November 12, 2009 – The 2009-10 women’s collegiate basketball season will be tipped off in style as the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame teams up with State Farm, InterSport, ESPN and the University of Tennessee to host the 2009 State Farm Tip-Off Classic. This year’s Tip-Off Classic will feature No. 8/9 Tennessee against No. 7/4 Baylor at Thompson-Boling Arena (5 p.m., ESPN2) on Sunday, November 15.

“All of us at Tennessee are very excited to be able to host the State Farm game,” said Pat Summitt, Tennessee head coach, 1999 WBHOF Inductee and WBHOF Board Member. “With such a great opponent coming in, not only will it be an exciting environment for women’s basketball, but I think it’s also going to be two teams battling from beginning to end.”
The 2009 State Farm Tip-Off Classic marks the 17th year of the event, which has become synonymous with the start of the collegiate women’s basketball season. Once again, this year’s match-up will feature some of the best players, coaches and programs in the country.
“We are honored as a program to be invited to participate in the State Farm game,” said Kim Mulkey, Baylor head coach and 2000 WBHOF Inductee. “Our program, regardless of our (2006) national championship, we’re really new to the scene and we want to continue to try to be an elite program and what better place to learn than against the best. That’s the way I view Tennessee, that’s the way our program views it.”
This year will mark Tennessee’s seventh appearance in the State Farm Tip-Off Classic winning in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2002. This will be the fourth time Knoxville will host the tournament and the sixth time the classic has been held in Tennessee. Baylor will be making its third appearance at the event.
There will be five Women’s Basketball Hall of Famers sitting on the benches during the 2009 State Farm Tip-Off Classic, including Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt and Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey. Assistant coaches Holly Warlick, Daedra Charles-Furlow and Leon Barmore are also in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
During halftime, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010 – Leta Andrews, Teresa Edwards, Rebecca Lobo, Gloria Ray, Teresa Weatherspoon and Chris Weller – will be introduced to Thompson-Boling Arena and the national television audience. The Class of 2010 will be officially inducted in Knoxville, Tenn. on June 12, 2010.