Nov. 7, 2008

SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's basketball team, coming off its best season in over a decade, will play host to Showtime Basketball Australia Monday at 7 p.m. at Cox Arena in its only exhibition game prior to the official start of the 2008-09 campaign. Tickets are just $1 for general admission seating and $9 for reserved seating.

Showtime Basketball Australia is composed of seven players from Australia. Three former college players from the U.S. have also seen action in Saint Mary's guard Serena Benavente, Washington center Sarah Keeler and USF center Nickie Warren. The team is playing seven games along the West Coast and faces the University of San Francisco on Sunday before taking on the Aztecs. Showtime Basketball Australia has yet to win a game, falling at Washington State, Idaho, UC Davis and Saint Mary's.

The Aztecs return all five starters from the 2007-08 squad that advanced to the Mountain West Conference championship game. SDSU has been picked to finish second in the MWC this season and the roster also features six players who will wear an Aztec uniform for the first time under head coach Beth Burns, who enters her fourth season of her second stint at SDSU.

Live stats will be available for Monday's exhibition game. Most regular-season SDSU women's basketball contests will have live audio and video (home games only) on the internet free of charge via the school's official website, www.goaztecs.com.

San Diego State's official season-opener is Friday, Nov. 14, vs. Northwestern State at Cox Arena at 7 p.m. It is just the second time in the last five years that the Aztecs have started a season at home.