Jan. 28, 2005

Winston-Salem, NC - Winston-Salem State University Athletic Department officials announced on Friday that due to inclement weather that is forecast for the Piedmont Triad area, the pair of WSSU basketball games that are to be played on Saturday afternoon at the C.E. Gaines Center versus Bowie State will be moved ahead two hours to a 12:00 PM women's tip-off and a 2:00 PM men's tip-off.

A band of severe weather that is headed towards the Piedmont Triad Area is scheduled to bring with it freezing rain and snow with the possibility of making road conditions treacherous, thereby prompting Athletic Department officials from both schools to decide to move the start times the intra-division contests up two hours to allow for safer travel.

WSSU Associate Director of Athletics Tonia Walker spoke on the decision to move the game times up two hours:

"This is a decision based upon safety. Our primary concern is the safety of both institution's student-athletes, and looking at the current weather forecasts, we [WSSU Athletic Department Officials and Bowie State Athletic Officials] have decided that advancing the game times would make sense in order to get the games in, and allow Bowie State to have more time to get home safely as well as making travel safer for our fans and officials. After consulting with both of our coaches, and both of their coaches, and taking into account that the two visiting teams will be arriving on campus for shoot-around this [Friday] afternoon, everyone was in agreement that moving the game times up was a prudent decision."

For additional information, contact the WSSU Office of Sports Information at (336) 750-2143 or log on to the Official Website of WSSU Athletics at www.WSSURAMS.com