Aug. 18, 2006
ATLANTA – Non-conference road trips to Philadelphia, San Diego and the Chicago area and hosting three Southeastern Conference opponents highlight the Georgia Tech women’s basketball schedule, announced Friday morning by the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Yellow Jackets will make their first trip to Liacouras Center in Philadelphia Nov. 20, facing former University of Virginia All-American Dawn Staley’s Temple Owls, which finished the 2005-06 campaign with a 24-8 record and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Four days later, Tech will make the trip to San Diego for the first time in history, facing the San Diego Toreros the day after Thanksgiving at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
“We have worked really hard to upgrade our non-conference schedule this year to help prepare us for the competitive play in the ACC, the toughest women’s basketball conference in the country,” said Georgia Tech head coach MaChelle Joseph.
The Jackets, coming off a 14-15 campaign last year, will then return to Atlanta for a Dec. 3rd matchup with the Georgia Bulldogs, who finished the 2006 season with a 23-9 mark and a visit to the NCAA Sweet 16. It will be the first of three SEC opponents the Jackets will have the opportunity to face during the 2006-07 campaign.
“We are hoping that all of the faithful Georgia Tech fans will be in Alexander Memorial Coliseum on December 3rd to help us earn our second-straight home victory over Georgia,” said Joseph. “This will be only the second time in the last 18 years that we’ve played the Bulldogs on our home court, and it has become a competitive rivalry lately. We hope to have a loud crowd at AMC to support us as we take on the Bulldogs.”
Joseph’s team will have played three games before their trip to Temple, opening the season with a double-header with Mercer Nov. 10th at 6 p.m. (a men’s game against Elon will follow at 8 p.m.), the road opener at Appalachian State Nov. 14th, and another women’s/men’s double header on Nov. 16th, when the two Georgia Tech teams host cross-town rival Georgia State at 6 and 8 p.m.
Georgia Tech will host the ninth-annual Atlanta Marriott NW Holiday Invitational between Christmas and New Year’s, facing Alcorn State in the first round Dec. 29 at 3 p.m. before facing either Mississippi State or Tennessee State the following day. December 30th games will begin with the consolation matchup at 1 p.m. and the championship at 3 p.m. before the Georgia Tech men’s team plays host to St. Francis (PA) at 8 p.m.
The Jackets’ final matchup with an SEC opponent comes in mid-January, when Tech competes in the sixth-annual Russell Athletic Shootout at Gwinnett Arena Jan. 21. The Jackets will square off against Vanderbilt at 3 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast on the ACC’s Regional Sports Network (RSN), which includes FSN South, Comcast SportsNet, SunSports and New England Sports Network.
In all, the Yellow Jackets will have four games broadcast on RSN, three of which will be conference matchups. Tech’s first televised game is on Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 15), when the Jackets host the Miami Hurricanes at Alexander Memorial Coliseum at 4:30 p.m. Tech will have two games broadcast on RSN in the month of February, first against Florida State in Tallahassee Feb. 9 and then on Feb. 19 in Atlanta against Clemson.
Besides playing their home-and-away contests against permanent ACC rivals Clemson, Miami and North Carolina, the Yellow Jackets will also host Boston College, Maryland, NC State and Virginia during the season, all of which appeared in postseason tournaments in 2006. NC State made the first round of the NCAA Tournament, BC advanced to the Sweet 16 and Maryland won the National Championship, while Virginia advanced to the quarterfinals of the WNIT.
Tech rounds out its ACC schedule with trips to Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Florida State during the season.
Also among Tech’s non-conference games are a meetings against Kennesaw State (Dec. 6) and Jacksonville (Dec. 10), the Jackets’ first trip to Northwestern in 13 years (Dec. 18), a visit to the College of Charleston (Dec. 20), a contest vs. Winston Salem State in early 2007 (Jan. 4) and a game against Longwood University at home on Feb. 25 to conclude the regular season.
Overall, the Jackets’ 2006-07 schedule includes 10 games against 2006 NCAA Tournament teams, including five contests against teams that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 and beyond. Tech also plays three games against teams that played in the 2006 Postseason WNIT.
2006-07 Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball Schedule
All times Eastern, subject to change
NOVEMBER 1 South Carolina Upstate (Exhibition), 7 p.m. 10 Mercer^, 6 p.m. 14 at Appalachian State, 7 p.m. 16 Georgia State^, 6 p.m. 20 at Temple, 7 p.m. 24 at San Diego, 10 p.m.
DECEMBER 3 Georgia, 2 p.m. 6 Kennesaw State, 7 p.m. 10 Jacksonville, 1 p.m. 18 at Northwestern, 8 p.m. 20 at College of Charleston, 7 p.m.
29-30 Georgia Tech/Atlanta Marriott NW Holiday Invitational, All Day 29 Mississippi State vs. Tennessee State , 1 p.m. 29 Georgia Tech vs. Alcorn State, 3 p.m. 30 Consolation^^, 1 p.m. 30 Championship^^, 3 p.m.
JANUARY 2 North Carolina*, 7 p.m. 4 Winston Salem State, 7 p.m. 7 at Clemson*, 2 p.m. 10 at Duke*, 7 p.m. 15 Miami* (RSN), 4:30 p.m. 18 at North Carolina*, 7 p.m.
21 Russell Athletic Shootout, Gwinnett Arena, Duluth, Ga., All Day 21 Georgia vs. Florida State (RSN), 12:30 p.m. 21 Georgia Tech vs. Vanderbilt (RSN), 3 p.m.
25 Boston College*, 7 p.m. 28 at Wake Forest*, 3 p.m.
FEBRUARY 1 Maryland*, 7 p.m. 5 at Virginia Tech*, 7 p.m. 9 at Florida State* (RSN), 7 p.m. 11 NC State*, 4 p.m. 15 at Miami*, 7 p.m. 19 Clemson* (RSN), 7 p.m. 22 Virginia*, 7 p.m. 25 Longwood, 2 p.m.
MARCH 1-4 at ACC Tournament, Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC, TBA
* – Atlantic Coast Conference Game ^ – Indicates First Part of Double-Header with Georgia Tech Men’s Team; ^^ – Indicates Part of Triple-Header with Georgia Tech Men’s Team RSN – Regional Sports Network (FSN South, Comcast Sports Net, Sunshine Network, NESN);
