Women's Basketball | 1/6/2015 9:11:00 PM

Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University women's basketball team begins a stretch of four home South Atlantic Conference games in five dates Wednesday, hosting Lenoir-Rhyne University for a 6 p.m. league contest in Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court. Wingate enters the week on a three-game winning streak. The first-place Bulldogs are 7-6 overall and 5-1 in the SAC. The L-R Bears are 4-6 overall and 3-3 in the SAC.
 
Last week, Wingate picked up two SAC victories against two teams without a league loss. On Saturday, sophomore guard Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) matched her career-high with 22 points as the visiting Bulldogs defeated the previously undefeated Carson-Newman Eagles 66-63. C-N had started the 2014-15 campaign 11-0.
 
On New Year's Eve, home-standing Wingate finished the game on a 17-3 run, knocking Anderson (S.C.) from the ranks of the SAC unbeatens en route to a 59-48 come-from-behind league victory. Bulldog graduate student post players (and roommates) Chantal Dunbar (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Andrea Bertrand (Midlothian, Va.) combined for 23 points and 17 rebounds for the victors.
 
Interestingly enough, Wingate will play Lenoir-Rhyne for the second time this season, although the Bulldogs are only playing their seventh league contest of the 2014-15 campaign. On Tuesday, Nov. 25, WU sophomore guard Alex Tomlinson (Raleigh, N.C.) had a game-high 13 points as the Bulldog bench outscored the L-R reserves 26-7 en route to a 56-49 SAC triumph in Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.
 
Wingate senior guard Kelli Bonner (Yadkinville, N.C.) added 11 points, while Dunbar and redshirt senior guard Brittany Hill (Mechanicsville, Va.) contributed nine points each. Dunbar led both teams with her 12 rebounds.
 
For Lenoir-Rhyne, sophomore forward Brooke Robinson (Vale, N.C.) had 11 points and nine rebounds. Senior guard Jazmine Charles (Lexington, N.C.) added a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
"Our effort, execution and enthusiasm will need to be at high levels Wednesday," Wingate head women's basketball coach Ann Hancock says. "Lenoir Rhyne is always one of our biggest rival games. It will be another challenging SAC league game that will have significance in the final standings."
 
Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne played three times last season, with the Bulldogs taking the season series 2-1. In the 2014 SAC tournament championship contest, Tricoli had a career-high 22 points as Wingate edged number 24 L-R 77-73 in Timmons Arena on the Furman University campus. SAC tournament MVP Kayla Harris ('14, Raleigh, N.C.) had 27 points and eight rebounds.
 
The Bulldogs and the Bears split the two 2013-14 regular season contests, with each team taking a victory on its home floor. On Nov. 26, 2013, Harris had 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists and one steal in 22 minutes as Wingate earned a hard-fought 61-51 league victory over Lenoir-Rhyne. Three Bulldogs had double-digit points, while junior forward Sharee Boyd (Charlotte, N.C.) pulled down a game-high (and career-high) 10 rebounds to go with her nine markers.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne senior guard Jenni Gust (Colfax, Wis.) led all scorers with 17 points. She hit seven-of-15 from the floor and pulled down seven rebounds. Classmate Jazmine Charles (Lexington, N.C.) had 10 points, eight rebounds and five steals, while sophomore forward Morgan Cooper (Virginia Beach, Va.) added 10 points off the L-R bench.
 
The Bears rallied for a 71-61 home win on Jan. 8, 2014, as Charles notched a game-high 23 points to help the hosts snap Wingate's seven-game winning streak. WU junior guard Amber Neely (Charlotte, N.C.) led the visiting Bulldogs with a Wingate career-high 19 points.
 
Neely hit eight-of-11 field goals en route to her career night. The Bears placed four players in double figures. Cooper and L-R junior guard Jordan Hiatt (Mount Airy, N.C.) contributed 10 points each to support Charles' efforts.
 
"Wednesday's game against Lenoir Rhyne is certainly a big one," Hancock says. "The Bears are really playing well and have adjusted to having Jordan Hiatt back in the line-up. She is a difference maker for them which allows Charles and Gust to play their natural positions."
 
A look at the two teams' statistics ledgers shows many similarities. Wingate averages 63.5 points per game, while L-R posts 61.3 points per game. Both teams dropped two games to start the season at the Loch Shop Region Challenge at the Clayton State University. The Bulldogs are 7-4 overall since the trip to Georgia, while the L-R Bears are 4-4 overall.
 
Wingate junior forward Morgan McGee (Durham, N.C.) leads the Bulldogs with her 11.3 points per game. Tricoli's 22 points at C-N boosts her season average to 10.1 points per game. Dunbar is flirting with a season double-double, as she contributes 9.5 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game.
 
Charles leads the Bears (and charts number three in the SAC) with her 16.4 points per game. The reigning SAC Player of the Week, Gust averages 13.5 points per game. She had a season-high 22 markers as L-R hit a team season-high 85 points in an 85-67 SAC home victory over Lincoln Memorial Saturday. Cooper rounds three L-R double-digit scorers with her 10.0 points per game.
 
Wingate hosts Lincoln Memorial Saturday, while Lenoir-Rhyne ventures up the mountain to face Tusculum the same day. Both contests start at 2 p.m.