Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University women's basketball team led wire-to-wire Saturday, collecting a 67-54 NCAA Division II women's basketball victory over USC Aiken in Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court. Three Bulldogs hit double-digit points, led by junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) and her game-high (tying) 17 markers.
 
Wingate is 8-3 overall entering the New Year, while USC Aiken falls to 4-7 overall. The Bulldogs return to South Atlantic Conference play Wednesday, Jan. 4, visiting Coker for a 6 p.m. league encounter. The USCA Pacers host Georgia College the same day at 10:30 a.m. for an Education Day matinee.
 
Bulldog senior forward Kristina Rumplasch (Mount Airy, N.C.) and sophomore forward/guard Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) had 12 points each for the hosts. Witherspoon and Miscenko led Wingate's rebounding efforts with nine and eight boards, respectively.
 
For USC Aiken, senior guard/forward Rachelle Aupont (Orlando, Fla.) led the visitors with 17 points off the bench. Freshman forward/center Kwajelin Farrar (Grovetown, Ga.) had 12 points and a team-best nine rebounds as the Pacers edged the Bulldogs 46-43 in the battle of the boards.
 
"It's nice to end the year with a win," Wingate head women's basketball coach Ann Hancock says. "We didn't play our best basketball today, but I'm proud of the team for continuing to battle. We must do a better job of keeping teams off the offensive glass. Aiken had too many second-chance opportunities. I thought our posts did a nice job of scoring the ball for us. We will hopefully gain momentum from this game moving into the conference schedule."
 
Six players found the first-quarter scoring column as Wingate bolted to a 19-8 lead after the opening 10 minutes of play.  A jumper by sophomore guard Courtney Robinson (Taylors, S.C.) gave the Bulldogs their first double-digit lead at 15-4 with 3:32 left in the first frame. Rumplasch had six points in the quarter as the hosts hit 52.9 percent of their first quarter field goals (nine-of-17).
 
After trailing by as many as 13 points in the first frame, USC Aiken cut the deficit to 28-24 when Farrar hit a jumper with four minutes to go in the second stanza. Wingate sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) and Witherspoon hit baskets to give the Bulldogs a 32-24 lead with 2:20 to play. The hosts led 33-25 at the halftime break.
 
Aupont had 11 of Aiken's 17 second-quarter points. Her 11 markers led both teams at intermission. Miscenko had nine points to lead the eight Wingate players who found the first-half scoring column. Witherspoon and Rumplasch had six points each in the first 20 minutes, with Witherspoon leading both teams with seven first-half rebounds.
 
A jumper by WU graduate student guard Amber Neely (Charlotte, N.C.) nudged the Bulldog lead to 43-33 midway through the third quarter. The Pacers scored the next five points to cut the deficit in half, but the Bulldogs ended the third frame on a 10-4 run to take a 53-42 advantage after 30 minutes of play. Wingate matched its first quarter accuracy by hitting nine-of-17 shots in the third quarter (52.9 percent).
 
The Pacers would get no closer the 10 points in the fourth quarter. An old-fashioned three-point play by Rumplasch gave Wingate a 19-point bulge (67-48) with exactly four minutes left in the contest. The margin was the Bulldogs' largest of the afternoon. Rumplasch had six of her 12 points in the fourth quarter.
 
Wingate outscored USC Aiken 48-28 on points in the paint. The Bulldogs converted 25 Pacer turnovers into 21 points. The visitors were not as opportunistic, scoring only eight points from 14 Wingate miscues. Witherspoon had a game-high five steals as seven Bulldogs collected 13 total steals.
 
The hosts also held an advantage in second-chance points (13-11) and fast-break points (14-8). Thanks in large part to Aupont's 17 points, the USC Aiken reserves outscored the Wingate substitutes 30-25. Five reserves for each team found the scoring column Saturday.
 
Wingate shot 42.3 percent from the floor (30-of-71), while USC Aiken hit 37.3 percent of its field goals (22-of-59). Both teams struggled at the charity stripe, as the Bulldogs hit six-of-16 free throws and the Pacers made five-of-14.