George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands—Caymax Sports LTD, the hosts of the inaugural Cayman Islands Classic women’s basketball tournament has announced the matchups for the tournament. Niagara is one of eight teams to be competing in the tournament.
The Purple Eagles open the weekend on Nov. 24 by playing reigning national champion LSU at 1:30 p.m. at John Gray Gymnasium.
Niagara plays its second of two games just 24 hours later as they face UCLA at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 25. UCLA finished the 2022-23 season ranked 13th in the country by the USA Today/WBCA Poll.
This will be the first matchups with both LSU and UCLA in Niagara program history.
The Purple Eagles finished last season with an 18-13 record while setting a new program record with 16 MAAC wins. Niagara finished second in the MAAC standings and advanced to the MAAC Semifinals following a 67-64 win over Rider in the MAAC Quarterfinals. Niagara closed out its season in the WNIT against Green Bay, it was the first time in program history that the Purple Eagles earned a bid to a postseason tournament.
Niagara returns 10 players from a season ago while also welcoming four newcomers in 2023-24. The Purple Eagles are led by Aaliyah Parker and Angel Parker who combined to average 32.6 points a game for the Purple Eagles in 2022-23. Both were named First Team All-MAAC. As a team Niagara led the country in steals per game at 15.2 while also forcing 28.06 turnovers which was tops in the nation.
On July 31st, Niagara announced that they will host St. Bonaventure on November 8th at the Gallagher Center to open the regular season.
Cayman Island Information
- For more information, please visit www.CaymanIslandsClassic.com.
- For travel packages, visit https://caymanislandsclassictravel.com/ or call 1-877-669-8903.
- To watch games on Flo Hoops, visit https://flosports.link/3sd963n
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