Kats tip season on SEC Network+ at Arkansas
11/10/2016 3:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Game 1
Friday, Nov. 11 • 10:30 a.m. • Fayetteville, Ark. • Bud Walton Arena
Sam Houston State (0-0) vs Arkansas (0-0)
Sam Houston Game Notes • Arkansas Game Notes
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Sam Houston State women's basketball program tips off its 2016-17 season on Friday with a visit to Arkansas to face the Razorbacks. Tipoff is slated for 10:30 a.m. from Bud Walton Arena with the game being broadcast on the SEC Network-Plus, available online through ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
Eleventh-year head coach Brenda Welch-Nichols welcomes a largely new roster including seven freshmen and four transfers. The Bearkats return just five players from a season ago and their fewest seniors in five years including the duo of Jasmine McCants and Morghen Day.
Sam Houston will be tested early on in its non-conference slate including spending 10 of the 12 games on the road. The road trips themselves pose as equal of a challenge as the games on the slate. The Bearkats trek 502 miles to take on Arkansas (Fayetteville, Ark.), 404 miles to face Marshall and UTRGV (Edinburg, Texas) and 297 miles to square off against LSU (Baton Rouge, La.).
A season ago, the Bearkats turned heads at the Southland Conference Tournament, despite entering as the No. 7 seed. Sam Houston won three games in as many days from Katy before falling in the championship game to Central Arkansas, who earned the Southland's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
THE OPPONENT
vs Arkansas
The Razorbacks are seeking their second NCAA Tournament appearance in three years and looks to rebound from a season ago. Third-year head coach Jimmy Dykes enters returns three starters and six other players from a team that went 12-18 overall and 7-9 in Southeastern Conference play last season.
Sam Houston and Arkansas meet for the seventh time on Friday and for the third time in the last four seasons. The Razorbacks have claimed the first six matchups in the series including a 67-47 victory against the Bearkats a season ago.
Only three players on this year's roster - Angela Delaney, Jasmine McCants and Ashleigh Cooper - appeared in the game at Bud Walton Arena a season ago – with all coming off the bench. Delaney collected a pair of rebounds and added three points in 17 minutes.
UP NEXT
Sam Houston will visit TCU at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday for the second-straight game against a Power 5 opponent. Following the game, the Bearkats will return to Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum to open home action, taking on Wiley College one week from Friday (11 a.m.) and UTRGV the following Monday (6:30 p.m.)
