Sept. 30, 2006

2006-07 Women's Basketball Schedule (pdf)Download Free Acrobat Reader

A school-record 17 home games and 12 contests against 2006 postseason tournament teams highlight the 2006-07 Missouri women's basketball schedule, released by athletic department officials Saturday.

Mizzou will also appear on television at least eight times, including two appearances on Fox Sports Net as a part of the Big 12 women's basketball package. The FSN games will include league contests at home against Colorado on Jan. 28 and at Iowa State on Feb. 4. Additionally, the Mizzou Sports Network will pick up four home games, beginning with the Tigers' Nov. 17 match-up with Arkansas State. The remaining three contests are Nebraska on Jan. 20, Oklahoma State on Feb. 10 and Kansas State on Feb. 21. Consecutive road contests at Kansas State on Jan. 13 (FSN-Midwest) and Texas Tech on Jan. 17 (Texas Tech Television Network) will also be shown to regional audiences.

Mizzou's 16 regular-season dates at Mizzou Arena are tied for the most in school history and mark the highest total in head coach Cindy Stein's eight-previous years in Columbia.

Following a home exhibition against Truman State on Nov. 4, Stein's Tigers will officially open the season at Southern Illinois on Nov. 12. The game with the Salukis will mark the 12th all-time meeting since 1977. MU then hosts a pair of games at Mizzou Arena against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Arkansas State, Nov. 14 and 17, respectively.

A trip to six-time defending Pac-10 champion Stanford on Nov. 21 marks the Tigers' fifth game against the Cardinal but their first-ever in Palo Alto, Calif. Mizzou will spend the Thanksgiving holiday in the Golden State and face Alabama in the opening game of the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Tournament in Moraga, Calif. Tourney host St. Mary's and Cal State Northridge mark potential championship-round opponents.

The first weekend of December is spotlighted with the 29th Annual State Farm Tiger Classic, Dec. 1-2 at Mizzou Arena. Opening day games include Alabama A&M against Eastern Illinois and Mizzou hosting Creighton. MU will then welcome Ohio to mid-Missouri on Dec. 6 before a trip to Northwestern on Dec. 10.

After a week off for finals, MU has a three-game homestand against South Dakota State (Dec. 17), Prairie View A&M (Dec. 19) and Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Dec. 29).

"I really like our non-conference schedule and feel like we will be tested early," Stein said. "We will need to be able to play well on the road as four of our first six are away from home.

"Our California trip will be challenging as we head to Stanford, who is a legitimate Final Four team and then we have Alabama from the SEC three days later. We have some familiar opponents, like Arkansas State, Northwestern and SIU, and some new teams that bring added challenges in Creighton, Ohio, South Dakota State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi."

Missouri's 16-game Big 12 Conference slate opens at Colorado on Jan. 3, before hosting Iowa State (Jan. 6) and Texas (Jan. 10). Additional Big 12 South opponents to visit Mizzou Arena include Texas A&M and Oklahoma State on Feb. 7 and 10, respectively.

Other games of note include a pair of Border Showdown contests with Kansas in a 15-day span. The game in Lawrence is set for Feb. 14, while the return game in Columbia on March. 1 will conclude the regular-season.

"We start league play on the road which is always tough in the Big 12 but it's the same theme every year," Stein said. "The question is `Who isn't tough in the Big 12' and the answer is `nobody.' It will be a very competitive year again as there are so many talented returnees and recruiting classes to every team."

The Big 12 Championship will be held at the COX Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., March 6-8 & 10.

Mizzou returns three starters and 11 letterwinners from last year's team that went 21-10 overall, finished fourth in the Big 12 with a 10-6 mark and participated in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last three years and the ninth time in program history.

"We understand that it will be tough to replace Christelle (N'Garsanet) and LaToya (Bond) but this team is up to the challenge and looking forward to it."

Schedule Notes:
* Mizzou opens the season on the road for the second-consecutive year and the sixth time in Stein's nine years

* First-time opponents include Ohio, Prairie View A&M, South Dakota State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

* Home start times have been moved to 6:30 p.m. (from 7 p.m.) for the majority of the weekday contests

* There are two dates when the Mizzou men and women play doubleheaders - Jan. 6 (both teams play Iowa State, women at 1 p.m. and men at 5 p.m.) and Feb. 10 (men vs. KU at 2:30 and women against Oklahoma State at 5 p.m.) ... on Dec. 19, the women play Prairie View A&M at 5:30 p.m. in Columbia, while the men play Illinois in St. Louis at 8 p.m.

* The travel-friendly schedule has the Tigers play just four games outside the Central time zone.

* The NCAA approved a rule change in April that allows teams not participating in preseason tournaments to schedule up to 29 games, increased from the previous limit of 27. The NCAA also voted to move up the start of the regular season to the second Friday in November.