BOONEVILLE, Miss. - Brian Middleton took no shortcuts when piecing together his inaugural schedule as the head coach of the Northeast Mississippi Community College women's basketball program.

The Lady Tigers will challenge themselves during the 2025-26 campaign with seven games against teams that won region championships or were ranked in the final national poll one year ago.

A vast majority of those matchups are on the road. The lone home contest among that group of opponents is the fall semester finale against Wallace State (Ala.) Community College at Hanceville on December 16th.

"I like our schedule overall. It's challenging in spots," said Middleton. "We're going to see what we're made of early and then just see what we need to work on and go from there."

Northeast begins the season with a pair of classics hosted by perennial powers Chipola (Fla.) College and Walters State (Tenn.) Community College. The Lady Tigers will burn the roads for nearly 1,600 miles round-trip over their first two weekends.

Middleton makes his debut as Northeast's leader inside legendary Bonner Arnold Coliseum on Tuesday, November 11 as part of a doubleheader with the men versus Arkansas State University Mid-South.

"That's something that we've kinda circled on our calendar," Middleton said. "We'll have a couple of games under our belt, which is good. Just to have our kids get their families in and get to watch them at home is going to be fun."

The Lady Tigers only have four total home dates prior to the Christmas break. Among them is the first meeting with nearby Blue Mountain Christian University in nine years on December 2nd.

Northeast has two tune ups before the start of league play in the New Year. The Lady Tigers go to Bishop State (Ala.) Community College on Monday, January 5 and host Calhoun (Ala.) Community College three days later.

Middleton's first week in the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) features a visit from Holmes Community College and a short trip to Itawamba Community College.

The January 15th matchup in Fulton is the only regular season game between the two rivals. Northeast and the Lady Indians had participated in a home-and-home series in three of the last four years since division play was discontinued.

The Lady Tigers get a playoff rematch on Thursday, February 26 when Mississippi Delta Community College comes to town. March Madness gets underway when Northeast travels to East Mississippi Community College on the 2nd.