UAPB Women Hoops Announces Full Schedule For 2022-2023 Season

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Women’s Basketball team has announced the full schedule for the 2022-2023 campaign.

What will be a historic start to the Lady Lions program is highlighted by three home games, and two tournaments.

The Lady Lions are led by fourth-year head coach Dawn Thornton and will host Arkansas at H.O. Clemmons Arena for the first time in school history on Monday, Nov. 7.

A few days later, UAPB will travel up the road to face in-state rival Little Rock (Nov. 11) before returning home to host Philander Smith (Nov. 15).

The Lady Lions will play in the Miami Thanksgiving Classic, featuring facing Columbia (Nov. 25), Miami (Nov. 27), and SMU (Nov. 29) at the University of Miami, followed by the Raising the B.A.R. Invitational against Gardner Web (Dec. 3) and Cal (Dec. 4) at the University of California.

Before leaving the west coast, UAPB heads to San Francisco on Dec. 7, before returning home to close out the non-conference play against Central Arkansas on Dec. 19.

“I believe we did a good job of scheduling to play in our region and continuing to mark our brand around the state of Arkansas,” said Thornton about the non-conference schedule. “Being able to host Razorbacks at home for the first time in school is big for us. Also playing our sister schools, including three out of four of them at home, is an opportunity for both programs to showcase the talent in the state. I’m thankful that we’re going back to the Miami tournament, but I also feel that we have unfinished business there based on last season. The tournament in California is recognizing African-American head coaches, and I’m grateful that our team gets to compete in an empowering event as such.”

Heading into 2023, UAPB begins conference play on the road at Alabama A&M (Jan. 2) and Alabama State (Jan. 4) before returning home to face Texas Southern (Jan. 7) and Prairie View (Jan. 9).

The Lady Lions will then hit the east coast for a road test against Florida A&M (Jan. 14) and Bethune-Cookman (Jan. 16).

A three-game home stand features Southern (Jan. 21), Grambling (Jan. 23), and Mississippi Valley State (Jan. 28) all entering the Lion’s Den before UAPB closes the first half of conference play on the road against Alcorn State (Feb. 4) and Jackson State (Feb. 6).

To start the second half of conference play, the Lady Lions welcome Alabama State (Feb. 11) and Alabama A&M (Feb. 13) before hitting the road for three games against Prairie View (Feb. 18), Texas Southern (Feb. 20), and Mississippi Valley State (Feb. 25).

Jackson State (Mar. 2) and Alcorn State (Mar. 4) come into town to close out the regular season for UAPB.

“Our main focus coming into conference play is staying healthy and remaining injury-free,” Thornton remarked on SWAC play. “We made sure we added depth to ensure a better chance at doing so. The great thing about it is the ability that some of those players have, to be able to play more than just one position on the court. Training to stay healthy and stay in shape is where we are now, and we hope to carry that into the preseason upon reaching SWAC play.”

The Southwestern Athletic Conference is scheduled for March 8-11 in Birmingham, Alabama.