Women's Basketball | 11/29/2016 3:33:00 PM

Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University Bulldog women's basketball team will venture south to the campus of Newberry College to face the number 23 Wolves in a significant early-season South Atlantic Conference test for head coach Ann Hancock's squad. Tip-off is slated for a 6 p.m. start from Eleazer Arena on the Newberry campus.
 
Wingate currently sits alone in first place in the conference standings at 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the SAC. Newberry is in a five-way tie for second place with a 1-0 record in conference action and a perfect 5-0 overall mark. The Bulldogs have been victorious in three consecutive contests since falling to regional powerhouse Clayton State on Nov. 12.
 
Wingate Players to Watch
 
WU junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) is averaging 18.8 points and 11.8 rebounds per contest through five starts. The Division I University of Texas El Paso transfer ranks third overall in the SAC in both categories. Miscenko has also compiled an impressive 15 blocked shots along with five assists and three steals. She has converted 51.3 percent of her field goal attempts.
 
Bulldog sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) ranks second on the WU scoring charts with 11.6 points, four rebounds and one assist per contest. Through five games, the Midlothian High School graduate has also posted five steals and one blocked shot, along with leading her team in field goal percentage (55.0). Averette is fourth overall in the conference individual standings, shooting 62.5 percent from beyond the three-point line.
 
Sophomore forward/guard Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) continues to build from her  stellar All-SAC freshman campaign from a season ago, averaging 10.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per contest. The Hickory High School product has also compiled seven steals, two blocks and a 44.4 field goal percentage.
 
Newberry Players to Watch
 
Newberry is led by the dynamic Australian duo of sophomores Meg Essex (Glamorgan Vale, Queensland, Australia) and Shelby Britten (Shepparton, Victoria, Australia). Essex leads the Wolves scoring attack with 16.8 points and six rebounds per game. She also leads her squad with eight blocked shots and a 55.9 field goal percentage. Britten ranks second on the Newberry scoring list with 14.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and five assists per game. Britten is also second on the team with four steals this season.
 
Junior guard Samara Hill (Frankston, Victoria, Australia) also serves as a primary scoring threat for the Wolves, averaging 13.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assist per contest. The North Idaho College transfer also has three steals and currently ranks second on the Newberry team list with a 42.2 field goal percentage.
 
Newberry junior guard Nicola Handrek (Heywood, Victoria, Australia) is the fourth student-athlete for the Wolves to average double-digit points with 10.4 markers per game. Handrek also has averaged 7.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists through five games.
 
Wingate Coaches
 
The Bulldogs are led by fifth-year head coach Ann Hancock ('92), who returned to the Wingate campus for the 2012-13 season to coach her alma mater. Hancock has compiled a 223-198 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 seasons 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.
 
Newberry Coaches
 
The Newberry College Wolves women's basketball program is led by ninth-year head coach Sean Page who has compiled a 150-89 career record at Newberry and a 183-116 mark in his overall head coaching career. Page arrived on the Newberry campus after spending two seasons as the head mentor at NAIA Brescia University in Owensboro, Ky.
 
During his two-year tenure at the helm of the program, Coach Page led the Brescia Bearcats to a 38-27 record after the team had won only 11 total games in the previous two seasons. He was named the NAIA Division I Women's Independent Coach of the Year after leading the Bearcats to a 20-14 record and a berth in the NAIA National Tournament during his initial season.
 
Prior to Brescia University, Page spent five years as an assistant coach at the Division I level. He spent his first year coaching the Boise State University Broncos, followed by four years at Troy University. He was also a head coach in the Australian Basketball Association from 1994 to 2001 prior to coaching in the United States.
 
Page is assisted by Newberry women's basketball assistant coach Joanna Tincher, who returned to coaching the Wolves in the summer of 2016 after serving as an assistant coach at Division I Wofford College for the 2015-16 campaign. Tincher was previously an assistant coach at Newberry for three seasons from 2013-15 before her brief departure.
 
Coach Tincher arrived in Newberry, S.C. after serving as the head coach for the Converse College Valkyries in Spartanburg, S.C. from 2008 to 2012. She commenced her coaching career at the University of Alabama-Huntsville during the 2004 season, serving as an assistant coach for three seasons with the Chargers.
 
Tincher is a former women's basketball student-athlete for the Francis Marion University Patriots, where she was a four-year letter winner at the forward/center positions. She received the team's Most Valuable Player Award her senior season, averaging 10 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists during her final campaign.
 
Wingate's Last Game
 
The Wingate Bulldogs won their third consecutive contest with a 65-52 non-conference road triumph over the UNC Pembroke Braves Sunday. Marta Miscenko celebrated her birthday by posting her fourth straight double-double performance with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Danasia Witherspoon also helped lead the visitors with 15 points and nine rebounds, falling short of the first double-double of her sophomore campaign. Caroline Averette finished with 12 points and three steals, shooting 50 percent from three-point range (two-of-four).
 
The 'Dogs never trailed in the contest; however, it remained a tightly-contested battle throughout the first half as the Braves knotted the game up at 17-17 with 1:50 left in the first quarter. Wingate led by a narrow margin of 25-19 at the break between quarters. Hancock's squad led by as many as eight points in the second stanza, but UNCP fought back to make it a 31-30 ballgame at the 3:19 mark. The Bulldogs and Braves were tied 32-32 at the halftime break.
 
UNC Pembroke continued to trail by a manageable deficit at 42-37 with 3:31 remaining in the third quarter, but Wingate jumped out to itslargest advantage of the contest with a 48-37 lead at the 2:03 mark. The 'Dogs maintained their double-digit margin for the remainder of the stanza and led 52-40 at its conclusion. UNCP trimmed the deficit down to 54-48 in the fourth quarter of play, but would not get any closer as the WU Bulldogs extended their advantage out to 65-52 with 1:02 remaining.
 
Wingate outrebounded the Braves 58-31, dominating in the offensive rebound category 27-8 and 31-23 on the defensive side. The South Atlantic Conference visitors had 38 points in the paint, compared to 12 for the Peach Belt Conference hosts. UNCP compiled 15 turnovers compared to the Bulldogs' 14 giveaways, but Wingate led in the points off turnovers category at 15-11.
 
Newberry's Last Game
 
The Newberry Wolves improved to a perfect 5-0 record on the season with a dominant 63-46 non-conference home victory versus the Claflin University Panthers in Newberry, S.C. Meg Essex led the hosts with 18 points (nine-of-14 shooting), seven rebounds and one assist in the contest.
 
Four out of five Newberry starters finished with double-figures, including Shelby Britten with 17 points, four assists and one rebound to rank second on the Newberry scoring charts. Samara Hill had 14 points, six dimes and one board, along with shooting two-of-five from three-point range.
 
The Wolves and Panthers tied at 42-42 in total rebounds with Newberry having the 30-24 edge in the defensive rebound category. The home team defense held Claflin to a 25.4 field goal percentage (15-of-59 shooting) and 10 percent (one-of-10) shooting from downtown. Newberry never trailed in the contest and led by as many as 23 points.
 
Last Season's Match-ups
 
Newberry swept the two-game regular season series versus the Wingate Bulldogs during the 2015-16 campaign. The Wolves won the first meeting by a final score of 67-50 from Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court on Dec. 8, 2015. Newberry won in a 61-60 nail-biter victory on its home court in the second match-up of the season with Wingate.
 
Wingate took full advantage of the revenge opportunity in the 2016 SAC Tournament when the Bulldogs claimed a 61-54 triumph over Newberry in the semi-final round from Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C. The 'Dogs were crowned conference champions the next day with a victory over the (then) 25th-ranked Anderson University Trojans.
 
In the conference tournament meeting, Miscenko posted a brilliant second half performance, when she scored 22 of her career-high 24 points after the halftime intermission to lead the Bulldogs to victory. The 6-4 center finished 11-of-13 shooting in the second half of play.
 
Newberry led 30-22 with 6:45 remaining in a wild third quarter of play. The Bulldogs answered with a crucial 20-10 run to grab a 42-40 advantage in the final frame. The Wolves regained the lead at 49-44 with 6:19 to play with the two squads trading the lead six times in the fourth stanza, including five times in the final five minutes.
 
Miscenko then put together a dominant individual run of 14 consecutive points to eventually give the Bulldogs a narrow 54-53 advantage with 2:55 remaining. Wingate never let go of the lead from this point forward and held on for the victory. The 'Dogs outrebounded the Wolves 41-37, along with outscoring the opposition 38-22 in the paint. Wingate's reserves outscored Newberry's substitutes 31-13.
 
The win over Newberry was the Bulldogs' 10th consecutive victory at the time, along with earning their 24th 20-win season in the program's illustrious history. Witherspoon added 16 points in the contest, leading the Navy Blue and Vegas Gold-clad Bulldogs with six rebounds. Wingate hit 41.8 percent from the floor (23-of-55), while Newberry converted 33.9 percent of its field goal attempts (19-of-56).
 
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 88 selections. Among North Carolina's colleges and universities, Wingate is number one in this millennium with 88 Academic All-America® honorees. Wingate is tops among all SAC schools with 97 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.)