For the first time in several years, the Barry women’s basketball team will not be road warriors, as the Bucs will have 14 of 26 games at home in 2012-13.
“For the past several years the majority of our non-conference games have been away from home,” head coach Bill Sullivan said. “Last year, for example, we started the season playing six of our first seven games on the road. This season, with such a young team, we are thrilled that we will be playing most of our games in November and December here at Barry in front of our home fans.”
The Bucs tip-off the season at the West Florida Tip-off Classic, taking on Georgia Southwestern from the Peachbelt Conference and the host Argonauts from the Gulf South. The Hurricanes, coming off an 18-9 campaign that ranked third in the PBC West, have to replace their top five scorers. The Argonauts, with two returning starters, went 10-17 last year and finished tied for fourth in the GSC.
After the long trip up to Pensacola, the Bucs spend the rest of the semester in South Florida, including six of the next seven games at home. For the first time since Sullivan’s second season in 2006-07, the Bucs will face off against a pair of teams from Puerto Rico as the Jerezanas from Rio Piedras and Janes from Mayaguez visit the Health & Sports Center on Nov. 14 and 16 respectively.
Sandwiched by a pair of local NAIA teams in Florida Memorial (Nov. 28) and Johnson & Wales (Dec. 14), Barry gets Sunshine State Conference play started as they host the Panthers of Florida Tech on Dec. 1. It will give the Bucs a chance to avenge their SSC Tournament loss from a year ago, as the Panthers ended the Bucs’ season with a 71-68 win in the HSC.
Closing out the first semester, the Bucs will play in the Cruzin’ Classic at Nova Southeastern against Drury. The Panthers won the Great Lakes Valley Conference Eastern Division and played in the NCAA Tournament after going 20-8 last year.
Coming out of the holiday break, the Bucs host the Riverhawks of Massachusetts-Lowell on Dec. 30. The Riverhawks return four of their top five scorers from an 11-16 team.
In January, the Bucs jump into the heart of SSC play with trips to Florida Southern (Jan. 5), Eckerd (Jan. 19) and Nova Southeastern (Jan. 30), while hosting Lynn (Jan. 9), Saint Leo (Jan. 12), Rollins (Jan. 23) and Tampa (Jan. 26). In addition, they will make their annual pilgrimage to the Greene Complex to take on Palm Beach Atlantic.
In February, the schedule flips, with Bucs making trips to Florida Tech (Feb. 2), Saint Leo (Feb. 9), Lynn (Feb. 13), Tampa (Feb. 23) and Rollins (Feb. 27). Florida Southern (Feb. 6) and Eckerd (Feb. 16) make their return trips to Miami Shores, as do the Sailfish of Palm Beach Atlantic. The regular season closes out on Mar. 2 as the Bucs host the Nova Southeastern Sharks.
The Sunshine State Conference Tournament (Mar. 6-10) has a new look this season. For the first time since 2007, all 18 SSC men’s and women’s basketball teams will compete in the tournament, which will be hosted at a neutral facility for the first time since 2001. The SSC Basketball Championship, hosted at The Lakeland Center from 1995-2001, had been conducted at campus sites since that time. The tournament winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Bucs get the preseason started with three exhibition games, facing Miami-Dade College at home on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 7:00 pm, Northwood in West Palm Beach on Oct. 29 and FIU at U.S. Century Bank Arena on Nov. 2.