SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference announced changes to the league’s 2020-21 women’s basketball conference schedule on Friday afternoon, aimed at minimizing concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

The conference slate, originally scheduled to get underway on Jan. 7 and feature two contests per team per week, will now begin on Jan. 9. League teams will now play both meetings of the season against six opponents in consecutive contests over a three-day span, either on Thursday/Saturday or Friday/Sunday. Each team will also play a home-and-away series with its travel partner split over the first and last weeks of conference play. Arena availability and home event overlap were taken into consideration in setting the schedule.

The eight league teams will all still play double-round-robin, 14-game intraleague schedules. Each team will still have seven games at home and seven on the road. The regular season concludes on Feb. 27 with one contest between Furman and Wofford. The Southern Conference tournament will be held March 4-7 at Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville in Asheville, North Carolina.