JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman head women's basketball coach Mike Mincey has announced a 2013-14 schedule that will see the Lady Eagles facing off against six teams that made postseason play.

Six of the games are set for play on the hardwood of Holt Fieldhouse. 

"It's crucial to challenge the kids early and throughout the year to give ourselves a chance at making the NCAA tournament," Mincey said. "We want to have a strong strength of schedule to be able to do that."

Conference mates Lenoir-Rhyne and Anderson both made the NCAA tournament.  The Eagles open with NCAA tournament particpant Barton in the SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge.  A game with Limestone, which made the Sweet 16, looms on Nov. 13. 

Other teams lining the schedule that made postseason play are Lee (Dec. 3), which made the NAIA Division I title game, and Kentucky Wesleyan (Dec. 18), which was a five seed out of the Midwest Region. 

"We'll know a lot about our basketball team early," Mincey said. "We'll have to be ready to play off the get go.  We've started well in the past, but now it'll be even more important.  We'll hit two talented teams in Barton and Limestone before we're very heavy in conference play."

The Eagles finished 2012-13 with their second straight winning record at 15-11.  With seven newcomers, Mincey wants improvement on that mark; he thinks a schedule with 16 of 28 games at home should help meet that end.

"The confines of Holt Fieldhouse should make us more comfortable," Mincey said. "It should help to acclimate us quicker simply because we're at home for much of the early portion of our schedule."

That early portion of the schedule now includes conference contests.  The fifth game of the season on Nov. 20 is a conference showdown with archrival Tusculum.  It's the byproduct of a 22-game conference slate with the edition of Queens and Coker to the South Atlantic Conference." 

"It'll be a challenge because it's something – as a head coach or an assistant – that I've never had to deal with before," Mincey said. "It does help that we have those four games plus any exhibitions.  But the margin for error is smaller."

-CN-