“Our goal when putting together this schedule was to be able to prepare our team against the best competition every night we step out on the floor,” said Lady Topper head coach Mary Taylor Cowles. “I have to credit (associate head coach) David Graves, who did a bulk of the work putting together this schedule against some of the best competition in the country.”
“Coach Cowles and her staff have once again designed a very aggressive schedule that should prepare the Lady Toppers to successfully compete among the nation's finest women's basketball programs,” said WKU Director of Athletics Dr. Wood Selig. “Our fans will be treated to one of the best home schedules in the country. A schedule such as our 2003-04 schedule continues to reinforce why the Lady Toppers are annually one of the nation's premier programs.”
The Lady Toppers will take the court for the first time on Sunday, Nov. 2 with a 2:30 p.m. (CST) exhibition game against the Premier All-Stars. A second exhibition will take place the following Saturday (Nov. 8) at 8 p.m. against the Houston Jaguars before Western opens play in the Preseason WNIT. WKU will host Rhode Island on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. in the opening round of the WNIT, with a possible second-round matchup against either Texas-San Antonio or Texas Tech slated for Nov. 16. The semifinals and finals of the Preseason WNIT will take place at campus sites the following weekend.
Following the WNIT, Western will hit the road for a Thanksgiving weekend tournament at Fresno State. The Lady Toppers will open the event against Utah, a 2003 NCAA Tournament participant, on Friday (Nov. 28). The consolation and championship games will take place on Saturday, with Western facing off with either Fresno State or Louisiana-Monroe.
Matchups with teams from the ACC, SEC and C-USA dominate the December schedule. Western will host SEC powerhouse Arkansas in the 21st Annual BB&T Classic on Dec. 3 before a two-game roadswing against instate rival Louisville (Dec. 6) and ACC member Clemson (Dec. 13). The Lady Toppers will close out the 2003 calendar year with a three-game homestand starting with Ole Miss on Dec. 18. Kentucky will visit Bowling Green on Dec. 22 before Western Illinois comes to town on Dec. 29.
After the new year, WKU will have four more games to prepare for the Sun Belt Conference schedule. The Lady Toppers travel to Murray State on Jan. 2, then take on another OVC member when they host Tennessee Tech on Jan. 5. Western travels to Liberty on Jan. 8, then returns home to close out the nonconference schedule against Illinois-Chicago on Jan. 11.
“This is the kind of nonconference competition our girls want to play against as we look to get back to the NCAA Tournament,” added Cowles. “There is no doubt in my mind that our pre-conference schedule is one of the best in the nation.”
The Sun Belt Conference regular season will hold more importance this season than ever before as only the top eight teams in the league will participate in the conference tournament. The top two seeds in each division, along with the next four teams with the best league record, will make up the tournament field.
“You have to give credit to the coaches in the Sun Belt Conference,” said Cowles. “We have a group that is working really hard both on the floor, and in recruiting, to bring some great talent into this league. Our conference continues to get better every year. Every team in this league wants to get in the Sun Belt Tournament, and ultimately make it to the NCAA, and I feel we have 11 teams in this league capable of that this season.”
Western will open defense of its Sun Belt Conference championship on the road, making a swing through Arkansas to face Arkansas-Little Rock (Jan. 15) and Arkansas State (Jan. 17). Four games against the west division follow as WKU hosts New Orleans (Jan. 22) and South Alabama (Jan. 24), then travels to Louisiana-Lafayette (Jan. 29) and New Mexico State (Jan. 31) to close out the month.
The Lady Toppers open the final month of the regular season on Feb. 5 at Middle Tennessee in a rematch of the 2003 Sun Belt Tournament championship game. Western will then play five of its final seven games at home, hosting Florida International (Feb. 9), Denver (Feb. 12), UALR (Feb. 19), ASU (Feb. 21) and MTSU (Feb. 26). WKU's only road games in that stretch come at North Texas on Feb. 14 and at FIU on Feb. 28 in the regular-season finale.
Western will again have the luxury of playing the conference tournament on its home floor as Diddle Arena plays host to the 2004 Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference men's and women's basketball tournament March 6-9.
“I've said all along that Lady Topper fans are the best in the country,” said Cowles. “To get to play so many times at home during the regular season, then to get the conference tournament back in Diddle Arena is huge for us. We are very excited to be able to spend March in front of our fans again this year.”
