of them can shoot the three ball and they
shoot it very well.
“They can shoot the high post shot and
facing the basket. (Plummer) is going to
use her body to create space for her to be
able to score. They are very skilled with
their back to the basket. As they continue
to develop inside, that’s going to give us
the opportunity to keep Rachel on the
perimeter.”
The Schedule
The 2011-12 schedule features 10 teams
that advanced to postseason play last season, including five that played in the NCAA
Tournament.
The schedule also includes 16
Conference USA games as well as non-conference tilts against William Carey,
UT-Martin, Kentucky, Florida A&M, UALR,
UL-Monroe, Mississippi State, South
Alabama and Jackson State. Southern Miss
plays host to the Lady Eagle Classic that
includes Georgia Southern, Jacksonville
State and Stephen F. Austin and competes
in a second tournament, the Montana
Tournament that includes North Dakota,
Idaho and Montana.
“Our schedule is challenging,” McNelis
said. “We feature 10 teams that played in
postseason last year. Five of those played
in the NCAA Tournament and were very
competitive in the NCAA Tournament. Three
teams in the WNIT and two teams that were
in the WBI including our own UAB, who
went on to win that tournament. It’s going
to be a schedule that is very challenging
and a schedule that features some high pro-
file teams.”
The Lady Eagles open the regular season,
Nov. 14, at home against cross-town foe
Williams Carey and UT-Martin, before hit-
ting the road for a game at Kentucky (Nov.
19) before returning home to host the Lady
Eagle Classic, Nov. 25-26 and Florida A&M
(Nov. 29).
Ewa Urbanowska
Joye Lee-McNelis
cess. I believe we’ve made the step in being
more successful and more teams getting into
postseason play. Our non-conference sched-
ule better prepares us for playing one of the
tougher schedules in Conference USA.”
Conference USA again plays in two
divisions, East and West. The East teams
consist of Southern Miss, East Carolina,
UAB, Memphis, UCF and Marshall, while
the West has Tulane, Houston, Rice, Tulsa,
UTEP and SMU. The Lady Eagles open the
C-USA schedule on the road when they
travel to Tulsa (Jan. 5), then, return home
to play the defending C-USA Champions
Houston (Jan. 8). Southern Miss plays two
road games at Marshall (Jan. 11) and UCF
(Jan. 15). Southern Miss returns home to
host Memphis (Jan. 18), before traveling to
Rice (Jan. 22).
Rounding out the remaining C-USA
slate, the Lady Eagles host UTEP (Jan. 26),
then travel to UAB (Jan. 29) and Memphis
(Feb. 2), before hosting East Carolina
(Feb. 5). Southern Miss then plays at
SMU (Feb. 12) before returning to Green
Coliseum for a four-game homestand
beginning with UCF (Feb. 16), followed
by Tulane (Feb. 19), Marshall (Feb. 23)
and conclude with UAB (Feb. 26). The
Lady Eagles close out the regular season
play at East Carolina (Mar. 1).
