Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University women’s basketball team will host the Anderson (S.C.) University Trojans Wednesday night (6 p.m. tip) in the first round of the 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament. The 2012 SAC regular season champion and number one seed Bulldogs are 19-7 overall and 13-5 in the SAC, winners of six straight contests. Anderson is 10-16 overall and 7-11 in the league, charting as the number eight seed.
Wingate has won 11 SAC regular season crowns and six Food Lion SAC tournament championships. On the national scene, Wingate leads the SAC with 11 appearances in the NCAA Division II national tournament. Wingate has an overall NCAA tourney record of 14-11 with Elite Eight appearances in 1995, 1996 and 2008.
“Winning a conference regular season title is exciting for us,” Wingate head coach Barbara Nelson says. “(This achievement) should be celebrated…but there is still much work to be done by this team.”
Wingate is 11-1 overall at home this season, including a 61-51 victory over the AU Trojans on Jan. 25. The Bulldogs visited Anderson last Wednesday, claiming a 74-61 decision. In the January home contest, Wingate concluded the game with a 20-10 flurry. Bulldog sophomore guard Nikki Burton (Charlotte, N.C.) scored 19 of her 23 points after intermission.
Burton recorded her first Wingate double-double with a team-high 12 rebounds. The West Charlotte High School product filled out her statistical ledger with four assists and three steals, both team highs. Anderson junior guard Alissa Diaz joined Burton in the double-double club with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Diaz’s 29 points were a career-high.
Last week, Wingate led wire-to-wire en route to the road victory. Bulldog senior forward Simone Rutledge (Atlanta, Ga.) led the visitors with 12 points and nine rebounds. Three Wingate players recorded 10 points each: Burton, junior forward Tish Logan (Suitland, Md.) and sophomore guard Janitsha Williams (Statesville, N.C.). Trojan sophomore guard Emily Willoughby led all scorers with 20 points.
Wingate’s closest home margin of victory this season was eight points. The Bulldogs will remember, as they survived a 58-50 Senior Day test against Brevard Saturday. Williams and senior guard Kurie Washington (Marion, N.C.) had 14 points each for the hosts. Wingate had 26 second-chance points Saturday, compared to zero for Brevard. The Bulldogs corralled 24 offensive rebounds, while the Tornados pulled down nine.
Anderson has lost three games in a row entering the Food Lion SAC tournament. On Saturday, Carson-Newman earned a 57-48 road decision over Anderson at the Abney Athletic Center. The C-N Eagles scored the first five points of the contest and never trailed. Diaz tallied 20 points to lead all scorers.
Nelson says the Bulldogs will stick with the game plan, even though they are playing a team they faced only seven days ago. “Our approach is simple…we want to every game, regardless of the opponent,” Nelson says. “We will play our game plan…to play the game and win the game against the opponent we are facing.”
Burton is eighth in NCAA (and second in SAC) with her 3.5 steals per game. The University of Louisville transfer leads the Bulldogs in scoring (14.5 points per game), field goal percentage (48.2), assists (71), blocks (27) and steals (87). She is second on the team in rebounding (5.2 rebounds per game).
On the SAC charts, Burton is seventh in scoring. She opened her Wingate career with four straight 20+ point games; Wingate is 6-2 when Burton scores 20 or more points. She scored her season-high in her Wingate debut, an 84-59 victory over Winston-Salem State (at JCSU).
Williams is next on the Wingate scoring list with 10.6 points per game. She leads the Bulldogs with 27 three-point field goals. Washington is next with 10.4 points per game. Rutledge averages 8.8 points per game and a team-best 6.9 rebounds per game.
Diaz leads the Trojans with her 14.5 points per game. Anderson junior forward Breonda Shannon contributes 8.4 points per game and a team-best 8.1 rebounds per game. The Trojan defense allows only 63.2 points per game. The Bulldogs average 70.2 points per game, second on the league’s scoring charts.
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a comprehensive university with more than 2,500 students on three campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. The university offers 34 undergraduate majors, 37 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 five years.
Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 42 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 51 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.
