#9 California Provides UAlbany Women's Basketball With Challenging Start to Schedule

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Albany, N.Y. -- After winning a school-record ten league games last season, the UAlbany women’s basketball team is shooting to finish even higher this winter as it hopes to compete for its first America East Conference championship. When league play opens up on Jan. 10 at Binghamton, they should be prepared after completing what will arguably be the most grueling non-conference schedule in the program’s history.

“We are excited,” said head coach Trina Patterson, whose team attended the school's annual basketball media day on Tuesday, Nov. 11. “I am glad to be challenged early because it gets you tested and let’s you know where you are. We have really put ourselves in a position to do some good things against three very good teams.”

The Great Danes fly to the West Coast on Wednesday night where they will play the California Golden Bears two days later in the opener. The Golden Bears, who return all five starters including All-Americans Ashley Walker and Devanei Hampton, are ranked ninth in the country in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today national polls. It will be the first time that the UAlbany program begun with a nationally-ranked opponent. In addition, it will be just the second time the club faces a top-10 team after battling No. 8 Connecticut three years ago.

UAlbany returns from California on Saturday afternoon and will hop on a bus to depart campus just a few hours later headed down I-87 to Poughkeepsie where the team is scheduled to play Marist on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. The Red Foxes have made three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament and finished each of those seasons among the nation’s elite. Marist advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2007, the second round last winter and are among the top teams in the receiving votes column of both preseason national polls. Rachele Fitz, the 2007-08 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year, headlines the list of three returning starters.

If that weekend does not turn anyone’s head, the Great Danes will be back on a bus next Tuesday at 6 p.m. to face Cornell the following evening in what will be the squad’s third straight game against a team that competed in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Like Marist, the reigning Ivy League champions bring back three starters.

“It is going to be a tough start, but we should be fine,” said co-captain and starting point guard Britney McGee, who averaged 9.1 points and made 46 three-point field goals last year. “We are going to be pretty fatigued when we come back from California and then go to play Marist, but this challenging non-conference schedule will help us tremendously (get ready for conference play).”

The Great Danes want to win the program’s first America East Conference Championship. As the saying goes, ‘In order to be the best, you have to play the best,’ and that is exactly what Patterson and the Great Danes are doing.