Austin Peay Lady Govs Basketball hosts Louisville as part of 13-game home slate in 2012-13

APSU Sports: Austin Peay Women’s Basketball

Clarksville, TN – Thirteen home contests, including a visit from Big East member Louisville, highlight the 2012-13 Austin Peay State University women’s basketball schedule released by head coach Carrie Daniels, Tuesday.

Austin Peay will face seven teams that played in the 2012 postseason, including Louisville and Vanderbilt which both reached the NCAA Tournament’s second round. In addition, the Lady Govs will square off against five teams that posted 20-plus wins last season.

Following a November 5th exhibition contest against Martin Methodist, Austin Peay will begin its 28-game regular-season schedule with a trip to UAB for a Friday, November 9th contest. The Lady Govs follow the season-opener with their home opener – a Thursday, November 15th contest against Louisville. Austin Peay will then host Binghamton in a first-ever meeting between the two teams, Saturday, November 18th.

Daniels will continue her tradition of taking her team far afield for the Thanksgiving holiday, with a visit to San Antonio for the UTSA Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Texas-San Antonio. Joining the Lady Govs and UTSA will be Charleston Southern and the College of William and Mary. It will be the fifth time in her seven-year career that Daniels and the Lady Govs have left Tennessee for the holiday.

Austin Peay will return home to begin a quiet December slate that features six games during the month alternating between home and road contests. The Lady Govs host Ball State (December 1st), Division II Christian Brothers (December 15th) and Lipscomb (December 21st). Austin Peay will also travel to face Middle Tennessee (December 4th), Arkansas State (December 17th), and Alabama A&M (December 29th).

The 12-game non-conference slate was built by Daniels and her staff in an effort to give the Lady Govs a mix of quality opposition and winnable contests. That mix could prove crucial for a squad that will feature three seniors while also incorporating six newcomers. In addition, Austin Peay will be seeking to replace the production of recent graduate Whitney Hanley who led the team in scoring and assists while also finishing second in rebounding.

“I am very excited about this year’s upcoming schedule,” said Daniels. “I feel we have been able to compile a schedule that will test us early and pit us against some great competition. Our goal is always one hoping that we can settle in and ultimately be ready to compete and challenge within our conference slate.  We have a solid group of newcomers that should complement our veteran players nicely.”

The New Year will bring the Ohio Valley Conference race to the front with a new 16-game schedule centered on the league’s new divisional structure. The Lady Govs will compete in the OVC’s West Division along with Murray State, UT Martin, Southeast Missouri, SIU Edwardsville and Eastern Illinois. The East Division will feature the league’s remaining six teams: Belmont, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Morehead State, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State. Each team will play a home-and-home series against teams in its division and a single game against teams in the opposing division.

The West Division race will not be an easy one for any of its six teams. The division’s roster includes four squads that qualified for last season’s OVC tournament: regular-season and tournament champion UT Martin, third-place SIU Edwardsville, fifth-place Murray State and ninth-place Austin Peay. It also includes a SIU Edwardsville squad that finished third in the regular season race and a Southeast Missouri team Austin Peay defeated on the regular season’s final day to secure a berth.

“I believe the road to the tournament will be tougher out of the west division, but not by much,” Daniels said. “This conference has proven year after year that teams have to bring their best to every game during the season, no one should be taken lightly.”

Austin Peay will begin its OVC slate with back-to-back divisional road outings. The Lady Govs travel to Southeast Missouri, Saturday, January 5th, before moving on to UT Martin the following Monday. For the second consecutive season, the OVC will use the Saturday-Monday format for women’s basketball contests.

The Lady Govs will follow that road set with a four-game homestand, its longest of the season. Austin Peay will host Murray State (January 12th), Morehead State (January 14th), Eastern Illinois (January 19th) and SIU Edwardsville (January 21st) in what also will be its toughest stretch during the conference race.

“While it is nice to have a four-game homestand during the conference schedule the teams we will play during that stretch won’t do us any favors,” said Daniels. “That is as tough a stretch in our schedule as any we would have wanted to schedule.”

Following that homestand, Austin Peay will play six of its next eight contests on the road. The first of two three-game road trips in that span will include trips to Tennessee Tech (January 26th), Jacksonville State (January 28th) and Murray State (February 2nd). A brief two-game homestand against Southeast Missouri (February 4th) and Tennessee State (February 9th) will break up the six road games during the stretch.

Austin Peay will wrap up its road schedule with another three-game road slate with trips to SIU Edwardsville (February 16th), Eastern Illinois (February 18th) and Eastern Kentucky (February 23rd). The Lady Govs conclude the regular season at the Dunn Center hosting Belmont in a rare Wednesday contest (February 27th) before a regular-season ending affair against UT Martin, March 2nd.

The 2012 OVC Women’s Basketball Championship will be held the following week with first-round games March 6th at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium. The league again will use the ladder format introduced last season with the two divisional champions automatically seeded into the top two spots and receiving byes into the semifinal round. The next six spots in the tournament field will be awarded to the next six teams with the highest conference winning percentage, regardless of division. The third and fourth seeded teams will be slotted into the quarterfinal round with the final four qualifying teams playing a first-round contest.