Nov. 13, 2010
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After posting convincing wins in both exhibition games, Vanderbilt’s women’s basketball team tips off its 2010-11 regular season at 2 p.m. Sunday when Howard (0-1) visits Memorial Gym. Howard opened the season Friday with an 86-63 loss at Buffalo. The Commodores won by an average of 25 points in its two exhibtion wins over Delta State and Union.
No. 24/21 Vanderbilt is 31-2 all-time in home openers and have won the last 24 contests. The Commodores have won 14 of their past 16 season lid-lifters, including the last four years. Sunday’s game will mark the fourth straight season the Commodores have opened the year at home. Since the 2004-05 season, Vanderbilt has outscored opponents by an average of 41.1 points in home openers.
The Commodores are 2-0 all-time against Howard with Vanderbilt winning the last meeting 103-67 on Jan. 4, 2001. The only other meeting against Howard was also Vanderbilt’s home opener in 1996 when the Commodores posted an 87-47 victory.
Sunday’s game will be broadcast on 560 AM in Nashville with longtime play-by-play announcer Charlie Mattos on the call. Fans can also listen to or watch the game online by subscribing to Vanderbilt All-Access on VUCommodores.com.
Success in November
Under Head Coach Melanie Balcomb the Commodores are 41-4 in the month of November with all four losses occurring on the road. Vanderbilt is 2-0 all-time on Nov. 14 with the last victory coming against Texas A&M Corpus Christi in 2008.
Last Time Out
The Commodores closed exhibition play on Tuesday with a 90-61 rout of Union. Vanderbilt was led by Christina Foggie’s 27 points and Elan Brown’s 21 points.
For the second straight game Vanderbilt started slow from the field before catching fire late. The Commodores started just 1-of-13 from the field as Union built a 14-5 lead with 11:58 to play in the first half. The slow start was reminiscent of last year’s exhibition game against Union in which the Commodores trailed by 13 in the first half before coming back.
Facing a nine-point deficit, Vanderbilt went on a 23-0 run and took a 28-14 lead with 5:47 to play in the half. Vanderbilt’s run was triggered by the play off the bench by Brown, who hit all four of her three-point attempts in the first half and started the game 5-of-5 from beyond the arc.
After trailing by nine, Vanderbilt outscored Union 41-12 over the final 11:33 of the first half and took a 46-26 lead into intermission. Vanderbilt started the second half much the same way it ended the first half by scoring 19 of the first 21 points of the half to take a 37-point lead, 65-28, with 13:39 to play.
About Howard
Under the guidance of third-year Head Coach Niki Reid Geckeler, the Bison finished 16-14 overall and 10-6 in the MEAC in 2010. Howard opened the season with an 86-63 loss at Buffalo on Friday. Howard advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament and won five of its last seven games. The Bison will be led by sophomore forward Saadia Doyle, who was the 2010 MEAC Rookie of the Year after averaging 16.6 points and 11.0 rebounds last year. Howard’s leading scorer from last year, Zykia Brown, is sitting out this season for personal reasons.
Vanderbilt vs. the MEAC
The Commodores are 6-0 all-time against teams from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, with all games being played in Nashville. The last time Vanderbilt faced a team from the MEAC was Delaware State in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament.