Women's Basketball | 12/16/2016 2:32:00 PM

Wingate, N.C. ----The Wingate University women's basketball team will seek a huge bounce-back victory as the Bulldogs host the Brevard College Tornados in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball action from Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is slated for a 2 p.m. start with the contest being streamed live via the Wingate Bulldogs YouTube Channel.
 
Wingate currently sits at 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the SAC. Brevard is 4-4 overall and 1-4 in conference action on the season. The Bulldogs seek to avenge a heart-breaking 84-83 double overtime defeat to the 11th-ranked Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters Wednesday night. Brevard is coming off a 75-70 home conference loss to the Coker College Cobras last Saturday.
 
Wingate Players to Watch
 
WU junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) leads the Bulldog offensive attack, averaging a double-double per contest with 16.8 points and 11 boards. Miscenko ranks second overall in the SAC individual standings with her average rebound total. The University of Texas El Paso transfer has posted a stellar 22 total blocks and six double-double performances on the season.
 
Sophomore guard/forward Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) is second on the WU scoring charts with 13.6 points per game, adding 7.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per contest. Witherspoon also leads the team with 11 steals and has tallied two double-doubles in her second-year campaign.
 
Bulldog sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) also averages double figures with 11.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Averette has also tallied nine total steals on the season. The Midlothian High School graduate leads the conference, shooting 65.2 percent from three-point range. Senior guard Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) has contributed 7.6 points, five steals and two blocks through eight starts.
 
Brevard Players to Watch
 
Brevard senior guard Madison Lenox (Raleigh, N.C.) has put together a stellar 2016-17 campaign in her final season with the Tornados. Through eight games, Lenox averages a double-double with 20.6 points and 10.4 boards. Lenox ranks high on the SAC leaderboards in multiple categories including first in points per game, tied for third in rebounds, third in steals (19) and fourth in blocks (15). She has also compiled a 50.4 field goal percentage on the season.
 
Tornado sophomore guard AnnaLee Bollinger (Hickory, N.C.) is second on the Brevard team scoring list with 11 points per game and six total steals. Bollinger has posted a 40.7 field goal percentage along with shooting 47.6 percent from beyond the arc. Senior forward Lynsey Crisp (Robbinsville, N.C.) has contributed 10.1 points and five rebounds per contest. Crisp also adds four steals and three blocks to her statistical ledger. She is third on the Brevard team total list with her 44.8 shooting percentage from the field.
 
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.
 
Brevard Coaches
 
The Tornados are led by interim head coach Donald Hudson, who will take over a Brevard program in place of previous head coach Shannon Reid. Hudson served as an assistant coach under Reid from 2013-15. He commenced his coaching career following his graduation from Brevard in 2011. During his time as a BC undergraduate, Hudson was a member of the football and basketball programs.
 
During his 2009-10 season as a men's basketball student-athlete, Hudson was a key member of a Tornados club which earned the SAC Tournament Championship crown, finishing 21-10 overall and 10-6 in conference play.
 
Hudson is assisted by first-year women's basketball assistant coach Taylor Hiatt. Hiatt is a 2014 graduate of Brevard. She is a previous four-year women's basketball student-athlete for the Tornados. During her playing career, she was named team captain for three seasons.
 
Wingate's Last Game
 
The Wingate University Bulldogs fell in an epic conference thriller to the 11th-ranked LMU Railsplitters Wednesday evening in Cuddy Arena by a final score of 84-83 in double overtime. The 'Dogs overcame a 12-point deficit with 57 seconds remaining in third quarter to eventually force overtime.
 
The Railsplitters never trailed in the contest until the 47-second mark of the fourth quarter when Marta Miscenko hit back-to-back free throws to give Wingate its first lead of the game. Wingate led by a score of 69-67 until an LMU basket knotted the score up at 69-69 to send the thrilling contest to its first overtime period.
 
During the first overtime, the Bulldogs held on to the narrow advantage for the majority of the period with the visitors trailing by three points or less. LMU tied the game at 76-76 with 27 seconds on the clock, but WU graduate student guard Amber Neely (Charlotte, N.C.) hit the go-ahead jumper with six seconds remaining. Lincoln Memorial then answered with a two-point jumper of its own at the buzzer to send the game to a second overtime.
 
With the 'Dogs trailing 82-81 with 2:05 left in double overtime, Averette nailed a clutch two-pointer to give the hosts an 83-82 advantage with 1:39 on the clock. Neither team would tally a bucket until LMU's Shea Coker hit the jumper with four seconds left to give LMU the epic victory.
 
Caroline Averette contributed a career-high 22 points to lead the scoring attack. Miscenko and Danasia Witherspoon each posted double-double performances in the contest. Miscenko tallied the sixth double-double of her junior campaign with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Witherspoon had the second of her sophomore season with 17 points and 10 boards.
 
Wingate outrebounded Lincoln Memorial 46-42, while also maintaining the 15-9 edge in assists. The Bulldogs outscored LMU 44-32 in the paint, held the 16-15 advantage in points off turnovers and led 14-11 in second-chance buckets. The Bulldog bench outscored the Railsplitters' reserves 31-24 in the contest. Wingate shot 41.5 percent from the field with LMU posting a 42.5 field goal percentage.
 
Brevard's Last Game
 
The Brevard College Tornados fell by a narrow deficit of 75-70 to the Coker College Cobras last Saturday, Dec. 10 on their home court in Boshamer Gymnasium. Madison Lenox led the hosts with 25 points, while also compiling seven assists, six rebounds and five steals. Brevard junior guard Jade Napier (Rockwood, Tenn.) finished second on the BC scoring charts with a season-high 12 points, finishing the contest with five-of-10 shooting. Junior guard Kelsie Rhyne (Taylorsville, N.C.) was the third Tornado to post double figures with 11 points in the contest.
 
Brevard shot 40.9 percent from the field, while posting a 34.5 field goal percentage from three-point range. The Tornados were also a perfect six-of-six from the free-throw line. Brevard maintained the 10-9 advantage in steals over Coker and finished tied at 15-15 in the assist category.
 
It was a tightly-contested battle throughout the game with neither club leading by more than single digits except when the Cobras had a 10-point advantage with 8:39 left in the third quarter. Brevard grabbed the 49-48 lead with 1:45 on the clock in the third stanza until Coker answered with a bucket of its own 25 seconds to make it a 50-49 game. The Cobras never let go of the lead for the remainder of the contest, holding on for the five-point triumph.
 
Last Season's Match-up
 
The Wingate Bulldogs swept the two-game season series versus Brevard last season during the 2015-16 campaign. The 'Dogs won by double-digit margin in each contest, claiming a 71-53 road triumph in the first meeting on Dec. 19, 2015. On Feb. 13, 2016, Wingate hosted the Tornados on Play 4Kay and Alumni Day from Cuddy Arena when the hosts claimed a 70-58 victory to complete the season-series sweep.
 
In the first meeting, Witherspoon posted her first collegiate double-double performance with career-highs of 29 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs. Witherspoon hit 13-of-20 field goals and three-of-three free throws in Wingate's road victory.
 
The Bulldogs shot a stellar 52.5 percent from the floor while outrebounding Brevard by a convincing margin of 53-34. Wingate also maintained the 16-7 edge in second-chance points, while outscoring the Tornados 54-10 in the paint. Wingate never trailed in the contest while leading by as many as 19 points.
 
During the second match-up, WU guard Courtney Robinson (Taylors, S.C.) led the Wingate offense with a game-high 19 points, shooting eight-of-12 from the field. Bulldog forward Kristina Rumplasch (Mount Airy, N.C.) posted 14 points in the contest with a 56 percent field goal percentage.
 
Wingate nearly led in all major statistical categories, outrebounding Brevard 45-33, while also outscoring the Tornados 48-16 in the paint. The Bulldogs led in points off turnovers (21-10), fast-break points (12-4), second-chance points (10-3), assists (20-16) and steals (11-6). The home team's reserves outscored the visitor's bench 34-14.
 
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.)