Women's Basketball | 1/20/2017 10:39:00 AM

VIDEO: Ann Hancock Interview

Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University women's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court Saturday afternoon for a South Atlantic Conference showdown against the Mars Hill University Lions. Tip-off is slated for a 2 p.m. with the contest airing live on ESPN3. The Bulldogs and Lions meet for their regular season series finale. The 'Dogs claimed an 80-73 road victory over MHU in the December match-up.
 
Wingate currently sits at 12-4 overall and 8-3 in the SAC. Mars Hill is 4-13 overall and 1-10 in conference play. The Bulldogs are in a four-way tie for second place in the conference standings with Anderson, Catawba and Carson-Newman. The Lions seek their first back-to-back wins of the season after a 63-52 triumph over Brevard Wednesday.
 
Wingate Players to Watch
 
Two Bulldogs average double-figure points on the season with junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) leading the charge. Miscenko averages a double-double with 15.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, while ranking second in the SAC with 48 total blocked shots.
 
The University of Texas El Paso transfer ranks fifth in the conference individual standings in points per game, second with her average rebound total, first in offensive rebounds (72), third in defensive rebounds (98) and second in total boards (170).
 
Sophomore forward/guard Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) holds the second spot on the Wingate scoring charts with 12.6 points and 7.1 rebounds through 16 games. Witherspoon is seventh in the SAC with her 26 total steals, eighth with her average rebound total and sixth in total offensive rebounds (51).
 
WU sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) and senior guard Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) average 9.3 and 7.8 points per game, respectively. Averette continues her hot shooting from beyond the arc, ranking second in the conference with 51.4 accuracy from three-point range. Senior forward Kristina Rumplasch (Mount Airy, N.C.) has contributed 6.4 points per contest in her final season in the Navy Blue and Vegas Gold.
 
 
Mars Hill Players to Watch
 
The MHU Lions are led by senior guard Paige Chavis (Lexington, N.C.), who averages 15.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Chavis is the sixth-leading scorer in the SAC with her average point total. Freshman guard Aliyah Farmer (Salisbury, N.C.) has posted 10 points per game as the only other Lions averaging double-digit markers. Farmer is short of averaging a double-double with 8.8 boards per contest.
 
Freshman guard Madison Ervin (Morganton, N.C.) is third on the MHU scoring list with 9.6 points per contest. Ervin has also compiled 4.2 boards and dished out 2.5 assists through 17 games. Senior guard Sydney Comer (Lebanon, Tenn.) and freshman forward Jenny Edwards (Gainesville, Ga.) each average 7.3 points per 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 230-200 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.
 
Mars Hill Coaches
 
Mars Hill University head coach Jenny Finora begins her first season at the helm of the Lion women's basketball program after spending five years (2010-15) as the head coach for SAC rival the Coker College Cobras.
 
Under her leadership, Finora dramatically improved a Coker program which had won only two games prior to her first season. The Cobras steadily increased their win total for the next three seasons and put together three consecutive post-season conference tournament appearances.
 
Prior to her coaching tenure at Coker, Finora played one year as a professional player and coach in Iceland. She played for the KR Basketball Club of the Icelandic Premier League, while also coaching three of the KR Basketball Club's junior teams. Finora commenced her intercollegiate coaching career as the assistant coach and later interim head coach for the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers. She also has experience coaching at the high school level, along with serving as an instructor at various camps and clinics throughout the country.
 
Finora is assisted by assistant women's basketball coach Lise Lee, who was hired by MHU athletic department prior to the 2015-16 campaign. Lee arrived to the Mars Hill campus after previously serving as an assistant coach at the University of Charleston in Charleston, W.Va. Lee was also a former a women's basketball student-athlete for the Golden Eagles, earning All-American honors in 2005 and 2006.
 
Wingate's Last Game
 
The Wingate Bulldogs earned a huge SAC road triumph over the Queens University of Charlotte Royals Wednesday evening by a final score of 65-51. Marta Miscenko added a 10th double-double performance to her stellar junior year resume with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.
 
Shelby Tricoli and Kristina Rumplasch added 11 points each with Rumplasch shooting a perfect five-for-five from the floor. Tricoli shot three-of-four (75 percent) from three-point range, while Danasia Witherspoon contributed nine points for the visitors.
 
The Bulldogs swept almost every major statistical category in the contest, outrebounding Queens 36-24. The 'Dogs dominated the offensive boards by a convincing margin of 14-3. Wingate outscored Queens 40-26 in the paint, while the WU bench outscored the Royals substitutes 23-4. Head women's basketball coach Ann Hancock's squad never trailed in the contest and led by as many as 21 points.
 
Wingate also finished 10-of-12 from the charity stripe (83 percent). Wingate shot 43.3 percent from the floor (26-of-60) compared to Queens' 44.2 percent field goal clip (19-of-43). The Bulldogs compiled eight steals and four blocks, while converting 10 points off 15 Royal turnovers. The hosts finished 10-0 in fast-break points and 14-4 in second-chance buckets.
 
Mars Hill's Last Game
 
The MHU Lions earned their first conference win of the season with a 63-52 home victory over the Brevard College Tornados Wednesday night. Paige Chavis led the hosts with a team-high 15 points in the contest. Jenny Edwards compiled 14 points with eight rebounds and Aliyah Farmer contributed 11 markers with nine boards. Both fell short of double-double performances. Sydney Comer also added nine points for the Lions, while connecting on two-of-three shots from downtown.
 
Mars Hill's bench heavily outscored the Brevard reserves by a margin of 16-3, while maintaining the convincing 8-0 edge in fast-break points. MHU also outscored the Tornados 30-22 in the paint and led 14-8 in second chance buckets.
 
The Lions shot 39.6 percent from the floor (21-of-53), compared to Brevard's 35.7 percent shooting performance (20-of-56). Mars Hill connected on five-of-13 shots from three-point range (41.7 percent), while the MHU defense held Brevard to only 17.6 percent from beyond the arc (six-of-34).
 
A hot shooting performance by the Lions in the first half made the difference in the final outcome as Mars Hill knocked down a season-high 51.9 percent (14-of-27) field goals in the first half of play.
 
Last Meeting
 
The Bulldogs and Lions previously met on Dec. 3, 2016, when Wingate claimed a hard-fought 80-73 victory from Stanford Arena on the Mars Hill campus. Witherspoon led the WU scoring efforts with 18 points (on nine-of-12 shooting), adding four rebounds and two assists to lead the 'Dogs to victory.
 
Miscenko and Kristina Rumplasch both posted double figures in the contest, contributing 14 and 12 points, respectively. Miscenko added seven rebounds to her statistical ledger while Rumplasch hauled-in five boards.
 
Wingate outrebounded Mars Hill 43-33, while also maintaining the 24-15 edge in assists and 4-2 advantage in blocked shots. The Bulldogs' bench outscored the Lions reserves by a commanding 29-4 margin. The 'Dogs also led in fast-break (10-8) and second-chance points (9-7), along with a 44-36 edge in points in the paint. Wingate shot 50 percent from the floor (31-of-62), compared to Mars Hill's 42 percent field goal percentage (29-of-69).
 
The Bulldogs led 39-29 at the halftime intermission and continued to maintain the 10-plus point advantage for the majority of the third quarter; however, it was much more tightly-contested battle in the fourth stanza as Mars Hill began the frame with a 9-0 rally to trim the deficit down to a 57-55 game with 7:47 on the clock.
 
Wingate continued to hang on to the advantage, leading by a narrow margin of 61-59 with 5:23 to go. The Bulldogs then used a huge 10-2 run to add some breathing room, leading by a score of 71-61 thanks to a Witherspoon lay-up with 2:18 remaining.
 
Mars Hill would get no closer than four points for the remainder of the contest, trailing 76-72 with 18 seconds left on the clock. Two made free throws from WU graduate student guard Amber Neely (Charlotte, N.C.) pushed the Bulldog lead out to 78-72 with 17 seconds remaining. Caroline Averette hit the final two free throws with nine seconds remaining in the contest to give the visitors a huge seven-point triumph.
 
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.)