DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After its first appearance in the NCAA tournament last year, Bethune-Cookman will embark on a 2019-20 women's basketball schedule that includes several teams that were also playing deep into March last year.

Two NCAA tournament teams, three WNIT teams and the Women's Basketball Invitational tournament champion are among the opposition BCU will face this season on the 28-game schedule Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis announced today.

"We want to maintain a high level of play from the moment we set foot in the gym," said Blair-Lewis, whose team overcame numerous injuries to post a 21-11 record that included a 57-45 victory over Norfolk State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament championship game and a first-round NCAA tournament game at two-time National Champion Notre Dame. "A challenging schedule will help prepare us for success in both conference play and tournament time in March."

Schedule highlights:

• Troy  (Dec. 1, Moore Gymnasium): A 22-game winner and WNIT participant last year.
• At Auburn and Alabama (Dec. 15 and Dec. 17): This Southeast Conference road swing opens against an Auburn team that went 22-10 and received an NCAA tournament at-large bid.
• Appalachian State and Stetson (Dec. 19-20 at the Stetson Christmas tournament). Appalachian State (22-14) won the WBI last year while Volusia County rival Stetson played in the WNIT.
• Central Michigan (Dec. 28, Moore Gymnasium): Central Michigan won 25 games last year and played in the NCAA tournament, in fact, facing Michigan State in South Bend, Ind. in the game following the BCU-Notre Dame match-up.

"These are great programs," Blair-Lewis said. "It's our challenge as a coaching staff to have this team ready to face them, and we will be."

Other schedule notables:

• Season Opener: November 14 vs. Edward Waters.
• MEAC Opener: January 4 at Norfolk State in a championship game rematch. MEAC Regular season champion North Carolina A&T, a WNIT participant, will be a home-and-home opponent on the road Jan. 25 and at home Feb. 8.
• Florida A&M: In Tallahassee Feb. 1 and in Daytona Beach March 5 in the regular season finale.
• Other home games:  Georgia Southern (Nov. 23);  Palm Beach Atlantic (Dec. 7); Coppin State (Jan. 11); Morgan State (Jan. 13); North Carolina Central (Jan. 18; Howard (Feb. 10); South Carolina State (Feb. 22) and Norfolk State (Feb. 24).

Follow the team's official twitter feed -- @bcuwbb -- for updates.