With a pre-Christmas trip to Portland, Illinois States womens basketball team will wind up a string of five straight road games against Portland and Portland State in the city where current Redbird head coach Jenny Yopp previously coached and Jaci McCormack was a prep star.
The 2002-03 Redbird schedule features Big Ten foes Illinois (Dec. 1) and Indiana (Dec. 30), both at Redbird Arena, plus new opponents Butler (Nov. 25) and IUPUI (Nov. 29)--also at Redbird Arena--along with Portland State.
The season begins with exhibition games on consecutive Sundays (Nov. 10 and 17) and the regular slate starts Nov. 23 at Western Michigan.
There are two important factors in making the trip to Northwest, said Yopp. When we have an opportunity to play near the home of one of our players, we will lean in that direction. The other reason is that its a part of the country most of our players have not visited. Ive had the opportunity to live in different parts of the country and visiting Portland will be an experience they will enjoy and remember.
Yopp likes the balance between new opportunities and traditional rivals.
We have a balanced schedule, playing strong opponents, playing in Redbird Arena, playing our in-state rivals like Illinois, Northern Illinois and UIC, said Yopp.
Despite the new teams and expanding opportunities, Yopp believes the best thing about the non-league schedule is that it will help prepare for
the Valley slate, which begins Jan. 4 at home against Indiana State.
We want to take another step forward and the schedule is an opportunity to do that, said Yopp. Two things stand out about the Valley: one, there have been coaching changes and players graduating from some of the programs which have been strong recently, so I think the Valley is totally unpredictable this year; two, I think our team is ready to compete with anybody in the Valley.
Yopp has nine returning letterwinners and four returning starters from the 2001-02 team. For the first time in three years, Yopp wont have the leagues youngest team.
--##--2002-03 Schedule
Day Date Opponent Time
Sun. Nov. 10 Ohio Premier All-Stars (exh.) tba
Sun. Nov. 17 Chicago Challengers (exh.) 2 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 23 at Western Michigan 1 p.m.
Mon. Nov. 25 Butler 7:05 p.m.
Fri. Nov. 29 IUPUI 7:05 p.m.
Sun. Dec. 1 Illinois 2:05 p.m.
Thurs. Dec. 5 at Illinois-Chicago 7 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 7 at Northern Illinois 4:05 p.m.
Mon. Dec. 16 at Ball State 6 p.m.
Fri. Dec. 20 at Portland State 9 p.m.
Sun. Dec. 22 at Portland 3 p.m.
Mon. Dec. 30 Indiana 7:05 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 4 Indiana State 2:05 p.m.
Thurs. Jan. 9 at Northern Iowa 7:05 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 11 at Bradley 3 p.m.
Thurs. Jan. 16 SMS 7:05 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 18 Wichita State 7:05 p.m.
Thurs. Jan. 23 at Southern Illinois 7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 25 at Evansville tba
Thurs. Jan. 30 Creighton 7:05 p.m.
Sat. Feb. 1 Drake 7:30 p.m.
Fri. Feb. 7 Northern Iowa 7:05 p.m.
Sun. Feb. 9 Bradley 2:05 p.m.
Thurs. Feb. 13 at SMS 7:05 p.m.
Sat. Feb. 15 at Wichita State 7:05 p.m.
Thurs. Feb. 20 Evansville 7:05 p.m.
Sat. Feb. 22 Southern Illinois 2:05 p.m.
Thurs. Feb. 27 at Drake 7:05 p.m.
Sat. March 1 at Creighton 3:05 p.m.
Wed. March 5 at Indiana State 6 p.m.
State Farm-Missouri Valley Tourney at Des Moines, Iowa
Thurs. March 13 Quarterfinals tba
Fri. March 14 Semifinals 6/8:30 p.m.
Sat. March 15 Championship 3 p.m.
all times Central
home games in red/bold
Missouri Valley Conference games
