Aug. 15, 2008

SAN DIEGO -

2008-09 Aztec Basketball Schedule in PDF Format

A road trip to perennial powerhouse UCONN, the fourth annual San Diego Surf `N Slam and five regular season televised games highlight the 2008-09 Aztec women's basketball schedule announced Friday by SDSU head coach Beth Burns.

"We're excited to have a schedule in our hands, so that we focus in on who, where and when," Burns said. "Our immediate (non-conference) challenges are a trip to UCONN and a tournament in Hawaii that is as competitive as any that I've seen when you look at Stanford, Purdue and Iowa State being in the mix."

San Diego State will have five of its regular season games televised with four of those coming on The Mtn. and the other on CBS College Sports.

The Aztecs open their 2008-09 campaign on Friday, Nov. 14, against Northwestern State (La.) at Cox Arena, beginning at 7 p.m. The two schools will tangle for the first time ever, as SDSU begins its season on its home court for just the second time in the last five years.

San Diego State plays its next six contests on the road, starting Nov. 16, against Long Beach State. The team then travels to the east coast for a Nov. 20 meeting at the University of Connecticut, which defeated the Aztecs a year ago in San Diego on its way toward advancing to the NCAA Final Four.

SDSU returns to California for its annual match up with the University of San Diego on Nov. 25, before flying to Honolulu, Hawaii for the Jack in the Box Rainbow Classic, where the team will play three games in three days over the Thanksgiving break. The Aztecs are among an elite field of schools in the tournament, which also includes NCAA runner-up Stanford, Purdue, Iowa State and host team Hawai'i.

For the third year in a row, San Diego State will be at home the entire month of December, as it plays host to UC Riverside (Dec. 4), Montana State (Dec. 11) and Loyola Marymount (Dec. 21). The San Diego Surf `N Slam is slated for its fourth straight season at Cox Arena with NCAA tournament teams Texas and UTEP joining the Aztecs and Sacramento State, Dec. 28 and 30.

SDSU opens 2009 at home against Air Force, as the two sides start their Mountain West Conference schedule on national television (CBS College Sports) on Wed., January 7. This is the first year that the Aztecs are slated to begin MWC play at home since 2005.

The team heads to Salt Lake City on Jan. 11 to take on Utah, the defending MWC regular season champions, in a game that will be shown live on The Mtn. The Aztecs will then trade home and away games over the next 17 days and finish out the first round of conference action against UNLV on Feb. 4.

San Diego State plays three of its final four regular season games on the road prior to the 2009 Mountain West Conference Championships, March 10-14. The NCAA First & Second Rounds take place March 21-24, with one of the 16 sites being Cox Arena.

"For the first time in SDSU Cox Arena history, we have an opportunity to play host to the NCAA First & Second Rounds," Burns said. "Hosting is the guarantee, as to whether or not the Aztecs are a participant, is up to us. If we do the things that we are capable of, a rigorous non-conference schedule and an always competitive Mountain West Conference season will prepare us to accomplish that goal (of advancing to the NCAAs). We have five returning starters, we finished (last) March with great momentum and we are ready to get in the gym and go to work. We can't wait to start."