Womens Basketball Announces 2005-06 Schedule
9/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
KENT, Ohio -- As many as five postseason teams from last year and an invitation to the 2005 Hawaii Classic in December highlight the 2005-06 Kent State womens basketball schedule which was officially released today (Sept. 14). The Flashes also partake in the 2005 Xavier Tournament in November and a tournament hosted by Texas A&M Corpus Christi in December.
Kent State opens the regular season with two home games, starting with Lipscomb November 18 followed by Southeastern Conference member Auburn, No. 38 in last years final RPI rankings, the following Sunday, Nov. 20.
The Flashes get their first road test at the Xavier Tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio Thanksgiving weekend where they will face Valparaiso the first day Nov. 25 and either Xavier or Elon on the 26th. KSU then returns home to face Montana State Dec. 3 before road games at St. Bonaventure and a tournament hosted by Texas A&M Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas where they will face NCAA tournament participant Alcorn State Dec. 17 and either Birmingham Southern or TAMU-C.C. Dec. 18.
As always, the division and conference races are the most important task at hand, head coach Bob Lindsay said. A good non-conference schedule should prepare us for that run. Auburn, most notably, should be a good early season test of where we are and where we can go this season. The Xavier tournament also should be a good test for our team with Valparaiso and Xavier both being excellent teams in their respective conferences.
The Flashes return home one last time before Christmas break Dec. 21 against Radford before heading to the Hawaii Classic Dec. 28-30 with the University of Hawaii and another team to be announced.
Highlighting the MAC schedule this year is the return of last years MAC regular season and tournament champion Bowling Green to the east division, replacing Marshall who left to become a member of Conference USA. The Flashes will face the Falcons twice, Jan. 14 in Kent and Feb. 22 at Bowling Green.
The eastern division appears to be very tough this year, Lindsay said. Both Bowling Green and Miami have a number of key returning players and appear to be the strongest challenge in the division. The remainder of the teams in the east will rely on younger players to help improve their finishes from last season.
Unlike previous years, Kent State will face each team in the east division twice and each team from the west one time. West division games this year include road games at Eastern Michigan (Jan. 25), Western Michigan (Feb. 4) and Northern Illinois (Feb. 11) while home contests are with Central Michigan (Jan. 28), Toledo (Feb. 1) and Ball State (Feb. 8).
The Mid-American Conference schedule begins Sunday, January 8 at Ohio. This years MAC Tournament will once again be held at Clevelands Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland, March 8, 10-11. First round games are held at campus sites on Saturday, March 4.
The Flashes, who finished 21-9 last year and shared the East Division championship, were one win shy of advancing to the NCAA tournament after falling to Bowling Green in the MAC Tournament championship game, 81-75.
November6 GANNON(exhibition) 18 LIPSCOMB 20 AUBURN 25 @ Xavier Tournament vs. Valparaiso 26 @ Xavier Tournament vs. TBA December3 MONTANA STATE 10 @ St. Bonaventure 17 @ Texas A&M C.C. Tournament vs. Alcorn State 18 @ Texas A&M Corpus Christi Tournament vs. TBA 21 RADFORD28 @ Hawaii Classic vs. TBA29 @ Hawaii Classic vs. TBA30 @ Hawaii Classic vs. TBAJanuary8 @ Ohio10 AKRON 14 BOWLING GREEN17 @ Miami21 BUFFALO25 @ Eastern Michigan28 CENTRAL MICHIGANFebruary1 TOLEDO4 @ Western Michigan8 BALL STATE11 @ Northern Illinois15 OHIO18 @ Akron22 @ Bowling Green25 MIAMI28 @ BuffaloMarch4 MAC Tournament - First Round (Campus Sites)8 MAC Tournament - Quarterfinals (Cleveland, Ohio)10 MAC Tournament - Semi-finals (Cleveland, Ohio)11 MAC Tournament - Championship (Cleveland, Ohio) ###www.oldfiles###
