Women's Basketball | 2/24/2017 2:58:00 PM
Wingate, N.C.----The 25th-ranked Wingate University Bulldogs look to finish out the 2016-17 campaign on a 12-game win streak when they travel south to face the Anderson University Trojans in a critical league encounter from the Abney Center Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is slated for a 2 p.m. start. The Bulldogs have won 16 out of their last 17 contests.
Wingate sits at 22-4 overall and 18-3 in the SAC. Anderson is 20-5 overall and 17-4 in league play. The Bulldogs currently sit in a tie for first place in the conference standings with Lincoln Memorial with a chance to clinch the SAC regular season championship with a victory Saturday.
The 'Dogs are ranked fifth in the second NCAA Southeast Region rankings, while Anderson stands as the ninth-ranked squad. The AU Trojans handed Wingate their last loss on Jan. 14, 2017 by a narrow margin of 62-61 from Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court. The Bulldogs have not lost a game since falling to Anderson.
Wingate Players to Watch
Wingate junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) and sophomore forward/guard Danasia Witherspoon (Hickory, N.C.) both lead the Bulldogs by averaging double figures on the season. Miscenko nearly averages a double-double with 14.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Witherspoon has posted 13.7 markers and 6.5 boards through 25 starts.
Miscenko ranks second in the SAC with 66 total blocked shots, second with her average rebound total, third in total offensive (96) and defensive (157) rebounds and second in total rebounds (253). The University of Texas El Paso transfer has tallied 13 double-double performances in her junior campaign.
Sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) and senior forward Kristina Rumplasch (Mount Airy, N.C.) contribute nine and 7.8 points per contest. Averette leads the SAC with her 51.7 percent field goal clip from beyond the arc.
Senior guard Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) adds 7.5 markers per game and scored her 1000th and 1001st career points in the victory over Catawba Wednesday evening. Senior guard Alex Tomlinson (Raleigh, N.C.) leads the Bulldogs and ranks fifth in the SAC with 93 total assists on the season.
Wingate is second in the SAC with 42.5 rebounds per contest as a team behind Lincoln Memorial, who tallies 44.5 boards through 26 games. The Bulldogs also sit atop the conference team standings with a 44.9 team field goal percentage. The 'Dogs are second in three-point field goal percentage (37.8) and first in assists per game (15.9).
Anderson Players to Watch
Anderson senior forward Heather Jankowy (Walhalla, S.C.) and senior guard/forward Jasmine Franklin (Simpsonville, S.C.) lead the Trojans averaging 11.4 and 11.3 points per game, respectively. Franklin averages 7.2 boards through 24 starts.
Freshman guard Alexy Mollenhauer (Lindale, Texas) is third on the AU scoring charts with 10.8 markers per game. Her fellow freshman guard Madison Baggett (Huntsville, Ala.) adds 9.2 points per contest for the Trojans.
Anderson has the third-ranked scoring offense in the SAC with 72.2 points per game as a team, placing slightly above Wingate, who is fourth in the league with 71.6 markers in each contest. Anderson shoots 42.4 percent from the field as team, which is fourth overall in the conference standings. The Trojans rank directly behind Wingate in third place with 42.1 rebounds through 25 games played.
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. She won her 100th game at the Wingate helm Wednesday, Feb. 15 versus Coker. Hancock has compiled a 240-201 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.
Anderson Coaches
The Trojans are led by first-year head coach Jonathon Barbaree, who gained 20 years of experience coaching at the collegiate level prior to arriving at Anderson. Barbaree commenced his coaching career as a student assistant for the Georgia College Bobcats. He was a student assistant for three seasons in Milledgeville and then served two more as a graduate assistant before being promoted to full-time assistant coach the next four years.
Barbaree then made the transition to the Division I level, as he took over as an assistant coach for the Furman University Paladins in Greenville, S.C. Four years later, he left Furman to serve a five-year stint as an assistant coach at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Barbaree is supported by first-year women's basketball graduate assistant coach Nicole Razor, beginning her first season of collegiate coaching experience. Razor arrives in Anderson, S.C. after being a member of the women's basketball program at Elon University as a student-athlete and assistant.
Wingate's Last Game
The Wingate Bulldogs earned their 11th consecutive victory with a 73-61 triumph over the Catawba College Indians from Goodman Gymnasium in Salisbury Wednesday evening. Caroline Averette led the WU scoring efforts with 17 points on six-of-10 shooting (60 percent).
WU sophomore guard Courtney Robinson (Taylors, S.C.) was the other Bulldog to finish with double figures, tallying 13 points on six-of-11 shots (54 percent). Marta Miscenko, Danasia Witherspoon and graduate student point guard Amber Neely (Charlotte, N.C.) contributed eight points each. Miscenko flirted with her 14th double-double of the season, posting a team-high six rebounds.
Kristina Rumplasch added seven points on three-of-four field goals (75 percent). Shelby Tricoli tallied four points to score her 1000th and 1001st career points on a lay-up with 3:14 remaining in the second quarter to give Wingate its largest lead of the contest at 18 points (39-21).
The WU bench heavily outscored the Catawba reserves 41-8, while the Bulldogs outscored the hosts 36-30 in the paint. Wingate outrebounded the Indians 34-28 and converted six offensive boards into eight second-chance points.
Wingate shot 56.4 percent as a team from the floor (31-of-55), while Catawba hit 23-of-59 field goals in the contest (39 percent). The Bulldogs were nearly perfect from the free-throw line, finishing 10-of-11 from the charity stripe (90.9 percent). The Indians hit 11-of-13 charity tosses (84.6 percent). Averette led all free-throw shooters, finishing five-of-five from the line.
Catawba held the advantage for a solid portion of the first quarter, jumping out to the early 9-4 lead with 6:54 in the opening frame. Wingate grabbed its first lead at 12-11 on a lay-up from Miscenko with 4:11 left in the stanza. The Bulldogs never trailed in the contest since taking their first lead.
Anderson's Last Game
The Anderson Trojans edged the ninth-ranked Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters by a final score of 76-73 from Harrogate, Tenn. AU handed LMU only their third loss of the 2016-17 campaign. Alexy Mollenhauer posted a career performance with 28 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and five blocks.
Jasmine Franklin added 14 points for the Trojans, while Heather Jankowy and Bailey Sims contributed 10 points each. LMU swept nearly every statistical category, but Anderson shot 37.7 percent from the floor (26-of-69) compared to the Railplitters 34.3 percent shooting clip (24-of-70).
Previous Meeting
The last battle between the Bulldogs and Trojans was a rematch of the 2016 SAC Championship game and Anderson got their revenge with a one-point victory over Wingate on their home court.
Marta Miscenko and Danasia Witherspoon had 14 points each. Miscenko posted her ninth double-double of the season with a game-high 10 rebounds. Witherspoon added eight boards as the Bulldogs won the rebounding battle 43-32.
The Trojans shot 49.1 percent from the floor (26-of-53), while the Bulldogs hit 36.1 percent of their field goal attempts (22-of-61). Wingate made 14-of-26 free throws (53.8 percent). Anderson shot 10 charity tosses, making four (40 percent).
Anderson hit six-of-12 three-point field goals in the first half, then missed their only two second-half tries to finish at 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. On the other end, the Bulldogs made three-of-seven shots from behind the three-point line (42.9 percent).
Back-to-back Miscenko free throws cut the deficit down to 62-61 with 50 seconds remaining in regulation. With Anderson missing a basket on the other end, the Bulldogs had the chance to win the contest on the last possession. Averette came up with a steal, but was unable to sink the buzzer-beating basket.
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.)
