NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State women's basketball team will now play a 12-game MEAC slate against teams from the conference's Southern Division in the new composite league schedule released by the MEAC on Monday.

The Spartan women were originally scheduled to compete in the MEAC's Northern Division in the league's effort to reduce travel time for teams during the pandemic. However, Maryland Eastern Shore, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman have since opted not to compete in women's basketball this season, leaving an imbalance among the two divisions in the previous plan. So NSU will now shift to the Southern Division and play North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central and South Carolina State four times apiece in the newest schedule.

In another effort to limit travel time, the league will play on back-to-back days each weekend with games between the same two teams set for Saturday and Sunday. Several off weekends were built into the schedule to allow for the possibility of makeup games if needed.

NSU's slate begins on the weekend of Jan. 2-3, with back-to-back home games against North Carolina Central. The Spartans then travel to North Carolina A&T for a pair of games in Greensboro on Jan. 16-17, then close out the month of January at home against South Carolina State on Jan. 30-31.

NSU travels to Durham for games at N.C. Central on Feb. 6-7, then hosts North Carolina A&T on Feb. 20-21. The conference schedule is slated to conclude on Feb. 27-28 with NSU traveling to South Carolina State.

The MEAC's Northern Division for women's basketball consists of Coppin State, Morgan State, Howard and Delaware State.

The MEAC Tournament is slated to run March 10-13 at Norfolk Scope.

The Spartans' home games during conference play will tip off at 2 p.m. at Echols Hall.