APSU Sports: Women’s Basketball
Clarksville, TN – A November 30th contest against Vanderbilt at the Dunn Center highlights the 2011-12 Austin Peay State University women’s basketball schedule, released Friday.
The Lady Govs 2011-12 slate features 13 non-conference contests, including six games against teams that won 20-plus games last season. In addition, nine teams on Austin Peay’s schedule saw postseason action in 2011, including five teams that advanced to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship.
However, it is the home contest against Southeastern Conference foe Vanderbilt that will stand out in many fans eyes. It is the Commodores first visit to Clarksville since 1990 and will be only the sixth time the two teams have met at the Dunn Center in series history. It also will be the first visit by an SEC opponent since the 2006 season when Arkansas – then under the guidance of former Lady Govs coach Susie Gardner – trekked to the Dunn Center.
“I am looking forward to Vanderbilt visiting the Dunn Center,” said Daniels. “It’s a good game for our fans and I expect it will bring a good crowd to see our team play. I believe it will provide a test of how far we’ve progressed halfway through our non-conference schedule.”
Austin Peay will begin its 2011-12 campaign with a November 11th home contest against Southern Illinois. Three days later, the Lady Govs will make the first of three regular-season visits to Nashville when they begin a four-game road trip with a contest at Lipscomb.
That road trip continues after an eight-day layoff with a visit to nationally-ranked Louisville – a team that reached the NCAA Sweet 16 last season and posted a 22-13 record. The Lady Govs will leave Louisville for a trip to the West Coast for two games in Cal Poly’s tournament. Austin Peay will not be able to enjoy a leisurely Thanksgiving vacation as they will face Patriot League co-champion American before squaring off against host and defending Big West Conference champion Cal Poly.
Austin Peay returns home for its November-ending date with Vanderbilt before hosting UAB in a December 3rd contest. That brief two-game homestand will feature two 20-win squads and a UAB team that won the 2011 Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament, a post-season event.
A second four-game road trek begins with a December 6th trip to perennial NCAA Tournament participant Middle Tennessee, which won the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division last season. Austin Peay then travels to Bowling Green – the Mid-America Conference’s East Division champion – for a December 9th contest before facing Ball State, December 11th.
Following a week off for finals, the Lady Govs head to Nashville for the second time to meet Belmont, November 18th. The non-conference portion of Austin Peay’s schedule concludes with back-to-back home games against Florida A&M, December 20th, and Alabama A&M, December 21st.
The Ohio Valley Conference race begins following the Christmas Break. The 2011-12 race will feature a 16-game regular-season sprint after the league’s teams faced a 20-game marathon in 2010-11. With the inclusion of SIU Edwardsville in the regular-season race – it will not be eligible for postseason competition this season – the league’s coaches and athletic directors elected to use an unbalanced schedule for the upcoming season.
In women’s basketball, the unbalanced schedule means each of the league’s teams will play its two “rivals” twice this season – Murray State and Tennessee State in Austin Peay’s case. In addition, each team will play four of the remaining schools twice – Morehead State, Eastern Kentucky, UT Martin and Southeast Missouri against Austin Peay. Each school will face the remaining four teams – Jacksonville State, Eastern Illinois, SIU Edwardsville and Tennessee Tech in APSU’s case – just once.
In addition, OVC women’s basketball contests will be played predominantly on a Saturday-Monday format. Last used during the 2002-03 season, both the men and women’s teams will play Saturday with the women playing a solo contest the following Monday. Only the regular-season’s final week will see a Thursday-Saturday format scheduled by the league to accommodate the league tournament the following week.
“I believe the changes to the conference schedule will pose some challenges,” Daniels said. “But I expect that our fans will make the adjustment quickly and support us as they have in the past. We have plenty of quality home conference contests that will prove critical to our conference chances.”
Austin Peay will begin its OVC schedule with a third trip to Nashville to meet Tennessee State, December 29th, and complete its sweep of facing each of the Music City’s four Division I programs. The Lady Govs then make the “Death Valley” swing with visits to Morehead State, December 31st, and Eastern Kentucky, January 2nd.
The Lady Govs begin their season’s longest homestand, January 7th, when Murray State visits the Dunn Center. One week later they host Jacksonville State followed by a January 16th contest against Eastern Kentucky.
Austin Peay meets rival Eastern Illinois for the only time during the regular-season in a January 21st contest in Charleston, IL, before making its first conference stop at SIU Edwardsville, January 23rd. The Lady Govs return for a January 28th home contest against Tennessee State before ending the month at Southeast Missouri, January 30th.
February could prove important to the Lady Govs regular-season title hopes as they will play four of the month’s six contests at home, including matchups against OVC Tournament Champion UT Martin (February 1st), regular-season champion Tennessee Tech (February 6th), Morehead State (February 18th) and a regular-season finale against Southeast Missouri (February 25th). Austin Peay’s lone road excursions during the month will be a February 13th contest at Murray State and a February 23rd outing at UT Martin.
The 2012 OVC Women’s Basketball Championship begins February 29th at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium. For the second consecutive season, the league will use a ladder format for the championship with the fourth through eighth seeds opening play, February 29th, followed by quarterfinal play, March 1st, with the third and fourth seeded teams beginning action. The league’s top two teams will open tournament play March 2nd with the championship to follow on March 3th.
