CEDAR CITY, Utah - Southern Utah University head women's basketball coach JR Payne
announced that the 2010-11 schedule has been finalized. The Thunderbirds are slated to face three
teams that made postseason appearances last season in addition to matching up
against teams out of the Pacific-10, the Mountain West, West Coast and the
widely competitive Summit League. Southern Utah will host 15 games in the
Centrum Arena highlighted by a six-game home stand that will help usher the
young Thunderbird team into the conference season.
"We are extremely excited about the upcoming
season and the schedule we have put together," Payne said as she preps for her
second season at the helm the Thunderbirds. "We have a great blend of teams that compete at a very high
level and will provide some good challenges for our young team."
SUU will open the regular season with a pair
of road games against two quality opponents in UNLV on Nov. 12 and Boise State
University Nov. 16. The Thunderbirds open their home slate a week later,
hosting Montana State University Nov. 19 and University of The Pacific Nov. 23.
"UNLV is an extremely talented team and will
be a tough test for us early in the season," commented Payne. "That game will
also give Kaila Goff, our senior point guard from Las Vegas, a chance to play in
front of family and friends. Boise State is a very successful program who plays
very well on their home court and will be another great challenge for us. Toriano
and I also recruited and coached a lot of the BSU players so it will be a nice
little homecoming for us as well."
Southern Utah will then take to the road for
its next four games following the Thanksgiving holiday, playing at in-state
rivals Utah Valley University on Nov. 26 and Utah State University on Nov. 29.
The first weekend of December will see a little change in the schedule as the
Thunderbirds begin Summit League play the first week of December, traveling to
face the University of Oakland on Dec. 2 and IPFW on Dec. 4.
"It's always fun to play in-state games and
it will be nice for us to stay close to home during the Thanksgiving holiday,"
Payne said. "We split with UVU last year, including a 3OT win so that should be
an exciting rematch! Starting off conference play at Oakland and IPFW will not
be an easy task. They are two very strong teams who return some key players so
we'll have to be sharp both physically and mentally to take on those opponents
so early in the season."
The weekend after opening conference play,
SUU returns to Cedar City for a very important six-game home stand beginning
with the second meeting of the season with UVU on Dec. 11. Two days later the
Thunderbirds will host Santa Clara University out of the West Coast Conference
for a game that will reunite Payne and SUU associate head coach Toriano Towns
with Santa Clara head coach Jennifer Mountain. Payne, Towns and Mountain all
worked together as assistant coaches at Gonzaga University from 2001-2004.
Payne later coached on Mountain's staff at SCU prior to becoming the
Thunderbirds head coach.
The home stand continues a week later as the
Thunderbirds will matchup with Pacific-10 Conference foe Oregon State
University on Dec. 17 followed by a Dec. 21 meeting with another in-state rival
in Weber State University. SUU will then close out the 2010 calendar and the
season-long home stand with a pair of Summit League contests against defending
Summit League tournament champion and NCAA Tournament participant South Dakota
State University on Dec. 29 and North Dakota State University Dec. 31.
"These six home games will be a very
important stretch for us," Payne commented. "Being that our team is so young,
that will give us some confidence to be able to be at home and really mature as
we head into conference play."
The Thunderbirds will open 2011 and wrap up
their non-conference slate in a big way on Jan. 3, heading to Spokane, Wash. to
face Gonzaga, an NCAA Tournament sweet 16 team a year ago.
"This is definitely our most challenging
pre-season opponent," Payne said. "Gonzaga is one of the most successful
programs on the west coast and I'm excited to see how we respond to the
challenge. Kelly Graves (GU head coach) has always been a mentor and father
figure to me and I have the utmost respect for the Bulldogs and where their
program is right now."
Summit League play is in full swing for the
Thunderbirds beginning Jan. 8, traveling to Kansas City, Mo. to match up
against UMKC. SUU will again hit the road the following week for games at
Centenary College on Jan. 15 and defending conference regular season champion
and NIT participant Oral Roberts University on Jan. 17. SUU later hosts IUPUI
and Western Illinois on Jan. 22 and 24, respectively, before closing out the month
with a trip to the Dakotas to face SDSU on Jan. 29 and NDSU on Jan. 31.
Southern Utah opens the month of February
with three home conference games, hosting UMKC on Feb. 5, Oral Roberts on Feb.
12 and Centenary on Feb. 14. After heading to the Midwest to play at Western
Illinois on Feb. 19 and at IUPUI on Feb. 21, the Thunderbirds will wrap up the
regular season with home games against Oakland on Feb. 26 and IPFW on Feb. 28.
The Summit League tournament will be hosted by SDSU in Sioux Falls, S.D. on Mar.
5-8.
"Again, I couldn't be more excited about the
upcoming season," added Payne. "We have three wonderful seniors who will lead us
in all areas of our program. Coupled with those three seniors, we have three
'Super Sophs' and a ton of freshmen! We've some great teams on our schedule
and we will grow throughout our preseason so that we are ready to make a splash
in the Summit League."
