2013-14 Basketball Schedule (pdf)  I  2013-14 Basketball Schedule (html)


NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State women's basketball coaches Brooke and Scott Stoehr announced Thursday the 2013-14 schedule that features four schools from power conferences including a visit to Baylor and a home game against Houston.
 
"I am excited about our schedule as we move into our second year with the program," said Brooke Stoehr. "We felt like we needed a good mix of tough tests to prepare for SLC play as well as some competitive games for our young players to gain some experience."
 
Baylor and Texas from the Big 12, Arkansas from the Southeastern Conference, and Houston from the newly formed American Conference will provide the tough tests the coaches are looking for.
 
 Baylor made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championship Tournament a year ago, and won the National Championship the year before.  Texas is a year removed from a NCAA Tournament berth and Arkansas participated in the Women's National Invitational Tournament last season.
 
"We are taking our team into some of the best environments in women's basketball when we travel to Baylor, Arkansas and Texas," she said. "These games will be a great challenge for our team and will be a tremendous learning experience for our young players as we continue to develop a championship culture.
 
"These four games will help prepare our team as we enter the most important part of our schedule, Southland Conference play," said Stoehr. "We want to be playing our best basketball in February and March and believe our non-conference schedule gives us the opportunity to do so. "
 
The season opens on Nov. 8 with a home game against Division II member Southern Arkansas before UH comes to Prather Coliseum on Nov. 13 at 7 o'clock.
 
Last season, NSU traveled to Houston as a part of its tournament and lost to the Cougars 67-51 in Hofheinz Pavilion; despite the loss the Lady Demons lead the series 4-3.
 
A week later, the Lady Demons will travel to Waco, Texas, to participate in the Athletes in Action Classic hosted by Baylor University.  Former Southland Conference member Texas-San Antonio, Baylor, and Savannah State will matchup with NSU from Nov. 21-23.
 
The Lady Demons follow up with a home matchup against Jackson State on Dec. 2 before a two-game road slate at Arkansas (Dec. 4) and Louisiana Tech (Dec. 11).
 
Northwestern State returns home for Arkansas-Monticello on Dec. 17 and travels to UT on Dec. 20 before finishing out the non-conference portion of its schedule at the Texas-San Antonio Classic.
 
The first match of that tournament will be on Dec. 28 against New Mexico State, and one day later the Lady Demons will face North Dakota State.
 
"There is a delicate balance on being able to adjust to the level of play with a young team, and we tried to design a schedule that would be challenging and help our team prepare for the later part of our season," said Stoehr. "We get to go into some tough environments early in the non-conference schedule and those experiences will be very valuable to our team as we grow throughout the season."
 
Northwestern State play all members of the Southland Conference, but will only have home-and-away series against Sam Houston, Lamar, Stephen F. Austin, Central Arkansas and Oral Roberts.
 
"The Southland Conference will look differently this year for a couple of reasons," said Stoehr.  "Our league lost a number of fantastic players to graduation who had been a fixture atop the league's scoring leaders for the last several years, and the addition of new schools."
 
Four teams from the Southland Conference played in postseason tournaments in 2012-13.  Oral Roberts played in the NCAA Tournament after winning the league tournament championship.
 
Sam Houston made it to the WNIT and McNeese and Lamar were invited to the Women's Basketball Invitational tournament.
 
SHSU visits Prather Coliseum on Jan. 2 to open the SLC season followed by Lamar on Jan. 4 and SFA on Jan. 16.
 
The Lady Demons host four straight home games against SLC newcomers Incarnate Word (Jan. 30) and Abilene Christian (Feb. 1), McNeese (Feb. 6) and Nicholls (Feb. 8).
 
The regular season wraps up with Central Arkansas on March 6 followed by Oral Roberts two days later.
 
"New leaders will emerge (in the conference), and I believe the league will be as tough and competitive as last season," said Stoehr. "The addition of New Orleans, Incarnate Word, Houston Baptist and Abilene Christian will also give the league a new feel. 
 
"I think these teams are great additions to our league and will only increase the level of competition night in and night out in SLC play," she said. "We look forward to watching this young group grow and mature throughout the season"
 
The Southland Conference Tournament will be hosted in the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas, from March 12-15.
 
Season ticket renewals begin on Sept. 21, and season tickets will be available six days later.  For ticket prices and more information call the Athletics Ticket Office at 318-357-4268.