| Five Postseason Squads Highlight 2003-04 Women's Hoops Slate |
| Wednesday, September 24 2003 |
| Courtesy of: |
| Youngstown, Ohio – Five teams that made the 2003 postseason, a home game against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent for the first time in school history and four home Horizon League doubleheaders highlight the 2003-04 Youngstown State women’s basketball schedule, first-year Head Coach Tisha Hill announced. “I think this is a challenging schedule for us,” Hill said. “But I think it’s one that will prepare us for the Horizon League.” For the fifth straight year, the Penguins open the season against Bowling Green on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. in Beeghly Center. Youngstown State hits the road for five straight games, including away contests at WNIT Champion Auburn (Nov. 25) and at the New Mexico Tournament (Nov. 28-29). In Albuquerque, N.M, the Penguins open the tourney against Sweet 16 participant New Mexico. On the second day of the tournament, the Penguins will face either Elite Eight participant Villanova or 19-game winner Elon. “Being involved in the New Mexico Tournament and playing in The Pit is something I’m happy our players will experience,” Hill said. “It will be interesting to see how our players respond to that atmosphere. I think it will be good for us.” The Penguins finish their longest road trip of the season at Buffalo (Dec. 3) and WNIT participant Toledo (Dec. 7) before coming home to host Kent State (Dec. 13) and ACC member Clemson (Dec. 19). After visiting Akron (Dec. 21) and Niagara (Dec. 28), the Penguins open Horizon League play at Cleveland State (Dec. 30). YSU opens the home portion of its Horizon League slate against Detroit (Jan. 3), Illinois-Chicago (Jan. 8) and Wright State (Jan. 10), in the first of four doubleheaders. In final three twinbills, YSU hosts Butler (Jan. 21), Loyola (Feb. 7) and UW-Milwaukee (Feb. 28) in the home and regular-season finale. “It is exciting to have four home doubleheaders on the slate,” Hill said. “I think it will be exciting for our fans to be able to see both the women’s and men’s teams in action on the same night.” Youngstown State also faces five-time defending Horizon League champion and NCAA Second Round Participant UW-Green Bay on Jan. 17 at Green Bay, Wis., and Feb. 21 at the Beeghly Center. The Penguins also host in-state rival Cleveland State on Feb. 5 in Beeghly Center. In the offseason, the Horizon League Executive Council passed a proposal to change the Women's Basketball Championship format. The new format will move the championship from a single predetermined site to multiple sites and goes into effect immediately. The first round game and the quarterfinal games will be played on campus sites. In the first round game, the No. 8 seed will host the No. 9 seed. The winner of that game will travel to the No. 1 seed for the quarterfinals. The No. 4 seed will host the No. 5 seed, the No. 3 seed will host the No. 6 seed and the No. 2 seed will host the No. 7 seed in the other quarterfinal games. Under the pure format the remaining four teams will travel to the site of the highest remaining seed for the semifinal and championship games. However, the format change will not go into full effect until the 2007 championship, allowing UW-Milwaukee (2004), Wright State (2005) and Youngstown State (2006) the opportunity to fulfill their right to host the championship. During the 2004, 2005 and 2006 championships, the semifinal and championship games will be played at the predetermined site if the host team advances past the quarterfinals. If the host team loses in the first round or quarterfinal games, the semifinal and championship games would be played at the site of the highest remaining seed. The Executive Council also passed an amendment to change the day of the semifinal games to Sunday and the championship game to Monday. Those games were previously played on Saturday and Sunday. The 2004 Horizon League women's basketball championship will begin Tuesday, March 2 with the first round game followed by the quarterfinal games on Thursday, March 4. The semifinal games are slated for Sunday, March 7 and the championship game will be played on Monday, March 8. |