KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan women's basketball team has announced its 2010-11 schedule. The Broncos have a total of 13 home games, eight of those against Mid-American Conference opponents. Highlighting the non-conference slate is a home game against Michigan State and road trips to the Florida International Thanksgiving Classic as well as to the University of Washington.
Western Michigan opens the year with a home exhibition game against Division II Lewis University on Nov. 8 and also kicks off the regular season on its home court, taking on Eastern Illinois on Nov. 12. Other home non-conference games are Southern Illinois (11/24), Chicago State (12/1), Michigan State (12/10) and Youngstown State (12/12).
Part of a three-year deal, it is the second-straight season Western Michigan plays Michigan State. The two faced off at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids last year with the Spartans coming away with a victory. This year will be the first time since 1983 that MSU has visited Kalamazoo.
Road non-conference games include Loyola-Chicago (11/16), Detroit (11/19), Indiana State (11/26) and either Morehead State or Florida International (11/28) at the FIU Thanksgiving Classic, Cleveland State (12/3), Southeast Missouri State (12/7), Washington (12/20) and Eastern Kentucky (12/31). The FIU trip will be a homecoming for WMU senior guard Kemmy Dominique, who is a Miami, Fla., native, while the trek to Washington will be WMU's first ever to the Seattle-based school. The Broncos hosted the PAC-10 Huskies last season.
Western Michigan begins its 16-game MAC schedule with back-to-back home games, opening with rival Central Michigan on Jan. 5 and then welcoming last year's West Division champion Toledo on Jan. 8. The Broncos travel to Ball State (1/11) and Northern Illinois (1/15) and wrap-up the first go-around against the West with Eastern Michigan (1/19) at home.
As for the MAC East opponents, Western Michigan heads to Ohio on Jan. 22, has a two-game stay at home against Akron (1/26) and conference champion Bowling Green (1/29) and concludes East play with a road trip to Buffalo (2/3) and Kent State (2/5).
The second go-around against the West has Toledo (2/16), Central Michigan (2/19) and Eastern Michigan (3/2) on the road and Northern Illinois (2/22) and Ball State (2/26) at home.
The MAC Tournament dates are set for March 5, 9, 11 and 12. The first round will be played at campus sites using the same format as last year. Tournament quarterfinals, semifinals and championship game will be held at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
