Sept. 10, 2004
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University women's basketball team recently announced its 2004-05 schedule, which is highlighted by a home contest against Final Four participant Minnesota on December 11.
The contest will take place at 2 p.m. at the Leavey Center and is one of many competitive opponents that are featured in the non-conference portion of the schedule. Also included is a road trip to Wisconsin, where the Broncos will visit the Badgers, as well as 2004 NCAA participant UW-Green Bay.
Santa Clara will open the slate at home for the second consecutive season and will host Fresno State on Monday, Nov. 22. The Broncos will spend the week of Thanksgiving participating in the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic, hosted by the University of Hawaii. The event will feature a strong slate of potential opponents, including NCAA participants Georgia, TCU and Michigan State, as well as California, Utah and Idaho.
"We have a very competitive preseason," third-year head coach Michelle Bento-Jackson said. "Once again, we are challenging our team, but we feel this will be excellent preparation for when conference play starts in January."
The West Coast Conference season will begin on the road, with a visit to the Northwest schools. Santa Clara will return home the following week to host Saint Mary's on Jan. 15. The Broncos will look to improve upon a sixth-place finish in the league standings in 2004.
The WCC is sprinkling 2 p.m. Saturday contests to its schedule this year, in an effort to allow the teams to travel home that night and have a full day off to rest. Santa Clara will play eight afternoon contests this season, four of which will take place during league play.
Santa Clara will host the WCC Championship at the Leavey Center for the second straight year. The 2005 event was originally scheduled to be held at the University San Francisco, however the Dons were unable to host the event due to construction delays on major renovations to their basketball facility.
"We feel very fortunate to host the tournament once again," Bento-Jackson added. "It's an exciting week for us and to have the home crowd on our side is a strong advantage."
The women's bracket will return to the traditional eight-team format of two years ago and play will be held March 3-6.
Fans will see the 2004-05 Broncos first in action during two exhibition contests that will be at the Leavey Center. The preseason begins with a Nov. 5 meeting against San Francisco State and is followed by a Nov. 15 contest against UC Santa Cruz. Both contests are slated to begin at 7 p.m.
To view the complete schedule, please click here.