Upcoming Schedule
November 20 (Wednesday)
2- Miss. State at Penn State 6 p.m.

November 22 (Friday)
Alabama at Samford 5 p.m.
Troy State at Auburn 5 p.m.
Lamar at Florida 6 p.m.
Georgia at Chattanooga 6 p.m.
LSU at Arizona 8 p.m.
Cincinnati at Mississippi State 7 p.m.
Clemson at South Carolina 6 p.m.

November 23 (Saturday)
Stephen F. Austin at Arkansas 7 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Boston TBA

November 24 (Sunday)
South Florida at Florida Noon
LSU at Southeastern Louisiana 2 p.m.
2- Miss. State vs. TBA TBA
College of Charleston at South Carolina 4:30 p.m.
3- Tennessee vs. Duke [ESPN2] 1 p.m.

All Time Central. [ ] - TV Game.SUN - Sunshine Network. 2- Preseason WNIT - School Sites; 3- Jimmy V Classic - Raleigh, NC; 4- Paradise Jam - St. Thomas.

Team Notes

ALABAMA Crimson Tide
Alabama begins its 29th year of women's basketball on Nov. 22 against Samford. The Tide is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games on Nov. 12 and Nov. 17. The Crimson Tide is coming off its 13th consecutive winning season and its 11th straight season to reach postseason play. Bama head coach Rick Moody, is the winningest basketball coach in Alabama hoops history (men's or women's) entering the 2002-03 season with a career record of 272-130. The Tide finished last season ranked 4th in the nation last year for 3-point shooting and returns nearly all of the same shooting corps for this season. Senior Beth Vice leads the "Long Rangers" having finished 11th in the country last year for 3-point shooting and 16th for 3-pt made.

ARKANSAS Lady Razorbacks
Arkansas opens in the preseason top 25 for the first time since the 1998-99 season, and marked the occasion by breaking the school record for consecutive preseason wins with a 63-59 decision over Premier Players. The seniors saved the day for the Lady'Backs as Dana Cherry led all scorers with 16, India Lewis hit the go-ahead three with under a minute to play and Lakishia Harper tied the school record for assists in an exhibition game with nine. The mark was significant for Arkansas as Harper's nine tied her with the Lady'Backs' all-time assist leader, Amy Wright.

AUBURN Tigers
Auburn has gotten off to a slow start in the preseason falling to Premier Players 65-69 and Athletes In Action 63-72. The Tigers will begin the regular season at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Friday night when they host Troy State in a 5 p.m. doubleheader with the men. Auburn has a 21-game season-opening game win streak with 1980-81 vs. Vanderbilt (74-79) being the last time the Tigers have dropped their first game of the season. Head Coach Joe Ciampi, in his 23 seasons, has lost just two opening day games, which were his first two seasons at the helm. Auburn is 28-1 all-time vs. the Trojans with the one loss coming in the 1978-79 season in Troy.

FLORIDA Gators
For the first time in 13 years, the Gators take to the court under a new head coach. Carolyn Peck was introduced on April 3, 2002, as the eighth women's basketball head coach in Florida history. Florida launches its 29th season of varsity competition on Fri., Nov. 22, when the Gators play host to Lamar at 7 p.m. Two days later, the Gators entertain USF at 1 p.m. in the O'Connell Center. Nine of UF's 12 scholarship players have one year or less of college basketball experience at any level.

GEORGIA Lady Bulldogs
The Lady Bulldogs were voted No. 9 in both the pre-season AP and ESPN/USA Today polls. The Lady Bulldogs return three starters from last year's NCAA Tournament team -- Mary Beth Lycett, Christi Thomas and Kara Braxton. Braxton was named first-team pre-season All-SEC at the league's media day. Georgia defeated Premier Players, 112-88, on Nov. 8 in its only exhibition game behind double-doubles from Thomas (24 pts., 11 rebs.) and Braxton (18 pts., 12 rebs.). The Lady Bulldogs open the season this Friday at Chattanogoa. Georgia owns a 10-1 lead in its series with UTC. The Lady Dogs have won nine straight over the Lady Mocs, including an 81-43 decision in the most recent meeting during the early portion of the 2000-01 campaign.

KENTUCKY Wildcats
Kentucky easily handled its two exhibition opponents and will open its 29th season of varsity basketball on Nov. 25 against Southern Illinois in Lexington. The Wildcats will then embark on a Thanksgiving holiday trip to Seattle, Wash., where they will participate in the Seattle Times Husky Classic on Nov. 29-30. UK will face the University of the Pacific in the opening game at 8 p.m. ET. St. Bonaventure and host Washington will be in the second game. Senior guard Rita Adams needs only two assists to move up to No. 7 on the UK career assists chart.

LSU Lady Tigers
LSU defeated the Baksetball Travelers and Houston Jaguars in exhibtion play. Freshman Seimone Augustus led the way for the Lady tigers in each game, scoring 18 in her LSU debut against the Travelers and had 17 points and eight rebounds against the Jaguars. LSU shot over 50 percent from the floor in each exhibition game, hitting 41 or 74 shots (55.4) against the Travelers and 36 of 72 (50.0) against the Jaguars. The Lady Tigers will make their second trip to Tucson, Ariz. this week to battle the Arizona Wildcats on Friday to kickoff a stretch of three games in four days. LSU will return home from Tucson on Satruday, play at Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday before hosting Florida Atlantic on Monday in the home opener for the Lady Tigers.

OLE MISS Lady Rebels
Ole Miss opens the season on Nov. 25, when they host Southern University in Tad Smith Coliseum. Ole Miss is 23-5 in season-openers and 26-2 in home openers. The Lady Rebels were 1-1 in exhibition games this season. Ole Miss defeated West Alabama, 95-47, and fell to TJ Sokol, 79-68. Sophomore center Amber Watts recorded a double-double in the first exhibition game, scoring 15 points and grabbing 18 rebounds. Watts also recorded four blocks in just 24 minutes of action.

MISSISSIPPI STATE Lady Bulldogs
The Lady Bulldogs have advanced to the semifinals of the preseason WNIT after two big wins this past weekend. MSU cruised by South Alabama (87-61) and Tulsa (92-66) to face No. 14 Penn State on Wednesday in University Park, Pa. LaToya Thomas, the No. 2 scorer in the nation with 24.6 ppg last season, will face Kelly Mazzante of Penn State, who led the nation in scoring last year with 24.9 ppg. LaToya Thomas set two new preseason WNIT records against Tulsa. Thomas' 42 points became the most points recorded in a game. Previously, Jackie Stiles of Southwest Missouri State held the record with 41 points vs. Davidson (11/13/98). Thomas also posted the most field goals in a game with 20. This was a career-high for her as well. This new record replaced Jackie Stiles' 15 field goals vs. Davidson (11/13/98)

SOUTH CAROLINA Lady Gamecocks
The University of South Carolina completed its two-game exhibition schedule Sunday with a 90-60 victory over Stockholm Human Rights. Jocelyn Penn added her second consecutive 40+ points game as the senior forward led all players with 41 points. Petra Ujhelyi put together a double-double performance with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Last Friday night, USC defeated Athletes in Action, 94-61, in the preseason opener. Penn contributed 40 points in the win with Cristina Ciocan chipping in 31 points and 13 assists. South Carolina opens the regular season on Friday, November 22nd with an instate contest against Clemson in the inaugural game of the new Carolina Center.

TENNESSEE Lady Volunteers
Countdown to 800--Lady Vol coach Pat Summitt currently has 789 career wins in 29 seasons - and leads Texas' Jody Conradt who has gathered 788 wins in 33 seasons. Tennessee claimed two victories in exhibition play - a 116-50 win over 08 Stockholm and a 95-76 drubbing of the Premier Players. Additionally, the Lady Vols opened the 2002-03 season with a 94-68 win over the #22 Oklahoma Sooners in the State Farm Tipoff Classic at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Lady Vols now travel to Raleigh, N.C., for a Nov. 24 meeting with top-ranked Duke in the Jimmy V Classic on ESPN2.

VANDERBILT Commodores
The Commodores start the Melanie Balcomb era Nov. 23 at Boston University. Balcomb replaces Jim Foster who took the head coaching job at Ohio State. Balcomb comes to Vanderbilt after spending seven years at Xavier University compiling a 135-78 record. Balcomb's staff includes assistant coaches Vicky Picott, Kristin Schneider and Stephanie Norman. Chantelle Anderson is 580 points shy of setting the Vanderbilt All-Time Scoring mark for men or women.

SEC Notes

BACK IN THE SEC
Eleven teams return at least three starters, with Ole Miss being the lone team to return less than three. LSU returns all five starters, while Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky and Mississippi State each return four.

League teams return 40 of the possible 60 starters (67 percent) from last year’s squads. Following is a breakdown of starters and letterwinners returning by school:

               Starters   Letterwinners 
Team           Returning  Returning
Alabama          3         10
Arkansas         4          9
Auburn           4          8
Florida          3          9
Georgia          3          8
Kentucky         4          6
LSU              5          8
Ole Miss         1          6
Mississippi St.  4          8
South Carolina   3          7
Tennessee        3          9
Vanderbilt       3         11
 

RETURNING STATISTICAL LEADERS
The 2002-2003 season of women’s basketball in the Southeastern Conference should be an exciting one. Exciting, in part to the numerous returning statistical leaders. The top nine scoring leaders return as well as eight of the top rebounding leaders return, while the top three blockers and top four assists leaders return for another season.

Below is a look of the top returning statistical leaders.

 
Scoring              Pts.  Avg. 
1. L. Thomas, MSU    763   24.6
2. C. Anderson, VU   765   20.7
3. T. White, MSU     575   18.5
4. V. Hayden, UF     496   17.1
5. S. Helm, UK       493   17.0
6. S. Christon, ARK  517   16.7
7. J. Penn, USC      525   16.4
8. Ka. Braxton, UG   489   16.3
9. A. Smith, LSU     476   15.9
 
Rebounding           No.   Avg. 
1. V. Hayden, UF     343  11.8
2. L. Thomas, MSU    308   9.9
3. L. Willingham, AU 235   8.1
4. C. Cooper, UF     223   7.7
5. A. Smith, LSU     230   7.7
7. T. White, MSU     223   7.2
9. Ka. Braxton, UG   205   6.8
10. C. Anderson, VU  250   6.6
 
Assists              No.   Avg.
1. T. Johnson, LSU   179   7.46
2. A. Wright, ARK    203   6.34
3. C. Ciocan, USC    185   6.17
4. R. Adams, UK      162   5.59
 
Blocks               No.   Avg.
1. V. Hayden, UF     126  4.34
2. Ka. Braxton, UG    59  1.97
3. A. Watts, UM       50  1.79
 
Steals                No.  Avg. 
1. R. Adams, UK       104  3.59
3. J. Penn, USC        94  2.94
4. T. White, MSU       91  2.94
 
Field Goal Percentage  Pct.
1. C. Anderson, VU     .647
2. J. Penn, USC        .621
3. L. Thomas, MSU      .570
 
3-Point FG Percentage  Pct.
1. J. Carter, MSU      .455
2. B. Vice, UA         .434
3. A. McElhiney, VU    .433
4. J. Benningfield, VU .412
5. K. Sipe, UA         .402
 
3-Point              FG Made Avg.
1. I. Lewis, ARK       2.78
2. B. Vice, UA         2.77
5. S. Potts, UK        1.79
 
Free Throw Percentage  Pct.
2. K. Lawson, UT       .835
5. S. Helm, UK         .800
5. G. Jackson, UT      .800
 
Assist/Turnover Ratio   Ratio
1. T. Johnson, LSU      2.24
2. A. Wright, ARK       2.03
3. A. McElhiney, VU     2.01
4. C. Ciocan, USC       1.81

PRESEASON NAISMITH CANDIDATES
The 2002-2003 candidates for the Naismith College Female Player of the Year were selected by a vote of the Board of Selectors comprised of leading coaches, journalists and basketball analysts.

Two of the top three vote-getters hail from the SEC. Senior’s Chantelle Anderson from Vanderbilt and LaToya Thomas from Mississippi State join Duke’s Alana Beard and Connecticut’s Diana Taurasi as the top contenders.

Other SEC honorees include Kara Braxton,UG; Shameka Christon, ARK; Vanessa Hayden, UF; Gwen Jackso, UT; Temeka Johnson, LSU; Kara Lawson, UT; Jocelyn Penn, USC; and Aiysha Smith, LSU.

SEC NON-CONFERENCE RECORD
Since the 1990 season, the SEC has compiled a 1,759-461 (.792) record against other conferences. The 1999-2000 season proved to be the most successful, as league schools won 83.0 percent of their non-conference games. The league has never recorded a non-conference winning percentage below .746.

Below is a look of the SEC’s non-conference records:

Year    Record  Pct.
2000-01 135-37  .785 
1999-00 151-31  .830
1998-99 124-26  .827
1997-98 133-38  .778
1996-97 155-43  .783
1995-96 164-37  .816
1994-95 154-37  .806
1993-94 152-44  .776
1992-93 158-40  .800
1991-92 147-50  .746
1990-91 150-37  .802
 

PRESEASON HONORS
The SEC had several individuals honored in preseason publications. Below is a list of Preseason First-Team All-America and Player of the Year honorees:

Street & Smith’s
Chantelle Anderson, Vanderbilt
Kara Braxton, Georgia
Vanessa Hayden, Florida
LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State

High Honorable Mention
Shameka Christon, Arkansas
Temeka Johnson, LSU
Kara Lawson, Tennessee
Tan White, Mississippi State

Honorable Mention
Shyra Ely, Tennessee
Jocelyn Penn, South Carolina
Aiysha Smith, LSU

Women’s Basketball News Service
First Team
Chantelle Anderson, Vanderbilt
LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State

Second Team
Shameka Christon, Arkansas
Tan White, Mississippi State
Temeka Johnson, LSU

Third Team
Vanessa Hayden, Florida
Shyra Ely, Tennessee
Kara Lawson, Tennessee
Kara Braxton, Georgia

WBNS Freshman Team
First Team
Seimone Augustus, LSU
Ruby Vaden, Arkansas

Second Team
Shanna Zolman, Tennessee
Alexis Kendrick, Georgia

Lindy’s
First Team
Chantelle Anderson, Vanderbilt
LaToya Thomas, Missisippi State

Second Team
Kara Lawson, Tennessee
Vanessa Hayden, Florida

Third Team
Temeka Johnson, LSU
Kara Braxton, Georgia

Basketball News
First Team
Chantelle Anderson, Vanderbilt

Second Team
LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State
Kara Braxton, Georgia
Kara Lawson, Tennessee

Athlon’s
First Team
Chantelle Anderson, Vanderbilt
LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State

Second Team
Kara Braxton, Georgia
Gwen Jackson, Tennessee

Third Team
Vanessa Hayden, Florida
Kara Lawson, Tennessee

Womenscollegehoops.com
First Team
Chantelle Anderson, Vanderbilt
LaToya Thomas, Mississippi State

Second Team
Kara Lawson, Tennessee
Kara Braxton, Georgia

Third Team
Temeka Johnson, LSU
Vanessa Hayden, Florida

Honorable Mention
Shameka Christon, Arkansas
Jocelyn Penn, South Carolina
Aiysha Smith, LSU
Tan White, Mississippi State

TV Schedule
Last year, in an unprecedented move, Worldspan® became the official presenting television sponsor of SEC women's athletic events on FOX Sports Net South. This marked the first-ever, conference-wide women's sports television sponsorship in the history of intercollegiate athletics. Worldspan continues their thei commitment to women’s athletics this year.

The Worldspan identity will be featured on all women's events televised as part of the SEC-TV package distributed by FOX Sports Net South, Sunshine Network and FOX Sports Net Southwest. The programming schedule includes both regular-season and conference championship events in soccer, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, softball, golf, tennis, track and field and swimming and diving. Worldspan also will present a regular women's athletics feature on SEC-TV Weekly, seen Thursday evenings at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Date	Game	Network	Time
Saturday, Nov. 30	Georgia at Arizona	FSN Nat'l	6:00 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 14	Tennessee at USC	FSN Nat'l	2:00 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 4	Penn State at LSU	CBS	Noon
Saturday, Jan. 4	Tennessee at Connecticut	CBS	2:00 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 9	Mississippi State at South Carolina	SEC-TV	7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 12	Alabama at Kentucky	SEC-TV	3:00 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 19	Tennessee at Florida	SEC-TV	3:00 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 19	LSU at Arkansas	ESPN	5:00 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 2	Auburn at Ole Miss	SEC-TV	3:00 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 2	Tennessee at Vanderbilt	ESPN	7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 9	LSU at Mississippi State	SEC-TV	3:00 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 16	Arkansas at South Carolina	SEC-TV	3:00 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 20	Georgia at Tennessee	SEC-TV	7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 23	Vanderbilt at Florida	SEC-TV	3:00 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 27	Vanderbilt at Tennessee	SEC-TV	7:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 2	LSU at Vanderbilt	SEC-TV	3:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 6	SEC Tournament Game 1	SEC-TV	1:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 6	SEC Tournament Game 2	SEC-TV	3:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 6	SEC Tournament Game 3	SEC-TV	7:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 6	SEC Tournament Game 4	SEC-TV	9:30 p.m.
Friday, March 7	SEC Tournament Game 5	SEC-TV	1:00 p.m.
Friday, March 7	SEC Tournament Game 6	SEC-TV	3:30 p.m.
Friday, March 7	SEC Tournament Game 7	SEC-TV	7:00 p.m.
Friday, March 7	SEC Tournament Game 8	SEC-TV	9:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 8	SEC Tournament Game 9	SEC-TV	7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 8	SEC Tournament Game 10	SEC-TV	9:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 9	SEC Championship Game	ESPN2	4:00 p.m.