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 Mike Bozeman begins his second season as head coach Tuesday night as GW visits North Texas for its season opener. |
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Women's Basketball Tips-Off Tuesday at North Texas
Nov. 16, 2009
GW at North Texas Notes 
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DENTON, TX - The George Washington women's basketball team opens its 35th season of competition Tuesday evening against the Mean Green of North Texas at the Super Pit in Denton, TX. Tip-off is slated for 8:00 pm EST.
GW (0-0) leaves the Metropolitan Washington, DC area for its season opener for the first time in a decade when it travels to Denton, TX, and UNT. The Colonials have opened each of the past nine seasons either at home in Charles E. Smith Center or around the metro DC area (at Georgetown in 2004-05, at UMBC in 2007-08) after visiting Vanderbilt to begin the 1999-2000 campaign.
Tuesday's meeting is the first-ever between GW and North Texas, but the Colonials are 7-4 all-time against Sun Belt Conference programs, including a 2-1 mark last season (W - South Alabama, Troy; L - Western Kentucky).
GW enters its 35th season of women's basketball with the nation's least experienced lineup with a combined six seasons of collegiate basketball experience on its 11-player roster. Redshirt junior Ivy Abiona - who possesses two of the six seasons of experience - is the team's lone upperclassman, but will be sidelined for a portion of the season while recovering from offseason knee surgery. The Colonials return sophomores Tara Booker, an A-10 All-Rookie Team selection last winter, and Tiana Myers - a duo which led last season's rookies with 16 and 25 starts, respectively. Sophomores Sara Mostafa (20 gp) and Kay-Kay Allums (11 gp) are the only other two Colonials with college playing experience entering the 2009-10 season.
Tuesday also marks the anticipated debut of the Colonials' five-player freshman class. The five-player class, which is rated the best in the Atlantic 10 and 42nd nationally by ESPN, is highlighted by a trio of highly rated position players in point guards Danni Jackson (77th on Top 100, #11 PG) and Janine Davis (#20 PG) and shooting guard Megan Nipe (#34 SG).
In his first season as head coach, Mike Bozeman led GW to a 17-14 overall record and a berth in the Postseason WNIT. The postseason bid was the 10th consecutive for the Colonials, having appeared in eight NCAA Tournaments and two Postseason WNITs over the past decade. GW also has played in the postseason in 18 of the past 19 years, with 15 trips to the NCAA Tournament and three appearances in the Postseason WNIT.
North Texas (0-1) plays its first regular season game at the Super Pit after tipping off the season Saturday with an 81-51 loss at Stephen F. Austin. UNT (0-1) shot just 25 percent from the field, including 0-for-7 from three-point range, and turned the ball over 29 times, leading to 27 points for SFA. The Mean Green was also outrebounded 65-51 in a game that featured 100 missed shots and 81 free-throw attempts between the two teams. Brittney James (17 pts.) and Niq'ky Hughes (10) were the only UNT players to reach double figures.
The Mean Green return just three players from last year's 11-20 team - senior guard Brittney James, sophomore guard Tamara Torru and senior forward Torrian Timms. James finished second on the team in scoring last season at 10.3 points per game, while Timms (3.1 ppg) and Torru (1.7) combined for just under five points per outing. UNT added some experience in University of Texas transfer Niq'ky Hughes, Rice transfer Brittney Hudson and JUCO transfers Chynna Burwell and Denetra Kellum.
Shanice Stephens is in her second season as head coach after leading the Mean Green to an 11-20 mark last year. Stephens was associate head coach at Clemson for three years and spent nine seasons on staff at Rice prior to her hire at UNT in April 2008. She was a member of two NCAA Tournament teams - including the 1993 Sweet 16 - as a player at Oklahoma State from 1991-93 and was a starter in her first season at Austin Peay in 1989-90.
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