6. FIU was the second team from the Sun Belt to earn a bid to the WNIT in 2006 and FAU captured the Southland Conference title and advanced to the first round of the NCAA Tournament before switching conferences. USA will continue conference action when it makes the journey up Interstate 65 to take on in-state foe Troy (Jan. 11). South Alabama was able to sweep both meetings from the Trojans in 2006. Two days after facing TU, Arkansas-Little Rock comes to the Mitchell Center to face the Jags. Following road contest versus Louisiana-Lafayette (Jan. 17) and Denver (Jan. 20), USA will play its final home games of the month when it takes on the second newcomer to the Sun Belt, Louisiana-Monroe (Jan. 24) and then the defending West Division champs, North Texas (Jan. 28). January ends with South Alabama on the road at New Orleans on Jan. 31.
The final month of the regular season begins like January ends, with USA on the road, this time at MTSU on Feb. 3. South Alabama returns home again for a pair of home contests, Western Kentucky (Feb. 7) and Arkansas State (Feb. 11) and then closes out the regular season with what could be three pivotal East Division battles. The Lady Jags will travel to Florida International on Feb. 18 and to Florida Atlantic on Feb. 22 before facing Troy (Feb. 24) on Senior Night.
This season, the conference postseason will have a new look to it. The opening round of the 2007 Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference Tournament will take place on campus sites on Feb. 28. The winner of each division and the school with the next best league record will receive a bye, with the remaining teams meeting on the home court of the higher seed. Along with the three schools that received byes, the winners of the opening-round games will then advance to Lafayette, La., for the remainder of the tournament to be held at the Cajun Dome March 3-6.
South Alabama returns four either full-time or part-time starters and eight letterwinners from last season’s squad which finished 15-14 and third in the Sun Belt West Division. Highlighting the list of returnees is 2006 all-conference selection Whitney Woodard. Woodard returned to her all-conference form as a junior and picked up her offensive game as the season progressed. The Memphis, Tenn., native recorded double figure games in eight of her last 10 games to end the season, including a pair of career-high 26 point outputs, the last coming against Western Kentucky in the SBC Tournament. Also looking to step in and make an immediate impact is Monique Jones. Jones, a transfer from Baylor, is a former honorable mention McDonald's All-American in 2003. At Ferriday HS, Jones averaged 23.0 points, 12.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.1 steals for her prep career.
