TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (October 1, 2009) – Tallahassee Community College’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will hit the floor for the first time on Thursday afternoon, the first official day of practice leading up to the start of the 2009-10 season. Coinciding with the first day of practice, coaches Eddie Barnes and Teresa Atkinson have released their schedules for the upcoming season.

The Lady Eagles tip off first when they host defending Mid-Florida Conference Champion Santa Fe College for a 6 p.m. game at the Eagledome on Tuesday, November 3.

Two evenings later, the Eagle men will open their 2009-10 slate by hosting the Wing Zone Tip-Off Classic. On Thursday, November 5, TCC hosts Middle Georgia College at 8 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. tilt against the College of Coastal Georgia on Friday, November 6.

TCC will host a total of 25 games (men, 14; women, 11) during the 2009-10 season, and all games will be available live online at www.TCCeagles.com.

For the Eagle men, November features a four-game road trip – including games at 2009 NJCAA Tournament participant South Georgia Tech (November 17) and Central Florida Community College (November 21) – sandwiched between the aforementioned Wing Zone Tip-Off Classic and the Ramada Conference Center Classic, which TCC will host Thursday and Friday, November 26 and 27.

December begins and ends with the back end of a home-and-home series with South Georgia Tech (December 1) and Central Florida (December 17), games which are part of a doubleheader with the Lady Eagles. In between, TCC will participate in a pair of annual events – the Milton H. Johnson Panhandle Classic, held in Marianna, Fla., (December 4-5) and the Florida Men’s JUCO Shootout (December 12-13) in Gainesville, Fla. TCC’s final non-conference tune-up comes at home when it hosts the Tallahassee Democrat Holiday Classic on January 1 and 2.

Meanwhile, the Lady Eagles are faced with one of their most challenging schedules in recent memory. TCC will face three teams who placed in the top five at last season’s NJCAA Tournament – NJCAA Runners-up Jefferson (Mo.) College, third-place Chipola College and fifth-place Walters State (Tenn.) Community College.

A brutal ten-game stretch awaits TCC in the season’s first month. Following the season opener against Santa Fe, the Lady Eagles will play in the Darton College Classic on November 6 and 7 before heading to Marianna, Fla., for the annual Holiday Inn/Alzheimer’s Classic (November 13-14), where it will face Jefferson and Wallace State (Ala.) Community College-Hanceville.

Following a fifth straight road game at South Georgia Tech on November 17, TCC will host the Lady Eagle Classic presented by Refreshment Services Pepsi on November 20 and 21. TCC closes the month with games in Decatur, Ga., at the GPC Classic, where it will play host Georgia Perimeter College and Walters State.

In addition to home contests against South Georgia Tech (December 1) and Central Florida (December 17), December features a pair of games in Gainesville, Fla., at the Florida Women’s JUCO Shootout (December 4-5) and a trip to Panama City, Fla., where it will play Florida State College at Jacksonville (December 18) in the Gulf Coast Lady Commodore Shootout.

Both the TCC men and women will open Panhandle Conference action in Panama City on January 6 against Gulf Coast Community College.