This season’s schedule for women’s basketball was announced this past Friday. This year, the Jackets will take on eight different teams that made it to the postseason last spring in addition to the tough ACC schedule it battles through each year. Tech will also see its first action in the Preseason Women’s National Invitational Tournament which will take place Nov. 13-22.
The Jackets will open up in the first round against Winthrop in the Preseason WNIT. Tech will play at least three games in the tournament before traveling to Brooklyn N.Y. for the Long Island University Thanksgiving Tournament, which will be held on Nov. 27 and 28. In the LIU Thanksgiving Tournament, Tech will face Seton Hall in the first round.
Some of the major non-conference matchups will include Penn State, Georgia, Oregon and Arizona. On Dec. 2 the Jackets will travel to Penn State to compete in the third annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
This year’s game against Georgia, scheduled for Dec. 6 in Athens will not be a cakewalk against Georgia and Head Coach Andy Landers.
The experienced Landers is 725-239 in his 30 seasons coaching the Bulldogs, and this year his team returns four starters and two additional letter winners from last year’s squad that finished 18-14 and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
In last year’s meeting between Tech and Georgia, the Jackets came out on top 57-42 after a key 11-2 run early in the second half sparked the team. The Jackets are now 3-28 in the all-time series against the Bulldogs, but all three of the wins have come in the last seven years.
Tech will also host the two PAC-10 teams of Oregon and Arizona on December 16 and 20 respectively. At the end of December the girls will participate in the Florida International Holiday Tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. where they will meet Hampton in the first round. This tournament will take place on Dec. 28 and 29.
ACC play will not open until Jan. 6, when the Jackets will travel to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina. Last season the Jackets were able to upset the Tar Heels 66-62 for the Jackets’ first-ever victory over a team ranked in the top three in the nation. In the second meeting in Chapel Hill, Tech was not as successful, falling 73-50. Tech will have a tough battle against a UNC squad that went 7-0 at home last season.
Tech will host its first ACC match against Clemson on Jan. 12 after coming back from North Carolina. In addition to playing the permanent ACC home-and-away rivals of Clemson, Miami and North Carolina, the Jackets will also host Wake Forest and Virginia Tech this season. The last of Tech’s ACC play will be in Raleigh, N.C. on Feb. 28 when the Jackets face North Carolina State. Other non-conference meetings include a home match against Mississippi Valley State, Army and Savannah State. The away contests include Kennesaw State and Georgia State.
The Jackets have reached the NCAA Tournament for their third straight year and have finished with an impressive 22 wins There are nine letter winners returning under Head Coach MaChelle Joseph this season as they attempt to improve further after three straight 20-win seasons.