June 28, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State University women's basketball team has been invited to participate in the prestigious State Farm Tip-Off Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday, November 11, 2007 at the Smith Center. ASU will face the University of North Carolina at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. The second part of the doubleheader, which will be shown on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. ET, will feature Oklahoma against Maryland.
"It's certainly an honor for our program to be involved with such a prestigious event and one that has come to be synonymous with the start of the women's college basketball season," said ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne, who is currently at the 2007 FIBA U21 Championship in Moscow, Russia, where she is serving as an assistant coach on the USA U21 National Team.
Next season ASU will return 11 players, including three starters - guards Briann January, Jill Noe and Reagan Pariseau - and several other significant contributors from its Elite Eight squad, which set single-season school records for most overall wins (31), most Pac-10 wins (16) and most road wins (10). In addition to regaining the services of All-Pac-10 Freshman guard Dymond Simon, who missed the last 16 games of last season with a knee injury, the Sun Devils will also receive a boost from the addition of junior posts Sybil Dosty (transfer from the University of Tennessee) and Lauren Lacey (transfer from the University of Minnesota), who both sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, and from talented incoming freshmen Rebecca Tobin (Glendale Cactus) and Stephanie Wilber (Auburn Riverside, Auburn, Wash.).
The Tar Heels, under veteran coach Sylvia Hatchell, went in 34-4 in 2006-07 and advanced to the Final Four for the second consecutive season before being defeated by eventual national champion Tennessee in the national semifinals. This will be the third time in four seasons that ASU and North Carolina have met. The two teams squared off in the Sweet Sixteen of the 2005 NCAA Tournament and again at the 2005 Caribbean Classic with the Tar Heels taking both contests by identical 79-72 scores.
This year marks the 15th consecutive year that the State Farm Tip-Off Classic will help usher in another collegiate season for women's basketball. During the past 14 years, the event has featured some of the nation's best - players, coaches and teams.
At halftime of both games the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2008 will be introduced to the arena and the national television audience. The 2008 Induction will mark the 10th anniversary of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, which held its grand opening and inaugural induction in 1999. When the Class of 2008 is officially inducted in Knoxville, Tenn. on June 13-14, 2008 the list of individuals who have been recognized as Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductees will increase to 103.
The mission of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame is to "honor the past, celebrate the present, and promote the future" of women's basketball.