Fifteen home dates, five contests against NCAA Tournament teams highlight slate

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Sept. 4, 2013) – First-year ETSU women’s basketball head coach Brittney Ezell unveiled the program’s 2013-14 schedule Wednesday, complete with contests against 11 teams who qualified for postseason play in 2013.

“It’s exciting to finally release the ETSU women’s basketball game schedule,” said Ezell. “A lot of work went into completing this year’s schedule and I want to personally thank former assistant coach, Brooke Wilhoit, for her efforts with the schedule during the coaching transition. I also want to thank our administration and the opposing coaches for all of the communication and collaboration that went into finalizing our schedule.”

The 2013-14 schedule will feature a total of 29 games with 15 to be played at home. Eighteen home-and-away dates are set against each of the nine Atlantic Sun conference foes.

“With 15 homes games this season, our fans will see firsthand the amount of progress that this team will make from the home opener on to the A-Sun Tournament in March,” said Ezell. “The season is about peaking at the right time to give ourselves the opportunity to vie for a championship.”

Fans interested in purchasing season tickets can do so through the ETSU Athletics Ticket Office at (429) 439-3878 or online at ETSUBucs.com/Tickets.

After a home exhibition contest against Shepherd University (Nov. 2), the Buccaneers begin the 2013-14 campaign on the road at cross-state foe and 2013 WNIT participant Memphis (Nov. 8). The season continues on the road with a trek four days later to Boone, N.C. to take on another regional rival and previous WNIT qualifier in the Appalachian State Mountaineers (Nov. 12).

ETSU opens the regular season home slate with three-consecutive contests including the home opener inside Johnson City’s Freedom Hall Civic Center against Morehead State (Nov. 21) in the first game of a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader. Tilts versus St. Francis (Pa.) (Nov. 24) and Alabama A&M (Nov. 29) will follow in the ETSU/MSHA Athletics Center. The Morehead State matchup will be the only ETSU women's basketball game this season inside Freedom Hall.

Non-conference play continues on the road with a visit to Cullowhee, N.C. to take on Western Carolina (Dec. 1) and back-to-back meetings at defending NCAA Tournament qualifiers Vanderbilt (Dec. 3) and Kentucky (Dec. 15).

A three-game homestand will conclude out-of-league action featuring Indiana State (Dec. 18), another 2012 NCAA Tournament participant in UT-Chattanooga (Dec. 21) and George Mason (Dec. 28).

“Winning is always the main objective but we will also be particularly focused on using the out-of-league games to concentrate on our team’s development, chemistry and define who we are as a team,” said Ezell. “We have a challenging and travel-friendly regional non-conference schedule that will serve as great preparation for A-Sun play.”

A-Sun action will kickoff with visits from Lipscomb (Jan. 2) and Northern Kentucky (Jan. 4). The Bucs will then head south to take on the defending regular season conference champion Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (Jan. 9) and the defending conference tournament champion and NCAA Tournament qualifier Stetson Hatters (Jan. 11).

“Once the A-Sun conference season arrives in early January, there are no off nights,” said Ezell, “and no surprises in terms of the level of competition that we will face.”

ETSU will open home conference play by welcoming USC-Upstate (Jan. 19), Kennesaw State (Jan. 23) and Mercer (Jan. 25). A second trip to the Sunshine State in less than a month will follow with a haul to Jacksonville, Fla. to oppose Jacksonville (Jan. 30) and North Florida (Feb. 1).

Repeat opponents will then begin with visits from FGCU (Feb. 6) and Stetson (Feb. 8) for the Play 4Kay Think Pink game. Treks to USC Upstate (Feb. 15), Kennesaw State (Feb. 20) and Mercer (Feb. 22) will follow before the Bucs close out home action with Jacksonville (Feb. 27) and UNF (March 1) for Senior Night.

Regular season play will commence with trips to Nashville to face Lipscomb (March 6) and Highland Heights, Ky. to contest the NKU Norse (March 8).

The 2014 A-Sun Championship will be held March 11-16 with quarterfinal action hosted by the top four seeds followed by the semifinals and finals hosted by the No. 1 seed.

For more on ETSU women’s basketball throughout the offseason, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women’s hoops link.

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