WSSU Lady Ram Bowlers to Compete for Inaugural NCAA Bowling Championship

Indianapolis, IN - The eight-team field competing for the inaugural NCAA National Collegiate Bowling Championship was announced Wednesday by the National Collegiate Women's Bowling Committee, and it was announced that the Winston-Salem State University Lady Rams will compete for a national championship in women's bowling.

Texas Southern University and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority will co-host the championship, which will be held April 8-10 at the Emerald Bowl in Houston, Texas.

The field includes: Central Missouri State University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Metropolitan Campus, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, New Jersey City University, Sacred Heart University, Southern University, Baton Rouge, and Winston-Salem State University. All eight teams were selected at-large.

The competition begins with each team bowling seven regular games along with three Baker games for a qualifying total. The Baker format allows five team members to follow each other in order, each bowling a complete frame until a complete (10 frame) game is bowled.

Based on the pinfall of the qualifying round, the teams are placed in a double-elimination bracket. Teams compete against each other in a best-of-seven Baker-style bowling competition.

The Lady Rams, who were chosen based upon their stellar play this past season which earned them a CIAA Western Division regular-season title, and the number one seed in the 2003 CIAA Women's Bowling Championship Tournament.

Commenting on the at-large selection to compete for an NCAA title, WSSU Director of Athletics, Dr. Chico Caldwell had the following comment:

"To get a bid from the NCAA to compete for a national championship is a great honor. It goes to show you what just a few dollars of scholarship money did for us. We were able, this past year, through the generosity of the scholarship given to us by Comfort Suites of Winston-Salem to award a scholarship to our women's bowling team. With that scholarship, we were able to retain a great bowler in LaToya Deschamps, and with the strong supporting cast that Coach Kay has assembled, we were able to achieve a level of success that we could not have possibly imagined this season, in only our second year of sponsoring women's bowling. And now, to get a bid from the NCAA to compete for a national championship, this is amazing for the University. If we can keep increasing our scholarship support, and the support from our alumni, we are going to keep increasing scholarships in our other sports to achieve the same goal. We are extremely excited about this opportunity to go to Houston and represent Winston-Salem State University, WSSU Athletics, the city of Winston-Salem, and the University of North Carolina University System."

The travel itinerary for the Lady Rams has yet to be finalized but Tickets can be purchased at the Emerald Bowl during the event or by calling (713) 313-4337.

As well, the inaugural NCAA women's bowling championship will receive television coverage on a national cable network. The championship will be broadcast on a one-day tape delay on ESPN2. The championship event runs from April 8-10 in Houston, Texas. The program will air on Sunday, April 11, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time and will air in a 90-minute television format. The NCAA bowling championship is part of the NCAA-CBS bundled rights agreement, however ESPN acquired the rights for one year from CBS. ESPN will broadcast 22 of the 88 championships in the 2003-04 championships season.

For more information about the National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship, log on to www.ncaasports.com and for additional information pertaining to the WSSU bowling team, log on to www.wssurams.com .