LADY PANTHER BASKETBALL RELEASES 2008-09 SCHEDULE

2008 Schedule

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas- Prairie View A&M University women’s basketball head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke has announced the team’s 2008-09 non-conference schedule.  The 12-game slate features games against teams from the Big West, Big 12, Mountain West, and Big 10 conference. The highlight of the non conference schedule is a road trip to perennial powerhouse Rutgers and a tournament in Hawaii.

“This is a very exciting and competitive schedule for us that we know we can do well in and this will definitely help our efforts in preparing for conference and postseason play.” Cooper-Dyke said.  “We’re playing schools from a variety of conferences, and we’re playing against some of the top teams in those leagues.”

The season gets underway on Nov. 14^th, when the Lady Panthers host Stephen F. Austin.  Prairie View A&M leads the all-time series 1-0.  Two days later, the Lady Panthers will battle Cal State Northridge, for their first-ever meeting in the William Nicks Building.  Prairie View A&M takes on the Rice Owls for the second consecutive season on Nov. 19^th in Houston. Last season in the William Nicks building, Prairie View A&M posted a 51-43 victory over the Owls for the first time in school history. The next day the Lady Panthers take on Penn State University in a northeast trip to Pennsylvania.

The Lady Panthers head off for their longest road trip of the year when they fly out to Honolulu for Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach Marriott Tournament, where they will be playing three games in three days over the Thanksgiving break. Prairie View A&M will be among an elite field of schools playing Big 12 member Iowa St., San Diego St, and finally the Purdue Boilermakers from the Big 10 conference before they take a week off for exams.

Prairie View A&M will start December with a road trip to local opponent Houston Baptist on Saturday, Dec. 6^th. The Lady Panthers dominated the Huskies’ last season with a 81-65 victory in Prairie View. Five days later, they will travel to New Jersey to take on NCAA participant Rutgers University on Dec. 11^th, and to Lubbock, Texas on Dec. 18^th to battle Texas Tech for the first time in school history.

Prairie View concludes its non-conference play at the Star Shuttle New Year’s Classic at UTSA on Dec. 29^th and 30^th. Prairie View A&M and High Point University from the Big South conference square off first followed by Colorado State the next day.

With a highly competitive non-conference slate Prairie View A&M should be in prime form when conference play begins on Saturday, Jan. 3^rd in Alcorn, Miss., versus the Alcorn State Braves. Following their game against ASU the Lady Panthers will move on to face the Southern Lady Jaguars (Jan. 5) in Baton Rouge, La., before returning home to hosts their conference home opener versus cross town rival Texas Southern.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference will hold the 2009 SWAC basketball tournament on Wednesday, Mar. 11^th thru Saturday, Mar. 14^th in Birmingham, Ala. The tourney will be held at Fair Park Arena with game times set to be announced at a later date. 

Last season, The Lady Panthers participated in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) and finished with a school record 22-12 season, marking the most wins in program history. Winning the regular season consecutive championship in as many years, PVAMU returns Player of the Year in the conference, Candice Thomas and First team All Conference player Gaati Werema, 15.8 and 14.1 points respectively. They also welcome freshmen 6’0 wing Dieynaba Toure and 5’10 guard LaTia Williams to the team.