Rock Hill, S.C. – The Big South Conference announced its 2020-21 women's basketball composite league schedule Wednesday afternoon.
The 20-game double round-robin schedule remains the same for the second consecutive season except all contests will be back-to-back against the same opponent at the same location on consecutive days.
This year's schedule format has been adjusted to limit travel and help ensure the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff. In lieu of a traditional home-and-home series format, teams will alternate home and away dates on most occasions, and have a minimum of three days in-between scheduled contests.
The Eagles will open conference play on Dec. 17-18 at home against USC Upstate before playing their first road matchup at Campbell on Dec. 30-31. Winthrop's home schedule includes contests against High Point on Jan. 9-10, Charleston Southern on Jan. 29-30, Radford on Feb. 12-13 before closing out the season at home on Feb. 26-27 against Presbyterian. The squad will travel to Longwood on Jan. 15-16, Hampton on Jan. 22-23, Gardner-Webb on Feb. 5-6 and UNC Asheville on Feb. 19-20.
The conference season will commence with 10 teams playing from Dec. 15-22 before the schedule resumes Dec. 30 through Feb. 27. The schedule, which is subject to change, includes a bye for each squad during the league season.
Contingencies were built into the schedule to allow flexibility for completing the season in full, as any games impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic could be made up on various alternate dates, including the week of Feb. 28-March 6. In addition, teams will need just seven players to start a two-game conference series, while the second game of the series can begin with six players. Teams will also have the option to start a conference series with less than the required minimum number of seven players.
The NCAA announced that Wednesday, Nov. 25, will be the first date of competition of the 2020-21 college basketball season. Division I women's basketball teams can schedule 23 regular-season games and participate in one multiple-team event that includes up to four games, or schedule 25 regular-season games if a team does not compete in a multiple-team event.
The 2021 Hercules Tires Big South Women's Basketball Championship will be a home-site/earned seed format. The current schedule features first round games at the No. 6, 7 and 8 seeds on Tuesday, March 9. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played at the No. 1 seed on Thursday-Friday, March 11-12, while the highest remaining seed will host the championship game on Sunday, March 14.
The regular-season and conference tournament schedules are subject to change. Confirmed game times, the Big South's complete TV package and any revised tie-breaking format will be available at a later date.
WINTHROP
Dec. 17 USC UPSTATE
Dec. 18 USC UPSTATE
Dec. 30 at Campbell
Dec. 31 at Campbell
Jan. 9 HIGH POINT
Jan. 10 HIGH POINT
Jan. 15 at Longwood
Jan. 16 at Longwood
Jan. 22 at Hampton
Jan. 23 at Hampton
Jan. 29 CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
Jan. 30 CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
Feb. 5 at Gardner-Webb
Feb. 6 at Gardner-Webb
Feb. 12 RADFORD
Feb. 13 RADFORD
Feb. 19 at UNC Asheville
Feb. 20 at UNC Asheville
Feb. 26 PRESBYTERIAN
Feb. 27 PRESBYTERIAN
Home games listed in ALL CAPS
