Women's Basketball | 1/17/2017 2:33:00 PM

VIDEO: Preview with Coach Hancock

Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University Bulldogs will venture up East Independence Boulevard to face local rival Queens University of Charlotte in a key South Atlantic Conference encounter from The Levine Center Wednesday evening. Tip-off is slated for a 6 p.m. start. The Bulldogs had their season-long, six-game win streak come to an end Saturday versus Anderson. They seek to regain confidence in a big showdown with the Royals.
 
Wingate is 11-4 overall and 7-3 in the SAC. Queens is 4-11 overall and 4-6 in conference action. The Bulldogs are in a three-way tie for third place in the SAC standings with Catawba and Carson-Newman.
 
Wingate Players to Watch
 
Wingate junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) continues to be the Bulldogs' statistical leader, averaging a double-double with 15.9 points and 10.7 rebounds per contest. Miscenko is second overall in the SAC individual standings with an impressive 46 blocks on the season. The University of Texas El Paso transfer also ranks second in the conference with her average rebound total, fifth in points per game and first with 66 total offensive rebounds.
 
Sophomore guard/forward Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) is the other Bulldog student-athlete averaging double figures with 12.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. The Hickory High School graduate ranks in the top 10 on the SAC individual charts in multiple categories: seventh in rebounds per game, ninth in field goal percentage (49.7 percent), sixth in total offensive rebounds (51) and seventh in steals (25).
 
WU sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) is third on the Bulldog scoring list with 9.5 points per game through 15 contests. Averette ranks second overall in the SAC with a 52.9 shooting percentage from three-point range. Senior guard Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) and senior forward Kristina Rumplasch (Mount Airy, N.C.) average 7.9 and 6.1 points per contest, respectively. Senior guard Alex Tomlinson (Raleigh, N.C.) ranks fourth in the SAC and leads her team with 62 total assists on the season.
 
Queens Players to Watch
 
Three Royals average double-digit points on the season with senior guard McKell Oliverio (Florence, Ky.) leading the charge, averaging 14.7 points per contest while also maintaining a 50 percent field goal clip. Junior guard Mendy McNeese (Greeneville, Tenn.) is second on the Queens scoring list with 11.5 markers per game. McNeese is an East Tennessee State transfer.
 
Senior guard/forward Sarah Henson (Sylva, N.C.) has posted 10.4 points with 3.6 boards per game through 15 contests. Junior guard/forward Cheyenne Logan (Asheville, N.C.) and junior guard Carmen Richardson (Rocky Mount, N.C.) contribute 8.4 and 5.8 points per game, respectively. Logan is the Royals' leading rebounder, averaging 4.6 boards in each contest.
 
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 229-200 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.
 
Queens Coaches
 
The Royals are led by first-year head coach Sarah Jansen, who most recently served as the head coach at Mars Hill University. Jansen is the reigning SAC Coach of the Year from last season, guiding the MHU Lions to the number four seed in the 2016 SAC Tournament.
 
Prior to Mars Hill, Jansen was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Belmont Abbey College from 2007-12. Additionally, she was also an assistant at Wofford College from 2004-07. Jansen is a 2004 graduate of the University of South Carolina Upstate.
 
Jansen is supported by women's basketball assistant coaches Kristin Parunak and McKenzie Owen. Parunak was previously an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Newberry College and also coached with Jansen at Mars Hill during the 2014 season. She also served as assistant athletic director and assistant coach at Catawba Valley Community College after coaching at Christopher Newport University. Parunak was women's basketball student-athlete at Presbyterian College and Concord University.
 
Owen joins the Queens coaching staff this season after working as a sports information graduate assistant at King University. She was also a four-year member of the Belmont Abbey women's basketball team.
 
Wingate's Last Game
 
The Wingate Bulldogs dropped a heart-breaking home contest Saturday in Cuddy Arena to the Anderson University Trojans by a final score of 62-61. Marta Miscenko and Danasia Witherspoon tallied 14 points each to lead the WU scoring attack. Miscenko added the ninth double-double to her junior year resume with a game-high 10 rebounds, while Witherspoon contributed eight boards.
 
The Bulldogs outrebounded Anderson 43-32 in the contest, while the 15-9 edge in second-chance baskets. The 'Dogs also converted 17 points off 17 Trojan turnovers. Wingate shot 36.1 percent from the floor (22-of-61) and hit three-of-seven shots from three-point range.
 
WU sophomore guard Courtney Robinson (Taylors, S.C.) added eight points, while Caroline Averette and graduate student guard Amber Neely (Charlotte) each contributed six markers. Robinson also tallied six rebounds in the contest.
 
Queens' Last Game
 
The Queens University of Charlotte Royals were victorious on the road versus the Tusculum College Pioneers in a key SAC match-up by a dominant margin of 60-45. McKell Oliverio led all scorers with 21 points. Sarah Henson posted a big double-double performance with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Senior forward/center Maggie Stewart (Otto, N.C.) contributed 11 points.
 
Queens outscored Tusculum by a resounding 32-9 in the paint, while maintaining the 39-28 edge in rebounding. The Royals had the slight 8-4 advantage in bench points and converted 13 points off 14 Pioneer turnovers.
 
The Royals shot 50 percent from the floor (22-of-44 shooting), with the defense holding Tusculum to only 25 percent shooting in the contest (14-of-56). Mendy McNeese compiled a balanced effort with four points, 10 rebounds and five assists for Queens.
 
Last Season's Match-up
 
The Wingate Bulldogs swept the two-game regular season series versus Queens in the 2015-16 campaign. The 'Dogs earned a 77-29 blow-out victory in the first meeting (Jan. 20, 2016) from the friendly confines of Cuddy Arena and claimed a 56-35 triumph in the second encounter (Feb. 10, 2016) from Charlotte.
 
In the first match-up, the Bulldogs shot an impressive 58 percent from the floor (29-of-50) in the victory. Courtney Robinson led the WU scoring efforts with 12 points, while Shelby Tricoli added 10 points for the hosts. Kristina Rumplasch also contributed 11 markers.
 
Wingate dominated every major statistical category, outrebounding Queens 32-27. The Bulldogs also outscored the Royals in points in the paint by an overwhelming margin of 50-6. The Navy Blue and Vegas Gold-clad hosts converted 35 points off 28 Queens turnovers. Also, the 'Dogs led 19-7 in second-chance buckets, 16-0 in fast-break points and outscored the Royals reserves by a score of 42-6. The WU defense held the visitors to only 23.8 percent shooting (10-of-42).
 
In the second meeting, Marta Miscenko posted 12 points with two blocked shots in the 21-point triumph. Amber Neely added seven points and led the rebounding efforts with seven boards. The Bulldogs outrebounded Queens 48-24, while outscoring the Royals bench 28-2. Wingate outscored the opposition 36-6 in the paint and converted 10 points off 14 Queens' mistakes. The 'Dogs shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) from the field, while holding the visitors to 24 percent shooting (12-of-50).
 
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.)