Women's Basketball announces 2007-08 schedule
PLEASE NOTE: UT Athletics is currently taking new orders and renewals for Women's Basketball season tickets. For tickets, visit TexasBoxOffice.com or call the UT Athletics Ticket Office (512-471-3333 or 800-982-BEVO, or Texas Box Office charge-by-phone at 512-477-6060). In-person information can be obtained at the UT Athletics Ticket Office (Bellmont Hall lobby, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. CT). AUSTIN, Texas -- The 2007-08 University of Texas women's basketball schedule, announced on Friday, features 10 opponents (and a possible 11th opponent) that advanced to the 2007 NCAA Championships, including UT's annual contest against defending NCAA champion Tennessee. As Texas head coach Gail Goestenkors readies to lead Texas in her inaugural season at the helm of the UT program, the Longhorns will face a 2007-08 schedule featuring two home exhibitions and 30 regular season games, including the annual 16-game slate in the highly-competitive Big 12 Conference. Fourteen of those regular season contests will be played in Austin at UT's Frank Erwin Center, with the other 16 played on the road or at a neutral site. Goestenkors inherits a Longhorns squad which went 18-14 last year. Please note: Times for all games have not yet been finalized, nor have the national or Big 12 Conference television schedules. That information will be announced at a later date. Texas will play in two in-season tournaments, traveling to the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu for three games over the Thanksgiving weekend (Friday-Sunday, Nov. 23-25) and also to the Maggie Dixon Surf 'N Slam Classic in San Diego, Calif. (Friday and Sunday, Dec. 28 and 30). Highlighting the non-conference schedule will be the contest at Tennessee -- UT's first road contest of the year -- which takes place on Sunday, Nov. 18 (2 p.m. CT on ESPN2), and a game at Arizona State (Thursday, Dec. 20). The Sun Devils were a a 2006 NCAA Final Eight squad. Along with Tennessee and Arizona State, other Longhorn opponents advancing to the 2006 NCAAs include UT-Arlington (Thursday, Nov. 29), Louisiana-Lafayette (Sunday, Dec. 16), along with Big 12 opponents Baylor, Iowa State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. Texas could face another opponent, DePaul (at the Maggie Dixon Surf `N Slam Classic), which advanced to the 2006 NCAA tourney as well. ISU, Baylor and Texas A&M were NCAA second round participants, while OU went to the regional championship (final 16). All other squads were NCAA first-round participants. "We are excited that this schedule will give us tremendous opportunities early on to learn about who we are, and the early games also will tell us what we need to do in order to prepare for the always demanding Big 12 schedule," noted Goestenkors. "We are looking forward to playing at Tennessee and in Thompson-Boling Arena, which is one of the greatest and most difficult venues to compete in. "At the Wahine Classic in Honolulu, we will face some very demanding competition while also enjoying the island experience which will give us an opportunity for team-bonding activities as well," Goestenkors said. "At home, we've emphasized playing as many in-state schools as possible early on, and I hope our loyal fan base will come out in force to support us right away to help us build momentum as we gear toward Big 12 play." After two exhibition games, UT opens regular season competition with two home contests (versus Missouri State on Sunday, Nov. 11 and Lamar on Thursday, Nov. 15) before hitting the road for four games. After facing Tennessee in Knoxville (Nov. 18), UT flies to Honolulu for the three-day, eight-team Rainbow Wahine Classic. Texas begins tourney play against Virginia (Nov. 23) before a second-round meeting against either Kentucky or Minnesota a day later. The championship round takes place on Sunday, Nov. 25. The final eight non-conference games are split evenly between home and away contests. The Longhorns return from Hawaii for two Erwin Center home games against UT-Arlington (Thursday, Nov. 29) and Sam Houston State (Sunday, Dec. 2), then play a third consecutive in-state opponent when they travel to Corpus Christi to meet Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Saturday, Dec. 8). The Longhorns then hit the road for three games, going to Arizona State (Dec. 20) before making a repeat visit to the four-team Surf `N Slam, newly-named for former Army coach Maggie Dixon. The bracket has not yet been announced, but the participating teams in addition to Texas are Appalachian State, DePaul and host San Diego. Texas is the defending champion in that tournament, having defeated host San Diego, 73-45, for last year's title. Goestenkors' club then closes out non-conference action with a Friday, Jan. 4 game at home against Texas-Pan American. The Longhorns open Big 12 Conference play on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at Nebraska. During Big 12 competition, the Longhorns face South Division foes Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech twice and will play each member of the North Division once. North Division opponents coming to Austin are Kansas State (Jan. 12), Iowa State (Jan. 16) and Missouri (Jan. 26).
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