ODU Women's Basketball Unveils 2015-16 Conference Schedule

IRVING, Texas – The Old Dominion women’s basketball program unveiled its 2015-16 Conference USA schedule on Monday. The Lady Monarchs will begin their third year in C-USA, after finishing 11-7 in the league and advancing to the semifinals of the tournament a year ago.

“We are excited about the upcoming season and the level of play we expect to see in Conference USA,” said head coach Karen Barefoot. “We are in a conference that has seen 112 NCAA tournament bids, 61 WNIT bids, six national championships, 175 All-Americans and 42 WNBA draft picks. The combination of our non-conference schedule and the strong play we will face in the C-USA is going to make this an exciting season and a great test for us as we look forward to learning and growing as the year progresses.”

The Lady Monarchs will open the conference slate in January with a trip to Charlotte on Jan. 3. ODU returns to Norfolk and welcomes LA Tech and Southern Miss to the Ted Constant Center. On Jan. 7 Old Dominion will take on LA Tech. Last season redshirt junior Annika Holopainen drilled a three-pointer with just three seconds left in the contest to lift the Lady Monarchs over the Lady Techsters by a score of 72-71 in Ruston.

On Saturday, Jan. 9, ODU will face Southern Miss on the Lady Monarchs’ home court. The Golden Eagles advanced to the WNIT quarterfinals, before falling to Michigan, 69-60.

After a five-day break, the Lady Monarchs will embark on a four-game road trip, starting at UAB on Jan. 14 and Middle Tennessee on Jan. 16, one of two Conference USA teams that made an appearance in the WNIT quarterfinals.

ODU will then face reigning C-USA champions and NCAA tournament participants WKU in Bowling Green on Jan. 21 and close out the road trip at Marshall on Jan. 23, a Women’s Basketball Invitational quarterfinals participant.

Old Dominion will close out the month of January in Norfolk for showdowns with FAU (Jan. 28) and FIU (Jan. 30).

Barefoot and company will take on Charlotte for the second time at The Ted on Feb. 6 before heading to Texas to take on North Texas on Feb. 11 and Rice on Feb. 13. Last year, the Lady Monarchs went 6-1 against those three teams, including a 3-0 mark against Rice.

On Feb. 18, the Lady Monarchs will play host to WKU and Marshall on Feb. 20. UTEP (Feb. 25) and UTSA (Feb.27) are the final two road games for ODU, before the team closes out its conference schedule in Norfolk in front of their home fans with North Texas (March 3) and Rice (March 5).

UAB and the City of Birmingham were once again selected to host the 2016 Conference USA Men's & Women's Basketball Championships. The Championships are scheduled for Wednesday, March 8 through Saturday, March 12. Games will be held at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center and Bartow Arena on the campus of UAB.

The Lady Monarchs will open their non-conference schedule, which was revealed in June, on the road with a matchup with in-state rival Richmond on Nov. 13.

Old Dominion will return to the Ted Constant Center for a three-game, non-conference home stand featuring the Miami Hurricanes. The Lady Monarchs will first take on Wagner on Nov. 15 before they host Miami on Nov. 17. The Lady Monarchs close out their home stand with East Tennessee State University on Nov. 23 in just the second meeting between the two programs.

Over Thanksgiving, the Lady Monarchs will participate in the 2015 Paradise Jam in St. Thomas from Nov. 26-28. ODU will first take on Maryland, a team that finished the season ranked No. 4 in the USA Today Poll. The Lady Monarchs will then take on Pittsburgh on Nov. 27 and South Dakota State on Nov. 28.

In December, the Lady Monarchs will face five teams, including in-state rivals VCU and William & Mary. ODU begins with its only home non-conference matchup with Loyola (Md.) on Dec. 2 and follows with a trip to Howard on Dec. 15.

On Dec. 19 in Richmond, Va. the 73rd all-time meeting between ODU and VCU will take place. Before ODU faces William & Mary, the Lady Monarchs will travel to UMES on Dec. 22. Old Dominion will then travel across the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel to take on the Tribe for the 61st all-time showdown on Dec. 29.

Old Dominion enters the 2015-16 season coming off a successful 21-win season under the guidance of Barefoot, in which the Lady Monarchs registered victories over teams like Virginia and Virginia Tech as well as took the crown at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic. In ODU's annual Education Day game on Dec. 3, the Ted Constant Center saw the program's first sellout with 8,472 fans in attendance. The crowd was the seventh highest attendance ever in the state of Virginia to watch a regular season women's basketball game and the second largest for a Lady Monarch regular season game. The record was set on Feb. 20, 1981 when the Norfolk Scope drew 10,277 fans.

As a team, ODU topped the Conference USA rankings in field-goal percentage defense (37.7) and defensive rebounds (28.6 p/g). The Lady Monarchs made a run to the semifinals of the C-USA Tournament and earned their third consecutive at-large bid to the WNIT, winning seven of their last 10 games. Barefoot added five new players to the team this season and welcomes back eight, including Jennie Simms, the Conference USA Newcomer of the Year.

Lady Monarch season tickets are currently on sale for $100 per seat! Join the Lady Monarchs in the Ted Constant Convocation Center as they pursue the program’s 1000th victory and help them continue to be in the top 15 percent of attendance for all Division I women’s basketball programs. Call the ODU sales office 757-683-7087 or go online at www.ynottix.com to place your season ticket order today.

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