Women's Basketball | 12/13/2016 12:45:00 PM

Wingate, N.C. ----The Wingate University women's basketball returns to action Wednesday evening for a critical South Atlantic Conference home match-up versus the 11th-ranked Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters from Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court. Tip-off is slated for a 6 p.m. start with the contest airing live on ESPN3.
 
Wingate enters the LMU contest at 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the SAC. Lincoln Memorial seeks to continue their stellar undefeated start at 9-0 overall and 4-0 in conference action. "LMU is playing extremely well," Wingate head coach Ann Hancock says. "They have talent at all five positions to go along with size, depth and experience. They have great shooters and tremendous rebounders."
 
Wingate Players to Watch
 
The Bulldogs have three starters averaging double figures per contest in the early season. WU junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) leads the 'Dogs, averaging a double-double with 16.4 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. Miscenko is second in the SAC individual standings with her rebound average. The Division I University of Texas El Paso transfer has also posted an impressive 19 blocked shots in her second season in the Wingate Navy Blue and Vegas Gold.
 
Sophomore forward/guard Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) ranks second on the WU scoring charts with 13.1 points per contest, while also averaging seven boards and 2.4 assists. Witherspoon leads the 'Dogs with 10 total steals on the season. Sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) also has posted double-digit marks with 10.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. The Midlothian High School graduate leads the conference, shooting 63.2 percent from three-point range.
 
Bulldog senior guard and 2017 Allstate WBCA Good Works Team® nominee Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) is putting together a solid final season in the Navy Blue and Vegas Gold averaging 8.1 points and 2.6 boards while dishing out 1.7 dimes in the 2016-17 campaign.
 
Lincoln Memorial Players to Watch
 
LMU junior guard Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) leads the Railsplitters scoring attack, posting 13.9 points per game. Senior guard/forward Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) nearly averages a double-double with 13.3 points and 9.2 boards in each contest.
 
Redshirt junior guard and Division I Coastal Carolina University transfer Karsen Sims (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) is third on the LMU team scoring list with 10.1 points, 3.3 assists and 1.4 rebounds. Sims ranks second in the conference with her 57.9 three-point shooting percentage. Senior center Josey Harding (Middletown, Ohio) leads the SAC with 12.3 boards per game, while also averaging 7.7 points in each contest.
 
Lincoln Memorial is the second-best scoring team in the league, averaging 80.3 total points through the first nine games, slightly trailing the first place Carson-Newman University Eagles, who average 83.6 points as a team. LMU also holds their opponents to only 63.1 points per contest on the defensive side, which also ranks second in the SAC.
 
"We will need to have a great defensive effort in transition to locate their shooters," Hancock says. "An even better effort will be needed to box out and limit them to one shot. This will be a tough battle coming out of exams. Hopefully our girls will be ready for the challenge with LMU playing the best basketball in the SAC."
 
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 223-199 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. 
 
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.
 
Lincoln Memorial Coaches
 
The LMU women's basketball program is led by third-year head coach Krystal Evans, who took over the helm of the Railsplitters in June of 2014. Evans has compiled an overall record of 40-27 during her current tenure.
 
Prior to arriving in Harrogate, Tenn., Evans served as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Georgetown University Hoyas of the Big East Conference, where she signed the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history.
 
She began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Southern Mississippi during the 2002-03 season. From there, Evans made the move to Gardner-Webb University, where she spent nine seasons as an assistant coach, recruiting coordinator and eventually promoted to the associate head coach position. Evans is also a former Division I women's basketball student-athlete at Southern Mississippi and for the Liberty University Flames.
 
Evans is assisted by assistant women's basketball coach Al Carrington, who was previously the head coach at Salem Baptist Christian School in Winston Salem, N.C. LMU assistant coach Matt Acton also accompanies the coaching staff after joining the Railsplitter family in 2010 after two seasons at Winston-Salem State University.
 
The LMU staff also consists of graduate assistant coach Jacqueline Kestner, volunteer assistant/free throw coach Jim Grubb and student assistant coach Kiara Rawls.
 
Wingate's Last Game
 
Last week on Tuesday, Dec. 6, the Wingate Bulldogs took part in an exhibition battle versus the Cape Fear Community College Sea Devils from Cuddy Arena on Future Bulldog Day. The 'Dogs earned an 80-49 victory heading into final exam week.
 
WU senior forward Kristina Rumplasch (Mount Airy, N.C.) led the Bulldog scoring attack with 11 points. Marta Miscenko and freshman forward Jordan Quick (High Point, N.C.) both tallied 10 points and seven rebounds each to finish second on the WU scoring charts. Danasia Witherspoon and Caroline Averette each posted nine points. Witherspoon also tallied five board with four assists.
 
Wingate never trailed in the contest with the Bulldogs maintaining a double-digit advantage throughout the majority of the game. Cape Fear trailed by only five points in the opening quarter, but the 'Dogs sprinted out to a 14-4 advantage at the 1:51 mark to lead by a score of 16-6 at the break between quarters.
 
The Bulldogs' largest lead of the first half came with 6:47 on the clock and the score 24-6. The Sea Devils would not get any closer than 12 points for the remainder of the stanza and Wingate led by a commanding 35-21 at the halftime intermission.
 
In the third quarter of play, the 'Dogs grabbed their first 20-point advantage of the contest (at 49-29) with 5:48 remaining. Cape Fear would trim the deficit down to 18 points at 51-33 with 2:55 to go, but Wingate extended the margin out to 25 points to gain its largest third-quarter lead at 59-34 with 10 seconds on the clock.
 
Wingate maintained the 20-plus point advantage throughout the duration of the fourth quarter and jumped out to a 31-point lead at 74-43 with 3:26 remaining in the stanza. The Bulldogs soon extended the margin out to 80-45 for the biggest lead of the contest at 35 with 1:27 left in the contest. The hosts held on for the 31-point victory.
 
The Bulldogs outrebounded Cape Fear 49-22 while also maintaining the 21-7 edge in the assist category. Wingate outscored the Sea Devils 49-24 in the paint with a commanding 25-1 margin in second-chance buckets. The WU bench outscored the Sea Devil reserves 46-4. The hosts shot 43.6 percent from the field (31-of-71), compared to Cape Fear's 35 percent field goal percentage (16-of-45 shooting).
 
Lincoln Memorial's Last Game
 
The LMU Railsplitters hosted the Brevard College Tornadoes on Dec. 5, earning a dominant 94-65 conference triumph to maintain their perfect record on the season. Shea Coker led the hosts with 18 points (on eight-of-16 shooting). Megan Pittman contributed 16 points along with a team-best nine boards in the contest. Twin sophomore guards Rachel and Emily Griffith (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) posted career-highs with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Brevard only trailed by two points in the opening quarter; however, a three-point jumper by Pittman commenced a huge 16-2 run over the next 6:26 to allow LMU to sprint out to a commanding 22-6 advantage. The Railsplitters never looked back.
 
LMU led in nearly every major statistical category, outrebounding Brevard 36-31 and maintained the convincing 17-4 edge in total steals. The Railsplitters shot 52 percent from the field compared to the Tornadoes' 41.7 field goal percentage. Lincoln Memorial also shot a stellar 45.5 percent from beyond the three-point line with Brevard only shooting 19 percent from downtown.
 
Last Season's Match-up
 
The Wingate Bulldogs swept the two-game season series versus the Lincoln Memorial during the 2015-16 campaign, beginning with a 78-67 victory in the first meeting on Dec. 16, 2015 at Tex Turner Arena on the LMU campus. Kristina Rumplasch posted a career-high 18 points while shooting eight-of-11 from the floor and two-of-two from three-point range.
 
Shelby Tricoli and WU sophomore guard Courtney Robinson (Taylors, S.C.) also scored in double-figures with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Wingate swept the five major specialty statistical categories, outrebounding LMU 44-31 and maintaining the 33-25 edge in bench points. The 'Dogs shot 42.9 percent from the floor and 57.1 percent from downtown.
 
In the second meeting from Cuddy Arena on Feb. 6, the Bulldogs completed the LMU regular season series with a wild 83-74 double-overtime triumph. Wingate senior guard Amber Neely (Charlotte, N.C.) and Robinson tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively, to contribute to the Bulldogs' scoring efforts. Neely also added nine rebounds and five assists in the victory.
 
Averette and Miscenko both posted (then) career-highs in rebounds with 11 and 10 boards, respectively. Josey Harding put together a monster performance for the Railsplitters with 20 points and 18 rebounds to lead the visitors.
 
Wingate maintained the advantage throughout the majority of the contest, leading by double-digits only twice with 11 points being the Bulldogs' largest margin. LMU grabbed its first lead of the contest at the 3:56 mark in the fourth quarter to make it a 54-52 game. Wingate trailed by as many as four points in the remaining minutes of regulation, but rallied to knot the score up at 61-61 to send the game to overtime.
 
The contest went down to the wire with LMU banking in a massive three-point basket with less than two seconds remaining on the clock in the first overtime period to tie the score up at 72-72, sending the game into its second overtime. The Bulldogs eventually held on for the epic victory.
 
Wingate shot 43.3 percent from the field compared to the Lincoln Memorial's 29.9 field goal percentage. The Bulldogs had the 30-18 advantage in points off turnovers and the 8-2 mark in fast-break buckets.
 
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.)