'Cats Lace it Up for Start of 2010-11 Women's Basketball Season
10/9/2010 12:00:24 AM | Women's Basketball
Gavin McFarlin -- Assistant SID
DAVIDSON, N.C. — The start of a new era for the Davidson women's basketball team got underway on Monday afternoon as the Wildcats opened up the 2010-11 season with practice at John M. Belk Arena under the guidance of new head coach Michele Savage.
Under a new NCAA regulation, women's basketball programs are allowed to begin practice 40 days before their first regular-season competition. During those 40 days, teams can conduct 30 practices.
Savage, who enters her first year of being a head coach, became the 11th head coach in the 31-year-old Davidson women's basketball program on May 28. She replaces Annette Watts who was the winningest head coach in program history. Savage is the third African-American head coach at Davidson in school history in any sport (Junior Wade, 1975, baseball & Gwen Harris, 1983-86, men's and women's track). She takes over a program that has posted six straight winning seasons in the Southern Conference and has been above .500 overall in five of the last six campaigns, including a 23-9 mark and a WNIT appearance in 2006-07.
According to Savage, the first week of practice has been a very good one for the 'Cats.
"Practice is going very well," said an excited Savage. "It has been great having the entire team in practice at one time and being able to compete 5-on-5. The ladies have
been working hard and have been focused on getting better every day in preparation for our exhibition game in a month."
The Wildcats will take on Mars Hill in that exhibition on Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. in Belk Arena. Davidson then opens the regular season on the road at Arkansas-Little Rock and Arkansas, Nov. 12-14.
“This year's schedule will be a challenging one for our young team,” said Savage. “Our young players will need to be ready to go very early in the season."
Davidson returns nine letterwinners and two starters, including All-SoCon Freshman Team member Sophia Aleksandravicius (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) who averaged 12 points and eight rebounds last year. The Wildcats finished 14-15 and 12-8 in the league a year ago, their seventh straight winning season in SoCon play.
Women's Basketball Preseason Virtual Tip-off (10-21-25)
Wednesday, October 29
The Inside Out Show - Episode 7
Friday, January 31
Women's Basketball vs UMass Highlights
Thursday, January 25
Riana Doctor '26 - 'Cats on Tour Testimonial
Sunday, April 02
