CEDAR CITY, Utah – Head coach Chris Boettcher and the SUU Thunderbirds women's basketball program have finalized and announced their 2017-18 schedule.

"I am excited to release our upcoming non conference schedule. It will be a challenging schedule, but one that will hopefully get our young team ready for Big Sky play," Boettcher said. "I am most excited that we were able to add an extra home game this year so fans will get to see us play seven times at the Centrum before conference play begins."

The Thunderbirds tip off their season with a pair of exhibition games in the Centrum Arena as they take on Northern New Mexico College (Oct. 30) and Concordia University (Nov. 3) before hitting the road to open preseason with BYU (Nov. 10) and the University of San Diego (Nov. 14).

Southern Utah will then return home for four-straight games as they face Binghamton University, Utah State, University of California, Davis, and California State University Bakersfield (Nov. 18, 21, 24, 27, respectively). The Thunderbirds will then round out November play by taking on UVU in Orem, Utah on Nov. 30.

Returning to the Centrum, SUU will host the University of California Irvine on Dec. 5 before embarking on a five-game road stretch as they face the University of Oregon (Dec. 9), Grand Canyon University (Dec. 18) and the University of Arizona (Dec. 20). The road stretch continues as they open Big Sky Conference play with Montana State (Dec. 28) and University of Montana (Dec. 30).

The Thunderbirds will launch the new year with back-to-back home games against Idaho State (Jan. 4) and Weber State (Jan. 6) before traveling to Northern Arizona (Jan. 13), University of Idaho (Jan. 18), and Eastern Washington (Jan. 20). SUU will then return home to host the University of Montana (Jan. 25) and Montana State (Jan. 27).

Big Sky play will continue as the Thunderbirds face Weber State (Feb. 1) and Idaho State (Feb. 3) on the road before enjoying three-straight Centrum Arena games with Northern Arizona (Feb. 10), North Dakota (Feb. 15), and Northern Colorado (Feb. 17). After traveling to Oregon to face Portland State on Feb. 22, SUU will continue on to Sacramento State on Feb. 28.

The Thunderbirds will conclude Big Sky basketball with Eastern Washington on Feb. 28 and the University of Idaho on March 2 in Cedar City.

Check out the full Thunderbird schedule here

Keep up with the Thunderbirds this season by following @SUUWBasketball on Twitter and Instagram along with liking Southern Utah Women's Basketball on Facebook.