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09/04/04
Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. The 2004-05 Mississippi State women's basketball schedule that boasts 17 home games and eight Top 25 ranked teams from the end of last year, was released Friday by MSU Director of Athletics Larry Templeton.
"With 17 home games this season, this is the best schedule in terms of quality games at home and the number of them," said head coach Sharon Fanning. "We have a number of opportunities for our fans to see us play this season with return games with teams that finished in the Top 25 last year such as non-conference foes Baylor, Louisiana Tech and Santa Barbara and several SEC opponents."
After two exhibition games, the regular season kicks off at home versus New Orleans on Nov. 19. The SEC schedule begins on the road at South Carolina on Jan. 6 and at home against Alabama on Jan. 13.
The Lady Bulldogs have several return games from last year's schedule in then No. 11 Baylor (Nov. 23), No. 12 Louisiana Tech (Nov. 30) and No. 19 UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 10). In addition to these three, seven SEC schools advanced to the NCAA Tournament and five of those were ranked in the final Top 25 of the 2003-04 season.
State will travel to Orono, Maine for the Dead River Company Classic with Maine, Loyola-Chicago and St. Joseph's over the Thanksgiving break, Nov. 26-27. The MSU Classic will be held again in the middle of December (19-20), with MSU hosting Grambling, Louisiana-Monroe and San Jose State.
The Lady Bulldogs will experience two televised games this year, both on SEC TV, comprised of FOX Sports Net South, FOX Sports Net Southwest and the Sunshine Network. The Jan. 27 meeting at Ole Miss and the Feb. 20 encounter at Kentucky, in addition to the 2005 SEC Tournament, March 3-6, will be televised on SEC-TV.
Last season State finished with a 14-15 overall record and 7-7 in the SEC with a 59 RPI and 13 strength of schedule rating. The Lady Bulldogs fell in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals to Tennessee, 67-57, to end their season. Coach Fanning received her 150th win at MSU with a 54-41 decision over Kentucky. Then junior guard Tan White was a unanimous selection to the first team all-SEC voted on by the coaches and also by the Associated Press.
The Lady Bulldogs added five new faces to this year's squad, freshmen Alexandria Hagler, Miayorka Johnson, Amy Reeder, Maribeth Willoughby and sophomore transfer Sarah Johnson. They will replace the three graduated seniors in Seneca Anderson, Jessica Carter and Faithe McGhee.
Leadership will come from three-time all-SEC selection senior guard White as well as fellow seniors Tiania Burns, Rebecca Kates and Ebonie Ferguson. All-SEC candidate Mamie McKinney will provide veteran experience underneath and the anticipated return from injuries of juniors Blessing Chekwa and Doceide Warren will give more depth to the roster. Head coach Sharon Fanning enters her 10th season at the Lady Bulldog helm with a 153-113 record at MSU and 476-339 overall record entering her 29th year of coaching.
Source: MSU Media Relations