Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball Releases 2012-13 Schedule
9/18/2012 8:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Sept. 18, 2012
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell women's basketball announced on Tuesday its 2012-13 schedule, which features a mix of the old and the new. Head coach Aaron Roussell will begin his first year with the Bison at Xavier on Nov. 10 before leading his team through a non-conference slate that includes a return to historic Davis Gym against Buffalo and a trip to The Palestra to take on Penn. Bucknell then looks to start off Patriot League play on the right foot when it opens at Army on Jan. 12, 2013 and hosts Colgate on Jan. 16 at Sojka Pavilion.
The Orange and Blue will open their season with a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio, to take on Xavier at 1 p.m. on Nov. 10. The contest will be a homecoming for seniors Alyssa Dunn (Mason, Ohio/Seven Hills School) and Rachel Voss (Cincinnati, Ohio/Loveland) and freshman Sheaira Jones (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain).
It has been more than 15 years since the Bison and the Musketeers met, but completely new to the schedule will be Longwood. Bucknell and Longwood will face off for the first time in program history at 4 p.m. on Dec. 15 in the first game of a doubleheader with the Bucknell men's team. The Bison men will play La Salle at 7 p.m., also at Sojka Pavilion.
While Xavier and Longwood are not among the usual foes, Bucknell has plenty of familiar faces on its schedule as well. Saint Francis (Pa.) will help the Bison open their home schedule on Nov. 14 and Cornell will come to Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 2 to kick off the new year. Bucknell faced 11 of its 15 non-conference opponents, including the Red Flash and Big Red, last season.
Bringing back a taste of tradition is a throwback game against Buffalo on Dec. 1. It will be just the second time Bucknell has played at Davis Gym since the team moved to Sojka Pavilion in 2003. Bucknell defeated Army in the 2011 Patriot League Quarterfinals in the last basketball game to be played in the historic facility, and the last time the Bison and the Bulls met at Davis Gym was 1993.
Patriot League play will get underway on Jan. 12 with a trip to West Point, N.Y., and it won't be long before the Bison host their first conference game at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell will try for a second consecutive win against Colgate on Jan. 16.
After the usual 14 conference contests, the Patriot League Tournament is slated for a March 7 start. Semifinals will then be played March 11 with the championship bout set for 6 p.m. on March 16. Each game will be played at the site of the higher seed with the championship game scheduled to air on CBS Sports Network.
Bucknell, which finished the 2011-12 campaign with a 5-25 overall record and a 3-11 Patriot League mark, returns all but one letterwinner and four of five starters from a year ago. New to the scene is Roussell, who joined the Bison on April 17 as Bucknell's ninth head coach, assistant coaches Christian Stefanopoulos and Mike Lane, and director of basketball operations Brittany Pinkney.
