Bucknell University Athletics
2013-14 Women's Basketball Schedule Announced
9/6/2013 12:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell second-year head women's basketball coach Aaron Roussell announced his team's 2013-14 schedule on Friday and the Bison will begin the campaign with four out of their first five on the road and two of their first three against Atlantic Coast Conference teams. Bucknell will also play on the road at 2013 NCAA Tournament team Penn State in the opening weeks of the season.
In addition to a challenging non-conference slate that includes home contests against Binghamton, Youngstown State, Towson, Penn and UMBC, the Bison will play an expanded 18-game Patriot League schedule thanks to the addition of Boston U. and Loyola (Md.) to the league ranks.
Bucknell's season opener will take place Nov. 8 at Pittsburgh. Tip-off for that game is 11 a.m. It will be the first game as a member of the ACC for the Panthers.
The Bison home opener will be Nov. 14 when they host Binghamton at 7 p.m. in Sojka Pavilion. Three days later they will embark on three-game road stretch where they will play at Virginia Tech (Nov. 17), Penn State (Nov. 20) and Cornell (Nov. 23) all within one week.
Bucknell closes out the pre-final exams portion of its schedule with four of five at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison will host Youngstown State (Nov. 26), Towson (Dec. 4), Penn (Dec. 7) and UMBC (Dec. 10), separated only by a road game at NJIT (Nov. 30). Bucknell played on the road at Youngstown State (L, 69-51), Towson (W, 75-62) and Penn (L, 58-53 in OT) last year, while it has not faced UMBC since 2010-11 and NJIT since 2011-12.
A Dec. 21 road game at Longwood concludes the non-league schedule. Bucknell will then have nearly two weeks off before starting Patriot League play Jan. 2 at American. The conference home opener is Jan. 8 against Lafayette, while Loyola (Md.) and Boston U. will make their initial trips to Sojka Pavilion as Patriot League members Feb. 19 and Feb. 22, respectively.
The expanded Patriot League has led to a larger postseason tournament this year. All 10 teams will qualify for the championship event, which will be played entirely on the floors of the higher seeded team in each game. First-round contests, featuring the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th seeds, will take place March 4. The quarterfinals are scheduled for March 6, while the semifinals are slated for March 10. The championship game will take place March 15 at 6 p.m. and be televised on CBS Sports Network.
No fewer than five of Bucknell's 14 home games will feature afternoon tip-off times.
The Bison schedule features five teams (Army, Boston U., Navy, Penn State, Youngstown State) that won at least 20 games a year ago, and two squads (Navy, Penn State) that advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Fans will have a new way to watch the Bison in 2013-14. Live video of all Bucknell Patriot League games as well as home non-league contests will air free of charge on Bison Vision on the Patriot League Network. This new initiative features a high definition broadcast. Links to all games will be prominently displayed throughout BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell is entering year two of the Roussell era. He led the Bison to a 15-16 record and a trip to the Patriot League Tournament semifinals in his first year at the helm of the program. Bucknell's 10-win improvement from the previous season was the best in school history. The Bison return three regular starters, including Second Team All-Patriot League selection Shelby Romine.
