The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Women's Basketball Announces 2009-10 Schedule
9/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Sept. 14, 2009
2009-10 UAB Women's Basketball Schedule (PDF)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB women's basketball team has 16 home games on tap, including the UAB Thanksgiving Classic tournament, for the 2009-10 season, sixth-year head coach Audra Smith announced Monday.
"We have once again put together a tough schedule for the upcoming season," said Smith. "We want to challenge our team early so that we are prepared for the conference portion of the schedule, which is always tough.
"Even though our non-conference schedule will be a battle, we feel that this team has the ability to be successful. We know that if we play good basketball, we can beat any team on any given day."
After an exhibition contest at home versus Augusta State on Nov. 8, the Blazers will open their regular-season schedule on Nov. 13 by hosting Alcorn State.
UAB will then have a three-game string of Big Ten, ACC and SEC opponents, beginning with a trip to Ohio State on Nov. 17. The Blazers will return home to host Miami (Fla.) on Nov. 21 before making the trip to Gainesville, Fla. to take on the Florida Gators on Nov. 24.
On Nov. 27 and 28, the Blazers will host the UAB Thanksgiving Classic, which will feature UAB, Norfolk State, North Texas and Samford. UAB will take on North Texas on Nov. 27, followed by a game against Norfolk State on Nov. 28.
The Blazers will begin the month of December with their second SEC foe of the year when they travel to Athens, Ga. for a Dec. 1 matchup with the Georgia Bulldogs. UAB will return to the friendly confines of Bartow Arena for a Dec. 5 game against Mississippi Valley State and a Dec. 14 contest against Central Michigan.
UAB's second tournament of the campaign will take the Blazers to Queens, N.Y for the St. John's-Chartwells Holiday Classic. Virginia Tech will be UAB's opening opponent on Dec. 19. The Blazers will play either St. John's or UT-Arlington on the second day of the tournament (Dec. 20).
A pair of Ohio Valley Conference opponents will round out the non-conference slate for UAB with the Blazers hosting Southeast Missouri State on Dec. 22 and making the trip to Austin Peay on Dec. 30.
The Blazers will tip off their Conference USA schedule on Jan. 7 by hosting SMU, followed by a visit from Tulsa on Jan. 9.
UAB will play six of its next seven games on the road, including at Southern Miss (Jan. 15), at UCF (Jan. 17), at East Carolina (Jan. 28), at Marshall (Jan. 30), at Memphis (Feb. 4) and at Rice (Feb. 7). The Blazers' only home game during that span is on Jan. 23 when they host Houston.
After spending almost a month on the road, UAB will play five of its last seven games at home, starting with UCF and Southern Miss on Feb. 12 and 14, respectively.
The Blazers will travel for a pair of games at UTEP (Feb. 18) and Tulane (Feb. 20) before concluding their regular-season schedule with three home games, including East Carolina (Feb. 25), Marshall (Feb. 27) and Memphis (March 4).
The 2010 Conference USA Championship is set for March 8-12 in Tulsa, Okla.
"This should be an exciting season for us," said Smith. "We have a lot of talented players and high expectations for this team. We are going to be ready to start practice in mid-October and get prepared for the upcoming year."
