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2010-11 Women’s Basketball Schedule Announced
7/28/2010 12:26:52 PM | Women's Basketball
Mastodons will have 10 of 28 games against teams in 2009-10 postseason
2010-11 Women's Basketball Schedule
Fort Wayne, IN – IPFW, which is coming off of a 13-17 season and a 10-8 conference record, have announced its schedule for the 2010-11 season. Highlighting that schedule is a season-opening game at NCAA second round participant Michigan State University, and a home game against the Louisville Cardinals, who two years ago finished as the NCAA Tournament runner-up.
“We are excited about the upcoming season, as we will once again have a very demanding schedule,” said Paul. “Playing national powers such as Michigan State and Louisville, as well as teams from the MAC and the Horizon League will put us in position to be prepared once the Summit League season begins.”
Paul, who is 52-86 all-time as a head coach, needs just 12 wins to become the winningest coach in IPFW women's basketball history. He returns four of five starters, the top five scorers, and the top six rebounders from the team last season, which set IPFW Division I records for wins in a season, and conference wins.
After an exhibition game against Manchester College on Tuesday, November 9, the regular season opens on Saturday, November 13 when the Mastodons travel north to face off for the first time in program history against Big Ten foe Michigan State, who fell to Kentucky in the NCAA second round last season. Two days later the Mastodons look to avenge last season's one-point loss at Akron of the Mid American Conference, when the Zips, who fell in the opening round of the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI), travel to Fort Wayne for the fourth all-time meeting between the two squads.
The Mastodons then make a trip on November 20 to Youngstown, Ohio to face off against the Penguins of Youngstown State University, before hosting Indiana Tech two days before Thanksgiving on November 23. Six days later 2008-09 NCAA Tournament runner-up Louisville comes to the Gates Center in the second of a six-game homestand for the 'Dons.
The first weekend of December brings along the first conference games, when Southern Utah travels to Fort Wayne on December 4 for Homecoming, before WBI qualifier UMKC arrives two days later for a December 6 game in the Gates Center. Back-to-back home games at the Memorial Coliseum follow when the 'Dons host Valparaiso on December 8, and the Detroit Titans on December 11.
After a week off for semester exams, the team goes on a four-game road trip, with the first two games coming in Virginia, where IPFW will take on 2010 NCAA Tournament participant Hampton on December 19, and then to Farmville, Virginia to face off against Longwood on December 21. A trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma follows on December 29 where the Mastodons will face off against 2009-10 Summit League regular season champion Oral Roberts, whom the 'Dons swept a season ago. Two days later IPFW will play in its first New Years Eve game since 2002-03, when the squad plays in their final game against Centenary, as the Ladies are moving to NCAA Division III next season.
The new calendar year starts with three straight games at home, opening with IUPUI on January 8 in the Memorial Coliseum, before hosting Western Illinois two days later in the Gates Center. Oakland comes to Fort Wayne on January 15, as the Grizzlies and Mastodons each won on their own home courts last season. A mid-January trip to the North and South Dakota sees IPFW face off against two-time reigning Summit League Tournament champion South Dakota State on January 22, before traveling north to Fargo to face off against the Bison on January 24.
A weekend home series with Oral Roberts, a postseason NIT Tournament participant, and Centenary follows on January 29 and 31, setting the stage for trips to Macomb, Illinois on February 5 and Indianapolis on February 7 for the weekend conference series at Western Illinois and at IUPUI. The road trip continues on February 12 when IPFW goes north to play their Summit League travel partner Oakland on February 12. The finale of the road swing comes against the Mastodons' final non-conference game of the season, when the team heads south to Edwardsville, Illinois to take on SIU Edwardsville on February 16.
On February 19 the Mastodons will host North Dakota State in their fourth annual Pink Out game, in which funds, and awareness, is raised for breast cancer, and the research for the cure of the disease. Two days later the Mastodons host the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State at the Gates Center on Senior Day, which will honor the three seniors on the 2010-11 squad, Sarah Haluska, Jordan Zuppe, and Chelsey Jackson.
A regular season finale road trip follows, as the team heads west to face off against the Kangaroos of UMKC on February 26, and then to Cedar City, Utah, to face off against the Thunderbirds of Southern Utah University on February 28.
From March 5 until the 8th, the top eight teams in the regular Summit League season will compete in the Summit League Championships, hosted in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with the tournament winner earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
~Dons~
