BOONE, N.C. - Thirteen home games, a trip to the nation’s capital and 20 Southern Conference tilts highlight the 2008-09 Appalachian State women's basketball schedule, head coach Darcie Vincent announced on Wednesday.

The new Mountaineer coach and her squad will the season at home and renew an old SoCon rivalry when Marshall visits the Holmes Center on Friday, November 14. The teams have not met since 1997, when the Thundering Herd defeated the Apps to take a 20-18 lead in the all-time series.

From there, the Apps play three regional rivals before opening the conference slate, as ASU takes to the road to face East Carolina (Nov. 18), Wake Forest (Nov. 21) and East Tennessee State (Nov. 26). A November 24 contest at home against Alabama A&M rounds out the November lineup.

Appalachian takes to the road on December 1 to face Georgia Southern in the first league matchup of the season before returning to the Holmes Center to host Davidson on Dec. 6. Following a December 8 contest at Wichita State, the Mountaineers will focus their energy on final exams as the next contest for the team takes place nearly two weeks later, at Furman on Dec. 20.

The team then travels north to Washington, D.C. to face Big East power Georgetown (Dec. 28) for the first time since suffering an overtime defeat to the Hoyas in 2006. Appalachian faces George Mason (Dec. 30) for the first time since 1987 in the road trip as well.

ASU returns home after nearly a month away from the Holmes Center to dive head first into the league schedule. Western Carolina visits Boone on January 3 before the Mountaineers visit Elon two days later.

The Apps play host to College of Charleston (Jan. 10) and UNC Greensboro (Jan. 12) the following weekend before taking their inaugural trek to face new SoCon member Samford in Birmingham, Ala. on Jan. 17. The team will also visit the site of the 2009 SoCon championship at Chattanooga on the trip (Jan. 19) before closing out the three-game swing at Davidson (Jan. 24).

The Mountaineers look to avenge a two-point loss in the programs' first-ever meeting with Gardner-Webb last season when the Runnin’ Bulldogs visit the Appalachian campus for the first time in the budding rivalry on Jan. 28. The Apps return to league play with a visit from Furman on Jan. 31.

February opens with road trips to Wofford (Feb. 2) and Western Carolina (Feb. 7) before a four-game homestand begins against Elon (Feb. 9). The Mountaineers also host Wofford (Feb. 11), Samford (Feb. 14) and Chattanooga (Feb. 16) over the stretch.

The final road trip of the season takes the Apps to College of Charleston (Feb. 21) and UNC Greensboro (Feb. 23) before closing out the regular season in the same fashion as the 2007-08 campaign, at home against Georgia Southern (Feb. 28).

The SoCon championship is set for March 5-9 at Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena.