Golden Eagles face NCAA tourney foes, early road stretch in Messer's debut
Five games against teams that played in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, including national runnerup Louisville, and a tough early seven-game road stretch await first-year head coach Sytia Messer and the Golden Eagle women's basketball team this winter.
Tech on the road 10 of first 13 contests in
2009-10;
Golden Eagles meet four NCAA Tourney teams
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- A daunting challenge awaits Sytia
Messer, Tennessee Tech’s new women’s basketball coach,
as the Golden Eagles face a tough schedule in 2009-2010 including
four NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, the always-tough Ohio
Valley Conference 18-game slate, and nearly all of the first month
on the road.
“This is a tough schedule, but we’re excited about
it,” Messer said of the 30-game regular season slate.
“Our kids are never going to back down from a
challenge.”
The Golden Eagles’ schedule features 15 home games,
beginning with an exhibition game on Nov. 5, but the team
doesn’t get back to Eblen Center until Nov. 30. In between
are a tournament in Corpus Christi, Tex., and road games at Baylor,
Louisville and Middle Tennessee.
“We have a really tough stretch in November with Baylor,
Louisville, Middle Tennessee, and the tournament,” Messer
said. “We’ll have to be extremely determined and
focused on the road all year, especially in the month of
November.”
After hosting Tennessee Wesleyan in an exhibition game Nov. 5 in
Eblen Center, Messer’s young squad opens the regular season
Friday, Nov. 13, against the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi tournament. Tech will face either the host
team or Air Force on the second day.
From there, the Golden Eagles visit Baylor on Nov. 17, Louisville
on Nov. 22, and Middle Tennessee State in Nov. 28. All three of
those teams reached NCAA Tournament play last season, with
Louisville advancing all the way to the championship game. Baylor
was a No. 2 seed, UofL a No. 3 seed and MTSU a No. 8 seed.
“We have five games against teams that played last year in
the NCAA Tournament,” Messer said. “The most grueling
part of our schedule is the month of November, but it doesn’t
let up all year.”
The regular season home opener is Monday night, Nov. 30, when Tech
hosts Lipscomb at 8 p.m., a game with a late starting time to
follow the annual Cookeville Christmas Parade.
“I’m really looking forward to Nov. 30, when we come
home off the road and really have our first opportunity to play at
home, and I get to make my coaching debut in front of Tech’s
great fans,” Messer said.
The Ohio Valley Conference schedule opens with a trip to
Jacksonville State on Dec. 5.
“The Ohio Valley Conference has a lot of tradition, and
it’s not easy to play at any of the conference
schools,” Messer said. “Murray State won the regular
season. Austin Peay went to the NCAA. Tennessee State has the Coach
of the Year leading them. Every one of the conference games is a
tough game. There are no easy ones. It’s especially tough
being on the road and not having our fan base with us.”
Five more non-conference games fill up the remainder of December,
with road games at Drake and St. Louis, and home contests with
Southern Illinois, Belmont and Bluefield.
Once the New Year arrives, Tech settles into a stretch of 16
consecutive OVC games. Six of those are home conference games in
Eblen Center in January. The Golden Eagles host four more games in
February, including a non-conference game against SIU-Edwardsville,
a team that will join the league’s basketball race in a
couple years. That comes on Feb. 23, with a visit from Jacksonville
State on Feb. 27 to wrap up the regular season.
“It’s an honor to be in a great conference like the
OVC because of the tradition,” Messer said. “I’m
a fan of the game, so it will be fun to visit each of these schools
and watch our team play, and to coach against these
teams.”
The OVC Tournament is March 2-6, with the top eight teams playing
in the first round and the four surviving squads advancing to the
finals in Nashville.
Season tickets for Golden Eagle basketball are on sale at the
Athletics Ticket Office in Eblen Center or online at TTUsports.com,
or by calling (931) 372-3940.
