Aug. 12, 2004

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue announced its 2004-05 women's basketball schedule in conjunction with the Big Ten Conference on Thursday. Games with Duke, Notre Dame, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Houston, DePaul and Arkansas highlight the non-conference portion of the schedule, while a 16-game Big Ten line-up is slated to start in late December. Sixth-year Purdue head coach Kristy Curry hopes the rigorous calendar will prepare the Boilermakers for a deep postseason run, especially with the NCAA Women's Final Four being played in Indianapolis, the Boilermakers' backyard, next April. "We are very pleased with our schedule and we're already looking forward to getting it started," Curry says. "November seems far away, but it will be here before you know it. "We are going to be a young team, but we will be working as hard as we can to make sure we're ready for all the upcoming challenges." The 2004-05 season will get under way with two home exhibition games Nov. 6 and 14. The Boilermakers officially will open the campaign Sunday, Nov. 21 against IPFW. A Thanksgiving trip to participate in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Flint Hills Islander Classic will follow; Purdue will meet Arkansas in the first round, then will face either the host Islanders or Idaho State. Purdue will return home to play Houston on Tuesday, Nov. 30, before once again heading west. The Boilermakers will play at UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Dec. 3, and at UCLA on Sunday, Dec. 5. Home games against DePaul and Western Michigan will be played Dec. 9 and 12, before a Dec. 18 showdown against Duke in the annual Boilermaker BlockBuster in Indianapolis. Purdue will play host to South Dakota State on Tuesday, Dec. 28, two days before opening the Big Ten season at Wisconsin. One final non-conference game at Notre Dame is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 16. In its conference schedule, Purdue will play Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin both home and away. The Boilermakers will play Illinois and Iowa once at home; they will play Michigan State and Northwestern once on the road. The Big Ten Tournament is scheduled to start Thursday, March 3 in Indianapolis. The championship game will be played Monday, March 7. Purdue's games at Notre Dame and at Minnesota (Feb. 13) will be broadcast live by ESPN2. Additional TV games will be announced at a later date.

2004-05 Purdue Women's Basketball Schedule
Sat.	Nov. 6	EXHIBITION	                 1 p.m.
Sun.	Nov. 14	EXHIBITION	                 2 p.m.
Sun.	Nov. 21	IPFW	                         2 p.m.
Thu.	Nov. 25	vs. Arkansas*	                 6 p.m.
Fri.	Nov. 26	vs. Texas A&M-CC/Idaho State*	 5 p.m. or 7 p.m.
Tue.	Nov. 30	HOUSTON	                         7 p.m.
Fri.	Dec. 3	at UC Santa Barbara	         7 p.m.
Sun.	Dec. 5	at UCLA	                         2 p.m.
Thu.	Dec. 9	DEPAUL	                         7 p.m.
Sun.	Dec. 12	WESTERN MICHIGAN	         2 p.m.
Sat.	Dec. 18	vs. Duke^	                 4 p.m.
Tue.	Dec. 28	SOUTH DAKOTA STATE	         7 p.m.
Thu.	Dec. 30	at Wisconsin	                 7 p.m.
Sun.	Jan. 2	at Ohio State	                 2 p.m.
Thu.	Jan. 6	INDIANA	                         7 p.m.
Sun.	Jan. 9	MICHIGAN	                 2 p.m.
Thu.	Jan. 13	MINNESOTA	                 7 p.m.
Sun.	Jan. 16	at Notre Dame (ESPN2)            5 p.m.
Thu.	Jan. 20	at Penn State	                 7 p.m.
Sun.	Jan. 23	IOWA	                         2 p.m.
Thu.	Jan. 27	at Michigan State	         7 p.m.
Sun.	Jan. 30	at Northwestern	                 2 p.m.
Thu.	Feb. 3	ILLINOIS	                 7 p.m.
Sun.	Feb. 6	PENN STATE	                 2 p.m.
Sun.	Feb. 13	at Minnesota (ESPN2)             5 p.m.
Thu.	Feb. 17	at Michigan	                 7 p.m.
Sun.	Feb. 20	at Indiana	                 2 p.m.
Thu.	Feb. 24	OHIO STATE	                 7 p.m.
Sun.	Feb. 27	WISCONSIN	                 2 p.m.

* Flint Hills Islander Classic (Corpus Christi, Texas)
^ Boilermaker BlockBuster (Indianapolis, Ind.)
All times local to site and subject to change.