Aug. 19, 2008
LAS VEGAS -
2008-09 UNLV Women's Basketball Schedule
Under first-year head coach Kathy Olivier, the UNLV women's basketball team will play a possible 11 games against teams that played in the postseason last year, as the athletics department announced the 2008-09 Lady Rebels' schedule on Tuesday. The Lady Rebels will play a total of 18 games at home during its 29-game regular season schedule, the most scheduled regular season games at home since the 1983-84 season.
"It's a very competitive schedule, and the teams we face during the non-conference portion should really help prepare us for the Mountain West," said Olivier. "The MWC is one of the best leagues in the nation, especially with the home court advantages it holds as well as the strong coaching in the league. We are excited about the opportunity of having the majority of our games at home. Not only should that benefit us as a team, we want to give our fans a chance to see something different. We hope to put an exciting team on the floor, and I'm glad the community will have several opportunities to come out, watch and support our team."
The schedule will kick off with three straight at home, beginning with the opener against Sacramento State on Nov. 14. Home games against Southern Utah (Nov. 18) and intrastate rival Nevada, Reno (Nov. 21) follow. UNLV will then host its first tournament of the year, as The Lady Rebel Round-Up will be held on Nov. 28-29, and features Georgia, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season, Cal State Fullerton and Eastern Washington.
A three-game road trip then beckons for the Lady Rebels. UNLV will first play at Texas Tech, a WNIT participant in 2007-08, on Dec. 2, before flying back to the West Coast for a Dec. 6 contest at Loyola Marymount. The final road game of the non-conference season will come at Oregon State on Dec.15.
The second home tournament of the year comes right before Christmas, when the Lady Rebels will host The Desert Draw at UNLV. Oklahoma State, who advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 last year, highlights a field that also includes Cal State Northridge and Southern Miss, with the games being played on Dec. 19-20.
Following Christmas, UNLV will play three straight against regional competition, hosting UC Riverside (Dec. 28), Utah State (Dec. 30) and Fresno State (Jan. 2).
The Lady Rebels will then begin Mountain West Conference play at 2008 MWC Tournament champion New Mexico on Jan. 7. The home opener will be the following game, when UNLV hosts TCU on Jan. 10.
UNLV will have a total of three regular-season games broadcast on TV this season, one national broadcast and two games on regional TV. All three are games away from Las Vegas. The Lady Rebels will appear on CBS College Sports once, in its Feb. 21 contest at BYU, while a Jan. 17 game at Wyoming and a Feb. 10 game at TCU will both been shown on The Mountain West Sports Network (The Mtn.).
For the third straight year and seventh time in the 10-year history of the conference, the MWC Tournament will be held in Las Vegas at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center. This season's tournament will be run from March 10-14.
