For Immediate Release: Thursday, June
26, 2003
Contact: Dave Geringer, UTPA Sports Information Director, (956) 381-2240
LADY BRONCS FACE CHALLENGING SCHEDULE IN 2003-04
EDINBURG, TX-With twelve home dates and several national and regional powers, The University of Texas-Pan American's women's basketball team will face a challenging schedule for the 2003-2004 season.
The Lady Broncs will face two opponents from the Mid-American Conference and one each from the Sun Belt, Southland, Mid-Continent and Southwestern Athletic Conferences at the UTPA Fieldhouse this year.
MAC foes Marshall and Central Michigan will visit Edinburg just prior to the holiday break, December 19th and 21st. Mid-Con foe Oral Roberts and SWAC opponent Prairie View A&M will also come to Edinburg in December.
The Lady Broncs will open their home schedule with games against in-state rivals Texas A&M-International and St. Edward's in November. Both games will be the first half of the doubleheaders with the Broncs.
Fellow independent Texas A&M-Corpus Christi visits Texas-Pan American in January, along with in-state rival Incarnate Word. Northern Colorado, a new NCAA Division I team, is the first of four visitors to the UTPA Fieldhouse in February. Louisiana-Lafayette of the Sun Belt and independent Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne visit February 16th and 19th, respectively, with the latter contest preceding a Broncs game as the first half of a doubleheader. Southeastern Louisiana of the Southland Conference will play the Lady Broncs in the regular season home finale Saturday evening, February 28th. That game will mark Senior Night.
On the road, UTPA will visit Big 12 foes Texas and Kansas State. UT, which advanced to the Final Four last season, hosts Texas-Pan American December 17th, while the Lady Broncs play at the Wildcat Classic December 5th and 6th. The field includes host Kansas State, a top 10 team, as well as Saint Louis of Conference USA and Sacramento State of the Big Sky.
Texas-Pan American will open the season at the Air Force Tournament,
with the host Falcons of the Mountain West Conference joining Boise State of
the Western Athletic Conference and Dayton of the Atlantic 10 in the field.
The Lady Broncs will begin the New Year on the road, playing six away games
in succession. UTPA will visit Texas-Arlington of the SLC, Sacramento State,
San Diego State of the Mountain West, Louisiana-Lafayette, Southeastern Louisiana
and Southwest Missouri State of the Missouri Valley before returning home. Texas-Pan
American also visits fellow independents Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and IPFW
as well as Prairie View Tulsa of the WAC, and concludes the regular season at
Big Sky foe Northern Arizona March 3rd.
"We have a tremendous, big-time basketball schedule," said UTPA Head
Coach DeAnn Craft. "This is the toughest schedule in the history of our
program, and goes with our commitment to play top level competition whenever
we can. We are confident that our approach will help us continue to attract
top recruits. Our players are all excited about beginning a new chapter for
Lady Bronc basketball. As a staff, we are looking forward to the challenges
of establishing success against a very competitive schedule."
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