Hickory, N.C.----The second-seed Wingate University women’s basketball team will face top-seeded Tusculum College in the championship game of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament at the Catawba Valley Community College Multipurpose Complex Sunday in Hickory, N.C. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. The Bulldogs have won six Food Lion SAC tournament titles.

Wingate is 19-9 overall; the Bulldogs finished second in the conference regular season standings, posting a 12-6 ledger in the SAC. Wingate defeated Catawba 68-62 Wednesday night in the Food Lion SAC tournament quarter-finals. On Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs topped the Carson-Newman Eagles 69-57 in the Food Lion SAC tournament semi-finals.

Today’s contest marks the Bulldogs’ first appearance in the championship contest since 2008. Wingate defeated Tusculum 76-74 in the 2008 Food Lion SAC championship game (March 9, 2008). Wingate faced Catawba in the 2011 quarter-finals and Carson-Newman in the 2011 semi-finals, the exact same opponents from the Bulldogs’ 2008 run to the conference and regional titles (and NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearance) the same year.

WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private comprehensive university with more than 2,300 students on two campuses in Wingate and Matthews, North Carolina. The university offers 32 undergraduate majors, 36 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate degrees in business, accounting, physician assistant studies and sports administration and doctorates in pharmacy and education.

Wingate students gain the tools and support they need to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. The campus community offers in-class learning, out-of-class experiences, strong mentors, a competitive yet caring environment and rewarding community service opportunities for a complete educational experience.

Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past four years.

Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 38 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 47 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.