Photo: Greg Poole/Bulldawg Illustrated
Eight home games, a potential seven contests against teams that had 20 wins or more a season ago and a trip to the Junkanoo Jam Tournament on Grand Bahamas Island highlight the 2016-17 women’s basketball non-conference schedule, it was announced by head coach Joni Taylor on Tuesday.
“This year’s non-conference schedule gives us a terrific opportunity to play in high-caliber matchups before we step into conference play,” Taylor said. “It is important to us that we give our fans great home games, while also challenging our team during the non-conference schedule. We feel like we have accomplished both of these things, and we can’t wait to get started in November.”
The 2016-17 non-conference slate features a potential eight games against teams that played in the postseason a year ago — Mercer (24 wins, WNIT) on Nov. 13, BYU (26 wins, NCAA) on Nov. 16, Georgia Tech (20 wins, WNIT) on Nov. 20, South Florida (24 wins, NCAA) on Nov. 25 or 26, Oklahoma State (21 wins, NCAA) on Dec. 3, Furman (15 wins, WBI) on Dec. 5, and Virginia (18 wins, WNIT) on Dec. 19.
Georgia will also play three true road contests (at Georgia Tech on Nov. 20, at Oklahoma State on Dec. 3 and at Cincinnati on Dec. 15) and will travel to Grand Bahamas Island over Thanksgiving to participate in the 2016 Junkanoo Jam.
“We want our team to be challenged, and playing in tough environments on the road gives us that opportunity,” Taylor added. “We also want to create great experiences for each of our student-athletes during their time here, and traveling to the Bahamas will be one of those terrific experiences. Shanea Armbrister is actually a native of the Bahamas, so I am thrilled for her that she gets to travel back home over Thanksgiving to play in front of friends and family.”