Games against Iowa, Marquette and UCLA highlight the 2008-2009 Kansas University women’s basketball schedule.

KU will meet defending WNIT champion Marquette on Dec. 7 in Milwaukee and play host to Iowa, an NCAA Tournament team, on Nov. 23.

The UCLA game will be Dec. 21 in Los Angeles.

“Not only will we face many different styles of play,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said, “but we will also be doing it both at home and on the road.”

The other teams on the Jayhawks’ nonconference schedule are Sacred Heart, Saint Louis, New Orleans, San Jose State, Western Illinois, Creighton, Pepperdine, Houston and New Mexico State.

The Jayhawks will begin Big 12 Conference play on Jan. 10 at Kansas State. No game times for league games will be announced until the conference completes its television schedule.

“Last season, our strength of schedule ranked in the top 20 in the NCAA,” Henrickson said, “and I would expect this year’s schedule to be no different.”

In a format change, the Big 12 women’s tournament now will be staged in a Thursday-through-Sunday format instead of Tuesday through Saturday.

The league tourney will be March 12-15 at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. The men’s tourney will be March 11-14 next door in the Ford Center.