Sept. 15, 2008
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Season Tickets Start at $30 | 2008-09 Schedule
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Head Coach Melanie Balcomb kicked off her seventh season at the helm of the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team Monday by announcing an impressive schedule for the 2008-09 Commodores. The slate features a total of 11 games against teams that made the 2008 NCAA Tournament and at least four national television appearances.
“I’m very pleased that we’ve put together another top-tier schedule of games,” Balcomb said. “Our non-conference schedule has a great balance that should have us well-prepared for the SEC season. We have some great games for our home fans again this year, and I’m excited to have plenty of our opportunities to highlight our team on television.”
Vanderbilt returns all five starters from a team that went 25-9 last season, advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the 13th time in school history. Christina Wirth, a candidate for the 2009 Wade Trophy, averaged 13.1 points per game last season while leading the Southeastern Conference in three-point field-goal percentage.
Commodore fans will have 16 opportunities to catch regular-season home games within the confines of Memorial Gymnasium. A Dec. 30 visit from 2008 Sweet 16-participant Notre Dame highlights the non-conference home schedule.
The always exciting Southeastern Conference slate includes Sunday home games against Tennessee (Jan. 11), LSU (Jan. 18), Alabama (Feb. 1) and Georgia (Feb. 15), and mid-week visits from Arkansas (Jan. 29), Florida (Feb. 12) and Auburn (Feb. 19).
The schedule also features a healthy dose of local and regional flavor. Cross-town rival Tennessee State will play at Memorial Gym for the first time since 1994, while UT-Martin returns to face Vanderbilt in the Music City for the first time in 25 years.
Vanderbilt opens the season at home against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday, Nov. 14. Following a trip to Western Kentucky (Nov. 16), Vanderbilt will return home to play host to Eastern Kentucky (Nov. 19).
A weekend road trip will take the Commodores through Johnson City, Tenn., to face ETSU (Nov. 21), and up to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a game with the Michigan Wolverines (Nov. 23) to be televised nationally on the BIG TEN Network.
Once again, the Commodores will play host to the Vanderbilt Thanksgiving Tournament on the last weekend in November. This season, the Commodores invited Davidson, St. Joseph’s and Virginia Tech to take part in annual event. Vanderbilt will face Davidson in the opening round (Nov. 28), while St. Joseph’s will take on Virginia Tech. The consolation game will then precede the championship on Saturday, Nov. 29.
The next week, Vanderbilt welcomes Radford (Dec. 2) to Memorial Gym before embarking on a West Coast journey for the second consecutive season. The Commodores will play at Cal State-Fullerton (Dec. 4) and UC-Riverside (Dec. 6) over a long weekend.
After a break for winter exams, Vanderbilt will take on a three-game homestand prior to a holiday hiatus when Tennessee State (Dec. 19), UT-Martin (Dec. 21) and Liberty (Dec. 22) descend on Memorial Gym for three games in four days.
Vanderbilt will wrap up its non-conference schedule with two strong tests against a pair of 2008 NCAA Tournament teams, playing host to Notre Dame (Dec. 30) before traveling to Iowa State (Jan. 3).
The 2009 SEC Schedule features 14 games, including home-and-home series with Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. The 2009 SEC Tournament returns to North Little Rock, Ark., after last hosting the event in 2006.
Highlights of the promotional schedule include “Jam the Gym” against LSU on Jan. 18 — which annually features one dollar tickets and a variety of family entertainment — and “Pink Out” against Georgia on Feb. 15 — a portion of ticket proceeds will benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center as everyone involved in the nationally televised game is encouraged to wear pink for breast cancer awareness.
Prior to the beginning of the regular season, Vanderbilt will play host to a pair of exhibition contests with Tusculum College (Nov. 2) and Love & Basketball (Nov. 7).