Women's Basketball | 2/14/2017 1:15:00 PM

Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University Bulldogs commence their final home stand of the 2016-17 campaign with a South Atlantic Conference home encounter versus the Coker College Cobras Wednesday evening from Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court. Tip-off is slated for a 6 p.m. start with the contest airing live on ESPN3. The 'Dogs look to extend their current eight-game win streak with a victory over Coker.
 
Wingate defeated Coker by a score of 66-51 on Jan. 4, 2017 from the DeLoach Center on Coker's campus. The Bulldogs enter the critical league match-up at 19-4 overall and 15-3 in the SAC. The Coker Cobras are 5-18 overall and 4-14 in conference play. The Bulldogs have been victorious in 14 out of their last 15 contests and currently hold the second spot in the SAC standings behind first-place Lincoln Memorial (21-2, 16-2 SAC).
 
Wingate Players to Watch
 
Wingate senior guard Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) currently sits at 993 career points entering Wednesday night's contest after scoring a season-high 20 points versus Brevard this past Saturday. Tricoli has started in 22 games for the Bulldogs in her final season, averaging 8.1 points per contest.
 
Sophomore guard/forward Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) continues her break-out campaign with 13.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Witherspoon has posted 13-plus points in six of her last seven games. The Hickory High School product ranks third overall in the SAC with her 53.2 field goal percentage, seventh in total steals (37) and sixth in total offensive rebounds (67).
 
Junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) nearly averages a double-double with 14.9 markers and 9.8 boards in 23 games played. Miscenko has tallied 13 double-double performances on the season. She is listed third in the conference with her average rebound total. The University of Texas El Paso transfer is second in the SAC with her 63 blocked shots, second in offensive rebounds (90), fourth in defensive boards (136) and third in total rebounds (226).
 
Sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) has contributed 8.6 markers per game and is the SAC's leading three-point shooter, shooting 51 percent from beyond the arc. Senior point guard Alex Tomlinson (Raleigh, N.C.) leads her team and ranks fourth in the SAC with 88 total assists.
 
Coker Players to Watch
 
Coker is led by junior forward Iresha Cooper (Hemingway, S.C.), who is the only Cobra to average double figures on the season with 12.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest. Junior guard Sydney Shull (Irmo, S.C.) is second on the Coker scoring list with 8.2 markers through 19 starts.
 
Junior guard Kendra Lambert (Palmyra, Ind.) and freshman guard Lindsey Adams (Morganton, N.C.) contribute 7.6 and 6.1 points per contest, respectively. Junior guard/forward Caitland Considine (Greer, S.C.) averages five points for the Cobras.
 
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 237-201 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 for 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 ('16, MASM), 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.
 
Coker Coaches
 
The Coker College Cobras are led by second-year head coach Shannon Johnson, who is an Olympic Gold Medalist and seven-time WNBA All-Star. Johnson played for six different franchises during her 10-year professional career and was named an American Basketball League (ABL) All-Star.
 
Prior to arriving at Coker, Johnson served as an assistant coach at Division I Northwestern State University in Louisiana, where she mentored two All-Southland Conference performers. She was a women's basketball student-athlete at the University of South Carolina, where she was an All-American and four-time All-Southeastern Conference honoree.
 
Johnson is supported by second-year assistant women's basketball coach Brittany Christian, who joined the Coker coaching staff in October 2015. Christian arrived in Hartsville, S.C., after serving as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia. Christian was a women's basketball and lacrosse student-athlete at SAC foe Lenoir-Rhyne University prior to beginning her coaching career. She helped guide the Bears to the 2014 SAC Championship and a spot in the 2014 NCAA Division II Southeast Region tournament.
 
Wingate's Last Game
 
The Wingate Bulldogs rolled to their eighth consecutive victory with a dominant 84-54 SAC triumph over Brevard on the Tornados' home court. Shelby Tricoli led all scorers with her 20 points in the contest. Four Bulldogs reached double-digit points, while WU shot 53.1 percent from the floor as a team.
 
Tricoli finished seven-of-10 shooting (70 percent) and a near perfect four-of-five (80 percent) from beyond the arc. Danasia Witherspoon posted 17 points and went six-of-11 from the field (54 percent). Caroline Averette added 13 points and finished five-of-seven shooting in the contest (71 percent). The SAC's leading three-point shooter went two-of-three from beyond the arc (66.7 percent). Marta Miscenko contributed 10 markers and 11 rebounds for her 13th double-double of the season.
 
The Bulldogs were victorious in every major statistical category, outrebounding Brevard 40-15 in convincing fashion. The 'Dogs also converted 26 points off 19 Tornado turnovers and turned 16 offensive rebounds into eight second-chance buckets. The WU bench outscored the Tornado substitutes by a dominant margin of 27-9.
 
Wingate shot above 50 percent as a team for only the second time in the 2016-17 campaign, finishing 34-of-64 from the field (53 percent). Wingate also was six-of-10 (60 percent) from three-point range. Brevard was 21-of-49 shooting (42.9 percent) and seven-of-15 from beyond the arc (46.7 percent).
 
With Wingate only leading 35-27 at the halftime intermission, the Bulldogs began the second half on a scorching 16-2 run to take a commanding 22-point advantage (51-29) with 4:12 left in the third quarter. Brevard would not get closer than 19 points for the remainder of the frame and trailed 59-35 entering the final quarter of play. The Bulldogs held a 30-plus point advantage for the majority of the fourth frame, cruising to the 30-point victory.
 
Coker's Last Game
 
The Coker Cobras fell to the Tusculum Pioneers in Hartsville, S.C. this past Saturday by a final score of 60-55. Sydney Shull and freshman forward Trai Johnson (Orangeburg, S.C.) led the Cobra scoring efforts with 12 points each. Caitland Considine added eight points for the hosts, while Lindsey Adams added seven markers.
 
Coker led in multiple statistical categories, outrebounding Tusculum 39-26 and converting 11 points off 12 Pioneer turnovers. The Cobras outscored the Pioneers 18-14 in the paint, while the Coker bench outscored the Tusculum reserves 27-13. There were a total of six ties and 11 lead changes in the contest.
 
The hosts shot 42.9 percent (21-of-49) from the floor, compared to Tusculum's 42 percent field goal percentage (21-of-50). Coker's defense held Tusculum to only 25 percent from beyond the arc (three-of-12).
 
Coker led by nine points at halftime, but the Pioneers stormed back in the second half outscoring the Cobras 18-10 in the third quarter and 17-11 in the final frame to secure the comeback road triumph.
 
Previous Meeting
 
Miscenko posted a monster performance (16 points, 17 rebounds) for her (then) seventh double-double of the season to lead the Bulldogs to a 66-51 SAC road triumph over Coker.
 
Witherspoon was the other Bulldog to post double figures with 11 points on five-of-nine shooting (55 percent). Senior forward Kristina Rumplasch (Mount Airy, N.C.) and sophomore Courtney Robinson (Taylors, S.C.) contributed nine and eight points, respectively. The duo also shot a combined 46 percent from the floor (seven-of-15).
 
The Bulldogs swept every major statistical category in the contest. Wingate outrebounded Coker 41-36, while also maintaining the 10-6 edge in the assist category. The WU bench outscored the Coker reserves 29-21. The visitors also led 17-8 in second-chance baskets and converted 17 points off 15 Coker turnovers.
 
Wingate shot 43.9 percent from the field (29-of-66 shooting) while the WU defense held Coker to only 34.5 percent shooting (20-of-58) in the contest. Miscenko tallied six blocked shots for the Bulldogs to add to her impressive total of 40 on the season. The 'Dogs also forced five steals compared to Coker's four total takeaways.
 
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.)