Women's Basketball | 11/18/2016 9:06:00 AM

Greeneville, Tenn.----The Wingate University Bulldog women's basketball team ventures west across the North Carolina-Tennessee border Saturday afternoon for a South Atlantic Conference showdown versus the Tusculum College Pioneers. The 'Dogs will commence their 2016-17 conference slate in their match-up with the Pioneers. Tip-off is slated for a 2 p.m. start from Pioneer Arena.
 
Wingate currently sits at 1-1 overall on the season, while Tusculum holds an identical record at 1-1. Both squads seek to break the .500 mark with a victory this weekend. The Bulldogs are the defending SAC tournament champions.
 
Wingate Players to Watch
 
WU junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) is off to a stellar start through the first two contests of the season, averaging a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds per game. Miscenko has played the most minutes on the team, while shooting for a .576 field goal percentage.
 
Sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) leads the Bulldogs with a .583 field goal percentage coming off the bench. The Midlothian High School graduate averages 10.5 points per contest with seven rebounds, one assists and a steal. Her fellow classmate in guard/forward Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) is also a notable offensive contributor with 10.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and three assists per game. Witherspoon also has added one steal and a .364 shooting percentage from the field to her statistical ledger.
 
Pre-season second team All-SAC performer Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) is fourth on the WU scoring charts with 9.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and two assists in each of the two season-opening contests. Tricoli has also shot 83 percent from the free-throw line and 33 percent from the field.
 
Tusculum Players to Watch
 
Tusculum senior guard Maelyn Head (Greeneville, Tenn.) leads the Pioneers offensive attack with 17.5 points, four rebounds and two assists per contest. Senior forward Jasmine Queen (Riverview, Fla.) is second with 11 points per game, leads the team in rebounds with 7.5 and three total steals. Queen is also shooting a sharp 50 percent from the field.
 
Pioneer sophomore guard Callie Patterson (McLeansville, N.C.) ranks third on the Tusculum team total list with nine points, 2.5 assists and three boards each game. Senior guard Benedicta Makakala (Stockholm, Sweden) also contributes to the Pioneer's offensive efforts with 6.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per contest. The Morgan State University transfer holds a 41.7 field goal percentage.
 
Wingate Coaches
 
The Bulldogs are led by fifth-year head coach Ann Hancock ('92) who arrived on the Wingate campus for the 2012-13 season to coach for her alma mater. Hancock has compiled a 219-198 career record (UNC Wilmington and Wingate), including mentoring her WU team to a 24-6 overall record in 2013-14 and 21-9 mark a season ago during the 2015-16 campaign. Wingate won the SAC Tournament championship in both seasons.
 
Prior to returning to her alma mater, Hancock spent two season as an assistant women's basketball coach at East Carolina University. Before her tenure with the Pirates, Hancock was head women's basketball coach at UNC Wilmington for 10 seasons and was an assistant coach for eight seasons at UNC Chapel-Hill under legendary head coach Sylvia Hatchell. She helped the Tar Heels win the 1994 NCAA Division I National Championship.
 
Coach Hancock is assisted by new full-time assistant women's basketball coach Celeste Stewart who spent her previous two seasons as a graduate assistant on the WU coaching staff. Stewart was a basketball student-athlete at East Carolina University. As a point guard for the ECU Pirates, Stewart was named to the first team All-C-USA as a senior. She will use her impressive basketball resume to help lead the Bulldogs to another successful season in 2016-17 and beyond.
 
Katelyn Grisillo joined the Bulldog coach staff in the summer of 2016 after spending the previous two seasons as the point guard for the University of South Carolina Aiken Pacers. She started in 28 games her senior season. Prior to her arrival at USC Aiken, Grisillo was a student-athlete for the Division I Presbyterian College Blue Hose. Grisillo works with assistant coach Celeste Stewart and the post players.
 
Tusculum Coaches
 
The Pioneers are mentored by second-year Devan Carter who took over as the interim head coach during the 2015-16 season. Carter led Tusculum to a 13-12 overall record one season ago with an even 11-11 mark in conference play.
 
Prior to Carter's arrival at Tusculum, Carter served two seasons at Hargrave Military Academy as an assistant coach. During his tenure at the Chatham, Virginia prep school, he worked to enhance the individual development of guards and post student-athletes. Carter was a three-year starter and four-year letterman as a men's basketball student-athlete for the Elon University Phoenix. Following Elon, he briefly played professionally in Europe.
 
Carter is assisted by two first-year graduate assistant coaches in former Tusculum women's basketball student-athlete Shynese Whitener and Andrienne Terrell, who graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2012. Whitener was the Pioneers' leading scorer as a senior last season, averaging 18.1 points per contest.
 
Wingate Last Week
 
Last weekend, the Bulldogs ventured south to Savannah, Ga. for the Peach Belt Conference (PBC)-SAC Challenge from Alumni Arena. Wingate defeated the Armstrong State University Pirates in the season opener by a final score of 76-74 in a wire-to-wire contest on Nov. 11. Caroline Averette hit the game-winning jumper with 3.1 seconds left on the clock to lift the 'Dogs to a 1-0 record to begin the 2016-17 campaign. Four Bulldogs hit double-digit points in the opening contest.
 
Danasia Witherspoon led the visiting 'Dogs with 16 points and eight rebounds (four offensive, four defensive). Shelby Tricoli had 15 points, while Averette and Marta Miscenko added 11 points each.
 
Witherspoon sank back-to-back free throws to tie the contest for the 19th (and final) time with 22 seconds remaining. Sophomore guard Courtney Robinson (Taylors, S.C.) came up with a big-time steal with seven seconds left in regulation on Armstrong's ensuing possession. Averette then hit the game-winning shot four seconds to seal the victory for the Bulldogs.
 
Wingate won the rebounding battle 42-37, pulling down 17 offensive rebounds with six Wingate players collecting at least two. The Bulldogs also took full advantage of 13 Pirate turnovers by scoring 17 points off ASU miscues.
 
The next day (Nov. 12), the 'Dogs dropped a 73-72 overtime decision to the Clayton State University Lakers in Wingate's final contest of the PBC-SAC Challenge. CSU rallied from a seven-point third quarter deficit, setting up for the Lakers' game-winning free throws with 13 seconds remaining in the overtime period.
 
Miscenko had a monster game, finishing with career-highs of 29 points, 19 rebounds and four blocked shots with her second career double-double. Averette continued her impressive start to her second tenure in the Navy Blue and Vegas Gold with 10 points and eight rebounds.
 
Tusculum Last Week
 
The Pioneers fell on the road to the King University Tornado in their season-opening victory by a margin of 86-63 in the South Atlantic Conference-Conference Carolinas Challenge from the KU Student Center Complex (in Bristol, Tenn.) on Nov. 11. King used a 27-7 first quarter run to take a commanding advantage over Tusculum and never trailed. Maelyn Head led the way for the Pioneers, pouring in 14 points and shooting a perfect six-for-six from the charity stripe. Callie Patterson and Jasmine Queen each posted 10 points in the loss.
 
On Saturday, Nov. 12, Tusculum earned its season-opening victory in a 63-57 triumph over the Lees-McRae College Bobcats from the King-hosted event. Maelyn Head led the Pioneer offensive attack with 21 points, while Queen added 12 points and nine rebounds. Benedicta Makakala posted a complete performance with seven points, five rebounds and six steals.
 
Tusculum sprinted out to an early 13-4 advantage after one quarter of play and never looked back. The Pioneers maintained their commanding margin at 43-30 in the third quarter. However, the Bobcats would rally back to even the score at 46-46 with 8:04 remaining in the contest.
 
Tusculum would pull away due to an 11-0 run with 5:55 in the fourth quarter to make it 56-46. Lees-McRae cut the deficit down to five in the final 30 seconds, but the Pioneers held on for their first victory of the 2016-17 season.
 
Last Season's Match-ups
 
The Pioneers swept the two-game season series in 2015-16 in a couple of key conference match-ups. Tusculum took the first meeting of the season on Dec. 13, 2015 in Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court in a 57-56 nail-biter.
 
Tusculum trailed 10 points at halftime, but rallied to claim the narrow one-point triumph. Wingate led by as many as 51-43 in the fourth quarter; however, the Pioneers answered with an 11-3 run to tie the contest at 54-54. In Tusculum's game-winning possession, Queen got the rebound from a Shynese Whitener missed triple and was fouled. She hit the game-winning free throws to clinch the victory.
 
Witherspoon led the Bulldogs with 14 points and seven rebounds. Tricoli had 13 points with a team-leading three three-point field goals. Queen had 12 points along with seven boards for the Pioneers, while Tusculum guard Sydney Wilson (Greensboro, N.C.) posted 11 points with three three-point field goals of her own.
 
In the January 30 meeting from Pioneer Arena, Tusculum was victorious in an 83-72 overtime thriller. Maelyn Head scored a career-high 27 points to lead the Pioneers to victory. The Bulldogs outscored Tusculum 46-18 in the paint. The Wingate reserves outscored the Pioneer bench 33-14.
 
Tusculum shot 57 percent from the field in the overtime period compared to Wingate's 25 percent. The Pioneers made two three-point baskets in extra time and converted seven-of-eight from the free throw line. Danasia Witherspoon and forward Kristina Rumplasch (Mount Airy, N.C.) led the Bulldogs with 14 points and six rebounds each. Courtney Robinson and Caroline Averette each posted double-digits numbers as well, scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively.
 
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
 
Wingate University, consistently ranked as a top 10 "best value" in the South by U.S. News & World Report, serves more than 3,200 students on three campuses in Wingate, Charlotte and Hendersonville, N.C. Founded in 1896, the University offers 35 undergraduate majors, 35 minors, 12 career concentrations, nine pre-professional programs, master's degrees in accounting, business, education, physician assistant studies and sport management and doctorates in education, pharmacy and physical therapy.
 
With a 14 to 1 student/teacher ratio, Wingate students gain the tools and support needed to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. To view current news, video and story ideas, visit www.youtube.com/wingateuniversity. 
 
In addition to a robust intramural athletics program, Wingate student athletes compete in 22 NCAA Division II sports. The University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past 10 years. For more information, go to www.wingate.edu.
 
Wingate is first among NCAA Division II Academic All-America®-producing colleges in the 2000's with 86 selections. Among North Carolina's colleges and universities, Wingate is number one in this millennium with 86 Academic All-America® honorees. Wingate is tops among all SAC schools with 95 lifetime Academic All-America® picks. For more information on WU athletics, go to www.wingatebulldogs.com.
 
(Wingate University athletic media relations/sports network student assistant Jackson Kaplan contributed this article. A sophomore from Raleigh, Kaplan is a Communication Studies major at Wingate. He is the son of Harrison and Dona Kaplan.)