Gaffney, S.C.----Wingate University graduate student forward
Chantal Dunbar (Virginia Beach, Va.) tallied her 27th career double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds as the number five seed Bulldogs defeated number four seed Lander 72-57 in the first round of the NCAA Division II Southeast Region tournament Friday night in the Timken Center on the Limestone College campus.
Wingate is 22-9 overall, while Lander concludes its season 23-7 overall. Wingate senior guard
Kelli Bonner (Yadkinville, N.C.) hit 15 points on five three-point field goals, including three huge triples in the second stanza. Bulldog junior forward
Morgan McGee (Durham, N.C.) contributed 10 points and nine rebounds off the WU bench. Lander junior guard
Bre Crum (Tampa, Fla.) led all scorers with 21 points.
"This is a great win for the girls and our program," Wingate head women's basketball coach
Ann Hancock says. "We played really hard against a very tough Lander team. Our rebounding effort was tremendous. Kelli came up big with some crucial three-point shots. This is the best time of the year…we are glad to play another day."
Wingate led for 37 minutes and 58 seconds of the contest. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Bearcats 52-27, giving the South Atlantic Conference members their largest rebounding margin (+25) of the season. Wingate outrebounded SAC foe Brevard 54-33 on Senior Day Feb. 28. The Bulldogs parlayed 20 offensive rebounds into 22 second-chance points.
Dunbar had 10 points and seven boards in the first half (both game-highs) as Wingate led 41-26 at intermission. A Bonner triple concluded a 10-0 run to give the Bulldogs a 24-13 lead with 10 minutes to go in the first frame. The Bearcats would get no closer than eight points the rest of the half.
Bonner hit three-of-three trifectas in the second half as Wingate maintained its lead. The Bulldogs started the second 20 minutes with a 15-6 push, going up 56-32 on a lay-up by senior forward
Brooklyn Boston (Lenoir, N.C.) with 12:22 to play. The 24-point bulge was Wingate's largest lead of the evening.
Wingate redshirt senior point guard
Brittany Hill (Mechanicsville, Va.) had eight points, five assists, three rebounds and one steal in a team-best 36 minutes played. Wingate sophomore guard
Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) had seven points and six rebounds, while both graduate student forward
Andrea Bertrand (Midlothian, Va.) and sophomore guard
Alex Tomlinson (Raleigh, N.C.) had six points each.
In addition to posting 21 points, Crum was also the Bearcats' leading rebounder with seven boards. LU sophomore guard
Ty'hesha Reynolds (Savannah, Ga.) was the only other Bearcat to hit double digits with 10 points. Reynolds hit four-of-17 field goals and two-of-11 from three-point land.
Wingate will face top seed and NCAA Division II number two Limestone (31-1 overall) in the regional semi-finals Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. Limestone defeated Catawba 76-62 in Friday's 5 p.m. quarter-final contest.
