BIG EAST Announces 2019-20 Women's Basketball Schedule

NEW YORK - The BIG EAST Conference announced the 2019-20 women's basketball schedule on Thursday afternoon. The Musketeers will open the conference season at Cintas Center against St. John's on Sunday, Dec. 29.

NATIONAL TV BROADCASTS

• Xavier will play two games on national television with each game being aired on FS2. The Musketeers will play at Georgetown on FS2 on Jan. 10 and at Providence on FS2 on Jan. 26.

BIG EAST DIGITAL NETWORK

• The BIG EAST Digital Network will provide coverage of 75 additional women's basketball conference games. BEDN launched in September 2014 as a streaming-only offering of 225 live regular season and championship events annually for the BIG EAST Conference. SoFi became the presenting sponsor of BEDN in 2017-18. Announced this fall, BEDN continued its relationship with Caffeine, a recently launched social broadcasting platform for live sports, gaming, and esports, as a distributor of Women's Basketball and Olympic sports championships and events. The BIG EAST has a dedicated channel on Caffeine, www.Caffeine.tv/BEDN, where fans can find all BEDN content. In addition to appearing on Caffeine, all BEDN events will be co-streamed on YouTube via the conference's main channel, www.youtube.com/BIGEASTConference, and Twitter on the main BIG EAST handle, @BIGEAST.

OPPONENT NOTABLES

• Xavier will play 14 games at Cintas Center this season, including nine BIG EAST games.

• The Musketeers open and close BIG EAST play against St. John's. Xavier opens conference play against the Red Storm on Dec. 29 at Cintas Center before closing the year in Queens, N.Y., on March 1.

• The Musketeers have won 43 non-conference games over the last five seasons with a 36-5 mark at Cintas Center.

• Six of Xavier's non-conference opponents posted winning records last season, including five teams with 20 or more wins. Five of Xavier's opponents played in a postseason tournament last season: Rider (WNIT), Wright State (NCAA), Robert Morris (NCAA), Cincinnati (WNIT) and Northwestern (WNIT).

• Xavier will play teams from nine different conferences before the start of BIG EAST play, including two teams from both the American Athletic Conference and the Pac-12 Conference. The Musketeers will also play a team from the Big Ten (Northwestern) and the Southeastern Conference (Florida).

• The Musketeers travel to the West Palm Beach Invitational on Dec. 20-21, participating in the tournament for the second time in three years. Xavier will take on Northwestern and Florida during tournament action. The tournament is being held at Keiser University.

• Xavier plays host to Cincinnati in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout on Saturday, Dec. 14. The Musketeers had their five-game win streak in the series snapped last season, 79-61, at Fifth Third Arena. Xavier has won 11 of the last 15 meetings between the two schools.

• Xavier will play four opponents for the first time in program history: Utah, Rider, Colorado and Northwestern.

NEW HEAD COACH

• Melanie Moore was introduced as the new head women's basketball coach on April 9 at Cintas Center. Moore is now the eighth head coach in program history.

• Moore joined the Musketeers after a seven-year stint at Michigan, most recently serving as associate head coach. She helped the Wolverines to a 156-85 overall record with seven postseason berths, including three NCAA Tournament appearances.

• The Glandorf, Ohio, native also has assistant coaching stops at Princeton (2007-12), Dayton (2006-07), Indiana State (2004-06) and Siena (2002-04).

ABOUT THE MUSKETEERS

• Xavier returns its leading rebounder and scorer in junior A'riana Gray. The forward averaged 13.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. She also added a team-high 58 steals.

• A'riana Gray earned All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention Team honors last season. She led the BIG EAST in rebounding (11.5), while ranking 10th in the NCAA.

• Sophomore Lauren Wasylson made a team-leading 57 three pointers during her first year on the team - leading all BIG EAST freshmen in the category, while ranking 11th overall in the conference. She also ranked 10th in the BIG EAST in three-point field-goal percentage (.383).

• Xavier also returns starters senior Na'Teshia Owens and juniors Aaliyah Dunham and Deja Ross. Owens averaged 11.5 points per game and ranked second on the team in total assists (89). Dunhman averaged a team-leading 3.5 assists per game to go along with 8.2 points per game. Ross posted 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, respectively.

SEASON TICKETS ON SALE

• Season tickets are now on sale for the upcoming 2019-20 season! Season tickets start as low as $60 for all 14 home games. For more information about season tickets, fans can call the Xavier Athletics Ticket Office at 513-745-3411 ext. 7.

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