Wes Moore	- Download MP3-

The opponents on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team’s 2008-09 schedule are almost all familiar. Most of them are year-in, year-out rivals and conference foes, but there are a couple of newcomers, like Samford.

The game that stands out more than any other is, of course, Tennessee. The Lady Mocs will host the two-time defending national champions at McKenzie Arena on Nov. 21.

“It’s a great opportunity for our kids, playing them,” Lady Mocs coach Wes Moore said Monday. “You’re weaknesses are going to be exposed, and you’re going to know what you need to get better at, right away.”

Tennessee beat UTC 76-56 in Knoxville last season, surging in the second half after leading 32-28 at halftime. The Lady Vols’ last appearance in McKenzie Arena was on Nov. 19, 2004, when they beat the Lady Mocs 68-34. A crowd of 10,051 attended that game and Moore is hoping for another big turnout.

“It doesn’t matter to me what color they’re wearing, just come and buy a ticket,” Moore said. “I’m hoping that if we get some people in here that haven’t been to a lot of our games in the past, that maybe they’ll like what they see and come back.”

After once again hosting an exhibition game against Lee University, on Nov. 10, UTC opens its season on Nov. 17 at home against East Tennessee State. Four days later the Lady Mocs host Tennessee before playing at Middle Tennessee State on Nov. 25.

On Nov. 28-29, UTC will host the Chattanooga Classic four-team event, which will include Troy, Richmond and Akron. On Dec. 19-20, UTC will head to Cancun, Mexico, to participate in the Caribbean Classic.

The Lady Mocs’ first Southern Conference game, on Dec. 1, will be against the league’s newest team, Samford, which went 23-9 last season and finished second in the Ohio Valley Conference. With the addition of Samford, the SoCon schedule is now 20 games.

The Lady Mocs will also host the SoCon tournament next season, as well as in 2010.

Last season, UTC went 18-0 in the SoCon on the way to its ninth straight regular season title. The Lady Mocs team that takes the floor next season will look a lot different from last season’s unit, which also won the conference tournament before losing to Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA tournament, finishing 29-4.

Gone will be the five key seniors who shouldered most of the team’s load the past two seasons, including starters Alex Anderson, Laura Hall and Brooke Hand.

McElhiney won’t be back

Assistant coach Ashley McElhiney will not be back next season, Moore also announced Monday. McElhiney, who joined the staff last season, is eight months pregnant and Moore said she wanted to devote her full attention to being a mother.

McElhiney was a two-time All-SEC player at Vanderbilt and made national news in 2004 when was named the coach of the Nashville Rhythm of the American Basketball Association, becoming the first female coach of a men’s professional team.

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