The University of Missouri has released details on the women’s basketball schedule for the 2016-2017 season, Mercer native Sierra Michaelis’ senior season with the Tigers.
Coming off of their first NCAA appearance in a decade, Coach Robin Pingeton’s Tigers will have two exhibition games at Mizzou Arena to open the season, hosting Central Missouri on November 1st and Truman State on November 7th. The regular season opener will be a game in Columbia against Abilene Christian, in the opening round of the 2016 Preseason WNIT. Mizzou will compete in this tournament against teams like Nebraska, Washington, and Notre Dame. Sixteen teams are in the field. Second-round games will be November 13th and 14th, semifinals on November 17th, and the championship game on November 20th.
Mizzou, after the Preseason WNIT, returns to Columbia, welcoming Indiana State to Mizzou Arena on November 22nd. For the Thanksgiving holiday, Mizzou will play in the Bahamas. In the “Junkanoo Jam”, MU will battle the Creighton Blue Jays at 1:15 PM on November 25th, with a meeting with either Dayton or Georgia Tech on the following day.
Non-conference foes Western Illinois and Missouri State will be inside Mizzou Arena for games on November 29th and December 2nd, before Missouri heads to Indianapolis to play IUPUI on December 4th. Upon returning home, Coach Pingeton’s team has four straight home games, battling SIU Edwardsville, Wichita State, Tennessee-Martin, and UC-Riverside. A trip to St. Louis, to play the in-state rival SLU Billikens, will end non-conference play for the Tigers on December 21st.
SEC play opens for the Missouri women with Georgia at Mizzou Arena on New Year’s Day. The Tigers head to Kentucky on January 5th (both UGA and UK games on SEC Network). Alabama will be at Missouri on January 8th, with MU in an “all-Tiger battle” at LSU on January 12th, followed by a game at Vanderbilt on January 15th. Texas A&M will be at MU on the SEC Network on January 19th, with the Tigers at Arkansas on January 23rd.
Missouri wraps up the first month of 2017 with home games against Auburn (January 26th) and Kentucky (January 30th).
In February, Mizzou opens play in Starkville, Mississippi against the MSU Bulldogs on February 5th (1:30 PM, ESPNU). A trip to Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville to play the tradition-rich Tennessee Lady Vols is February 9th (SEC Network).
Arkansas plays at Mizzou Arena on February 12th, with the Tigers at Florida four days later. The defending SEC champion South Carolina Gamecocks, in what could be the top matchup of the year for Mizzou women’s basketball, plays in Columbia against the Tigers on February 19th (ESPN2).
Senior Night for Michaelis and her classmates will be February 23rd, when Missouri hosts Ole Miss. A road game at Alabama finishes out regular season play on February 26th.
The 2017 SEC women’s basketball tournament will be played from March 1st to March 5th in Greenville, South Carolina.
