Aug. 10, 2016
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LOS ANGELES - There will be plenty of chances to see the LMU women's basketball team in 2016-17, as the upcoming schedule will feature 18 games at Gersten Pavilion. Head Coach Charity Elliott, entering her fifth year at the helm of the Lions, says this schedule is fitting a team fans won't want to miss seeing this year.
The upcoming schedule will once against feature the LMU Thanksgiving Classic, four non-conference match-ups from Southern California Big West Conference foes and a West Coast Conference slate that mixes it up a little for the new season.
"We are very excited about this team and the pieces we have in place," said Elliott. "We feel this is the first year with our foundation in place and we have a schedule that will challenge us in non-conference, give us a chance to build momentum at home and prepare us for a grueling WCC season. This will be a fun year for LMU women's basketball."
The non-conference schedule features the regular season opener at Washington State on Nov. 11 and will be followed by the home opener against Saint Louis on Sunday, Nov. 13. After a pair of road games at Oklahoma State (Nov. 17) and San Diego State (Nov. 21), the Lions return home to host the 18th Annual LMU Thanksgiving Classic.
This year's classic features Fresno State taking on Belmont to open the tournament on Friday, Nov. 25 at 12 noon, followed by LMU taking on UC Irvine at 2:30 pm. On Saturday, Fresno State will face UCI at 1 pm, followed by LMU taking on Belmont at 3:30 pm.
The rest of the non-conference slate will see the Lions travel to Seattle (Nov. 29) and Cal State Fullerton (Dec. 4) while hosting UC Santa Barbara (Dec. 2), Long Beach State (Dec. 10) and UC Riverside (Dec. 17).
WCC play will then get started to end the 2016 calendar year as the Lions open at Saint Mary's on Dec. 29 and then at BYU on Dec. 31. The WCC went away with the traditional travel partner system in order to condense the season by a week, allowing play start after Christmas. Thus, there will be a new flow to the conference season.
"It was important to look at the schedule and try to avoid playing at Christmas," said Elliott. "It will definitely add a new wrinkle to the upcoming season as there will be a different feel and flow to the season. It will be challenging but it will be an exciting year."
After the trip to Provo, the Lions return home for the Wells Fargo PCH Cup battle against Pepperdine on Jan. 5. They then head out the next day to travel to Santa Clara on Jan. 7. The Lions will then host Gonzaga (Jan. 12) and Portland (Jan. 14) before traveling to San Diego (Jan. 19). The Lions will turn right back and head home to face Santa Clara at home on Jan. 21.
The next weekend of play will see the Lions at Pacific on Jan. 26 then back home on Jan. 28 against BYU. The Lions will then host San Diego (Feb. 2) and San Francisco (Feb. 4) for the only three-game homestead of the season.
LMU will then close the regular season with four of their last six on the road. They travel to Gonzaga (Feb. 9) and Portland (Feb. 11) before hosting Saint Mary's (Feb. 16). They then face Pepperdine (Feb. 18) and San Francisco (Feb. 23) on the road before ending the season at home for Senior Day on Feb. 25 a against Pacific.
The 2017 WCC Championships will be Mar. 2-7 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
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