AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State women's basketball team will host 16 games at Hilton Coliseum during the 2006-07 campaign, matching the record for regular-season home contests and the most since the 1975-76 season, head coach Bill Fennelly announced Friday. The schedule includes 16 teams which made postseason appearances a year ago, including nine in the NCAA Tournament.
"The 2006-07 schedule will be a very challenging one," Fennelly said. "The non-conference and Big 12 schedule is filled with teams that were playing in the postseason last year. We have always taken pride in providing our great fans with a good slate of home games and this season is no different. With all of the changes to Hilton Coliseum I know our fans are in for some exciting times this winter."
A minimum of six Iowa State contests will be televised during the 2006-07 season, including two on Fox Sports Net and four on Mediacom. FSN will carry the Cyclones' home game against Missouri on Feb. 4, and their road game at Kansas State on Feb. 24. Mediacom will televise games against Saint Louis on Dec. 16, and home games against Minnesota (Dec. 9), Texas (Jan. 17) and Kansas State (Jan. 27).
After exhibition contests with St. Cloud State and Upper Iowa, Nov. 5 and 12, respectively, the Cyclones will kick off the regular season at home against Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, Nov. 15. The teams will meet for the first time. The Big 12 portion of the schedule will get underway on Jan. 3, when the Kansas Jayhawks come to Hilton. The league slate closes on March 1, at Texas Tech, before the Cyclones head to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 Tournament, March 6-10.
The Cyclones travel to Malibu, Calif., for the Pepperdine Tournament Nov. 24-25, where ISU will face Virginia Tech in the first round and take on Pepperdine or Tennessee Tech on day two. The Hokies made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2006. Pepperdine earned an automatic berth in the NCAA tourney after winning the West Coast Conference Championship, before falling in the opening round of the Big Dance to Oklahoma, while Tennessee Tech was a Women's National Invitation Tournament participant.
ISU will host the American Family Insurance Cyclone Classic for the fourth consecutive year, playing host to Colgate, Loyola Marymount and Utah State. The Cyclones will face off with all three teams, taking on Colgate Dec. 28, the day before the tournament officially begins. The Cyclones will tilt with Utah State Dec. 29, and meet Loyola Marymount Dec. 30, for three consecutive days of women's basketball in Hilton Coliseum.
ISU begins its three-game instate stretch with Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Nov. 20. The Cyclones will renew the Cy-Hawk Series at Iowa on Nov. 30, and will take on Drake at Hilton on Dec. 5. UNI and Drake both made WNIT appearances, while Iowa fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season. Iowa State swept all three opponents in 2005-06, marking the sixth time in school history ISU swept regular-season meetings with all three schools.
The Cyclones also play host to Minnesota Dec. 9, Illinois State on Dec. 20, in Ames, and host Saint Louis in the Mediacom Cyclone Capital Classic at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, on Dec. 16. The Gophers finished third in the Big Ten last season and were an NCAA at-large team.
The Cyclones are coming off an 18-13 season in 2005-06, as Fennelly directed ISU to its ninth postseason appearance in the last 10 years and its 15th winning season in school history.
