Jefferson City, Tenn.----Wingate University sophomore guard/forward Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) posted her fourth double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds to help the Bulldogs overcome a 15-point, third quarter deficit to complete an impressive 80-75 South Atlantic Conference women's basketball overtime triumph versus the Carson-Newman University Eagles from the Holt Fieldhouse on the C-N campus.
Wingate improves to 10-3 overall and 5-2 in the SAC. Carson-Newman is now 8-6 overall and 5-3 in conference action. The Wingate Bulldogs are back in action Wednesday, Jan. 11 for a SAC home match-up versus the Catawba College Indians and a 6 p.m. tip-off. Carson-Newman travels to Brevard College to face the Tornados in a conference showdown on the same day and time.
"We took a good punch from Carson-Newman today when the game started, but we did not give up," Wingate head women's basketball coach Ann Hancock says. "Our effort and tenacity down the stretch was fun to watch. Several players made important contributions today."
Witherspoon hit eight-of-14 field goals Saturday. Four other Bulldogs posted double figures with senior guard Alex Tomlinson (Raleigh, N.C.) collecting a season-high 11 points on five-of-11 shooting with four rebounds and four assists. Sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) added 14 points with five boards and five assists.
WU junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) fell short of her eighth double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Senior forward Kristina Rumplasch (Mount Airy, N.C.) posted a season-high 14 markers for the Bulldogs, while shooting 54 percent from the floor (six-of-11).
"Danasia did an outstanding job on C-N sophomore guard/forward Mika Wester (Newport, Tenn.)," Hancock says. "Alex and Kristina were sparks offensively and Caroline made some big plays along with huge free throws. Graduate student guard Amber Neely (Charlotte, N.C.) took a bad fall, but came back strong in the second half. Carson-Newman's defense made it really  difficult for Marta, but she made adjustments in the second half which helped us get some easy baskets."
Three Carson-Newman Eagles compiled double-digit points with senior guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) leading the charge with 20 points and eight assists. Junior forward Katie Stubblefield (Alcoa, Tenn.) contributed 18 points on seven-of-eight shooting (87.5 percent). Wester added 14 points and seven rebounds.
Wingate dominated on the boards, outrebounding Carson-Newman 52-31 in the contest, while maintaining the 18-10 edge in second-chance points. The Bulldogs outscored the Eagles 50-32 in the paint with the WU bench holding the slight 31-28 advantage over the C-N substitutes.
The Bulldogs did not take their first lead of the game until the 3:06 mark of the fourth quarter. Carson-Newman began the opening stanza with a 12-4 run and led by as many as 11 points at 17-6 with 43 seconds remaining. The Eagles led by a score of 17-8 at the break between quarters.
Hancock's squad would not get any closer than four points in the second quarter of play when the Bulldogs trimmed the margin down to 17-13 with 9:04 on the clock. C-N grabbed its first double-digit advantage of the second stanza at 26-16 with 5:06 left and took the biggest lead of the first half at 13 points (33-20) with 2:41 to go until halftime. Carson-Newman maintained the 37-25 advantage at the halftime intermission.
The Eagles led by a double-digit margin for the majority of the third quarter. C-N held a 44-29 lead with seven minutes-plus left in the third frame, its largest of the afternoon. Wingate cut the deficit down to nine points to make it a 53-44 game at the 2:01 mark. The Bulldogs would get no closer than seven points and trailed 57-48 heading into the final stanza of regulation.
With C-N leading 59-50 with 9:01 in the fourth quarter, the Wingate Bulldogs used an 8-1 mini-run to trim the margin down to a one-point contest on a free throw from Witherspoon to make it a 60-59 Eagle advantage at the 6:41 mark. A three-pointer from Tomlinson tied the score up for the first time in regulation at 64-64 with 6:02 on the clock.
A two-point jumper from Tomlinson gave the Bulldogs their first lead at 66-64 with 3:06 to go. Three more lead changes and a tie would follow until Carson-Newman grabbed the late 71-69 lead on a lay-up from Wester with 40 seconds remaining. Another clutch two-point field goal from Tomlinson tied the contest up again at 71-71 with 19 seconds left in regulation to send the game to the overtime period.
Overtime would begin with the game-winning lay-up from WU sophomore guard Courtney Robinson (Taylors, S.C.) to give the visiting Bulldogs a 73-71 advantage with 4:55 on the clock. Wingate never let go of the lead for the remainder of the period.
The Bulldogs took their largest lead of overtime at 76-71 at the 2:59 mark, but the Eagles used a quick 4-0 run to trim the deficit down to 76-75 with 2:02 left. A Tomlinson two-point bucket  extended the WU advantage out to three points at 78-75 with 23 seconds remaining. Averette hit back-to-back free throws with six seconds on the clock to seal the huge five-point victory for the Bulldogs.
"It was a total team effort today," Hancock says. "Our bench was into the game and encouraging to those on the court. They have as much to do with the win as those in the game. They had great practices leading up to the game which helped us in preparation."
Wingate shot 42 percent from the floor (31-of-73 shooting) compared to C-N's 44 percent from the field (28-of-64). The Bulldogs also shot 43 percent from three-point range (three-of-seven), while the Eagles were seven-of-17 from beyond the arc (41 percent).
(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.)
