Women's Basketball | 12/28/2016 12:33:00 PM

Wingate, N.C. ----The Wingate University women's basketball team returns to action after a 12-day Christmas break for the final two contests of the 2016 calendar year from Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court. The Bulldogs host the Chowan University Hawks on Thursday, Dec. 29 for a 5 p.m. tip-off and entertain the USC Aiken Pacers on New Year's Eve at 1:30 p.m.
 
Wingate enters the two-game slate at 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the South Atlantic Conference. Chowan is 10-2 overall and 3-0 in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) play, while USC Aiken is 4-6 overall and 0-2 in Peach Belt Conference (PBC) action.
 
Wingate Players to Watch
 
Wingate University junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) continues her break-out 2016-17 campaign averaging a double-double with 16.6 points and 10.4 rebounds per contest. The Division I University of Texas El Paso transfer ranks fifth in the SAC in points per game and second overall with her average rebound total. Miscenko has also posted an impressive 26 total blocks on the season.
 
WU sophomore forward/guard Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) is second on the Bulldog scoring charts with 13.6 points, seven boards and 2.2 assists per game. Witherspoon also ties for the team lead with 11 steals. Sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) has posted 11.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per contest.
 
Averette has also added 11 steals to her statistical ledger. The Midlothian High School graduate currently leads the conference with a 64 percent three-point field goal percentage, while also shooting 50 percent from the floor on the season. Senior guard Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) averages 7.6 points and 2.4 boards through nine contests.
 
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 224-199 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.
 
Wingate's Last Game
 
The Wingate Bulldogs hosted the Brevard College Tornados in a SAC showdown from Cuddy Arena and won by a final score of 75-51 to close out the pre-Christmas portion of the 2016-17 schedule. Marta Miscenko led the hosts with 19 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.
 
Danasia Witherspoon and WU sophomore guard Courtney Robinson (Taylors, S.C.) also made significant contributions on the offensive end with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The 'Dogs swept the BC Tornados in every major statistical category throughout the contest. Wingate outrebounded Brevard 51-22 while dominating 22-6 in offensive boards and 29-16 in the defensive rebound category. The 'Dogs led 14-0 in fast-break points, 12-3 in blocks, 20-8 in assists, 21-7 in points off turnovers and 17-8 in second-chance buckets. The hosts also outscored the visitors 52-18 in the paint. The WU bench outscored the Brevard reserves 29-6 in the contest.
 
It was a tightly-contested encounter in the first half of play with the score knotted up at 26-26 with 5:33 on the clock in the second quarter. Wingate soon put together an 11-3 run to end the stanza and grab the 38-29 advantage at the halftime intermission.
 
The Bulldogs commenced the second half of play with a scorching 13-0 run to sprint out to a commanding 22-point advantage at 51-29 with 3:37 remaining in the third quarter. Wingate led 55-34 with 2:54 on the third-quarter clock, but the Tornados used a quick 8-0 run to trim the margin down to 13 points and a 55-42 score with 1:15 remaining. The home team would settle for the 59-43 lead at the third quarter break.
 
Brevard cut the deficit to 59-46 with 65 seconds gone in the fourth frame. A Miscenko put-back hoop boosted Wingate's lead to 61-46 at the 7:59 plateau. The Tornados would get no closer the rest of the way.
 
Chowan Players to Watch
 
The Chowan University Hawks are led by senior forward Jordan Payne (Norfolk, Va.), who averages a double-double with 15.1 points and 11.8 rebounds per contest. Payne has also posted 27 steals and six blocks. Junior forward Dhyamond Crenshaw (Burke, Va.) also averages double figures with 11.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Crenshaw adds to her statistical ledger with 21 steals and 16 blocks on the season.
 
Senior guard Chantel Roberts (Suffolk, Va.) has tallied 10.3 points and 4.7 boards. She has dished out 1.6 dimes through 12 games. Roberts also has compiled 24 steals in her final campaign with the Hawks. Freshman guard Mariah Coker (Portsmouth, Va.) averages 8.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per contest with a team-leading 31 steals.
 
Chowan Coaches
 
The Hawks are led by first-year head coach LaToya Jones, who takes over a Chowan program which posted a program-best 20-9 overall record in the 2015-16 season. Prior to arriving in Murfreesboro, Jones served three seasons as an assistant coach for the UNC Greensboro Spartans  before being promoted as the Director of Basketball Operations in 2015-16.
 
Before arriving at UNCG, she was an assistant coach at her alma mater, Gardner-Webb University. Jones commenced her coaching career at local Providence Day High School in Charlotte where she led the Chargers to two state championship appearances and a state title in 2010.
 
Jones is assisted by two first-year assistant women's basketball coaches in Monique Hudson and Eric Brewton Jr. Hudson most recently served as an assistant coach with the Carolina Flames AAU program, while playing with the Carolina Rush semi-pro team in Raleigh. She is also a previous women's basketball student-athlete at Gardner-Webb University. Most recently, Brewton Jr. served as a student assistant, manager and video coordinator at Middle Tennessee State University.
 
Chowan's Last Game
 
Chowan defeated the Saint Augustine's University Falcons by a dominant score of 91-64 in a CIAA battle on its home court. The Hawks had five student-athletes post double-figures in the victory. Dhyamond Crenshaw led the Chowan scoring attack with 27 points, four rebounds and two steals. Jordan Payne tallied 20 points, three assists and four steals in the contest. Chantel Roberts and senior guard Shaikeyla Jordan (Suffolk, Va.) posted 15 and 13 points, respectively.
 
The Hawks shot 43 percent from the floor (32-of-74 shooting), while outrebounding the SAU Falcons by a margin of 49-33. The hosts outscored the visitors 38-26 in the paint, while the Chowan bench maintained the 43-15 advantage over the Saint Augustine's reserves.
 
USC Aiken Players to Watch
 
The USC Aikens Pacers are led in scoring by redshirt sophomore guard and University of Georgia transfer Jasmine Carter (Dacula, Ga.), who averages 19 points and six rebounds per contest. Carter also has posted 15 steals and eight blocks in the 2016-17 campaign.
 
Freshman forward Kwajelin Farrar (Grovetown, Ga.) has tallied 10.6 points and 7.1 boards through 10 games played with seven steals and six blocks. Freshman center/forward Emily Waters (Villa Rica, Ga.) 8.1 points, five rebounds and 1.1 assists per game along with a team-leading 11 blocked shots. Junior forward and local Parkwood High School product Emry Tsitouris (Monroe, N.C.) has posted 7.7 points and six boards through 10 games and four starts.
 
USC Aiken Coaches
 
The Pacer women's basketball program is led by first-year head coach Mark Miller, who brings an impressive coaching resume into his first season at USC Aiken. Prior to USCA, Miller spent the previous eight seasons as the head coach for the Holy Family University Tigers. In 10 seasons as a head coach at the collegiate level, Miller has posted a record of 223-74.
 
Miller arrived at Holy Family after serving a three-year tenure at Division III Norwich University in Vermont, guiding the Cadets to a 54-25 overall mark. Miller spent nine seasons coaching at the Division I level prior to Norwich. He was an assistant women's basketball coach for one season at Mount St. Mary's University, four seasons at Loyola (Md.) College and four more for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
 
Miller is assisted by second-year assistant women's basketball coach Joanna Reitz who spent the previous two seasons at Division I Mercer University in Macon, Ga. and at Shorter University in the two years before her Mercer tenure. Reitz began her coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at Florida State University. Assistant women's basketball coach Tony Williams also accompanies the USC Aiken staff.
 
USC Aiken's Last Game
 
The USC Aiken Pacers fell to the Clayton State University Lakers in a PBC road contest by a final score of 76-61 from Morrow, Ga. Four Pacer student-athletes tallied double-figures in the contest with Emily Waters leading with 13 points on six-of-13 shooting from the floor. Waters also grabbed five rebounds in 22 minutes of action.
 
Jasmine Carter posted 11 points, four boards and two steals in the USCA offensive efforts. Emry Tsitouris put together a double-double performance with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Kwajelin Farrar also tallied 10 points in the conference match-up.
 
The Pacers pulled down 44 rebounds compared to CSU's 45 boards in the contest. USC Aiken outscored Clayton State 28-12 in second-chance buckets and 48-21 in bench points. The visitors were nearly perfect from the charity stripe with a 93.8 free-throw percentage (15-of-16).
 
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.)