Wingate, N.C.----Wingate University junior center Marta Miscenko (Riga, Latvia) tallied her 14th double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to a 56-46 quarterfinal triumph over Lenoir-Rhyne University in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball tournament action from Cuddy Arena and Thomas Koontz Family Court Wednesday evening.
 
Wingate improves to 23-5 overall, while Lenoir-Rhyne ends its season at 17-12 overall. The Bulldogs travel south to Greenville, S.C. this Saturday for the semifinal round of the SAC tournament from Timmons Arena on the Furman University campus. The number three seed Bulldogs will face number seven seed Catawba Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
 
WU sophomore guard Caroline Averette (Midlothian, Va.) was the other Bulldog to finish in double figures with 15 points. Senior guard Shelby Tricoli (Waynesville, N.C.) added six points, while graduate student point guard Amber Neely (Charlotte, N.C.) contributed five markers and a game-high five assists.
 
For LRU, sophomore forward Madi Suddreth (Taylorsville, N.C.) led all scorers with 18 points on seven-of-13 shooting (53.8 shooting) and three assists. Senior forward Alecia Bell (Newport News, Va.) added 12 points on five-of-seven shots (71.4 percent) coming off the bench to finish second on the Bear scoring charts.
 
Wingate swept every major statistical category, outrebounding Lenoir-Rhyne 43-29 and maintaining the slight 13-12 edge in assists. The WU bench outscored the LRU reserves 24-12, while the Bulldogs outscored the Bears 20-14 in the paint. The 'Dogs converted 16 offensive rebounds into 13 second-chance buckets and recorded 10 points off 10 LRU turnovers.
 
The Bulldogs never trailed in the contest, leading wire-to-wire in the opening quarter of play with a 13-8 advantage with 1:01 remaining. A two-point jumper from WU sophomore forward Zasha Barrett (Monroe, N.C.) gave Wingate a 15-10 lead with 31 seconds to go in the stanza. The 'Dogs maintained the 15-10 advantage at the break between quarters.
           
Neither team would score until the 7:43 mark of the second quarter when a jumper from Suddreth trimmed the deficit down to 15-12. The Bulldogs then used a 6-2 mini-run to grab a 19-12 advantage with 5:32 on the clock. Wingate led 24-17 with 1:40 to go, but a basket from Suddreth made it a four-point contest at 24-20 with 1:18 left. The hosts held on to the 24-20 lead at the halftime intermission.
 
The quarterfinal remained a tightly-contested battle in the third stanza, but the Bulldogs used a quick 9-2 run to extend their advantage out to 33-24 with 5:45 left in the frame. Wingate was unable to break the double-digit lead mark until a basket from Barrett gave the host Bulldogs an 11-point lead (37-26) at the 2:05 mark.
 
A lay-up from Bell made it a single-digit contest again at 37-28 with 1:41 left. Neither team would score for the remainder of the frame as Wingate held the nine-point advantage entering the final quarter.
 
Wingate held a narrow single-digit advantage for the majority of the fourth frame, leading by no more than 10 points. Lenoir-Rhyne came within three points at 44-41 on a lay-up from Bell with 4:15 on the clock, but the Bears would not get any closer. The Bulldogs held on for the 10-point victory to survive and advance to the next round of the SAC Tournament.
 
Both teams were held to under 40 percent shooting in the contest with LRU sinking 18-of-51 shots from the floor (35.3 percent). Wingate finished slightly behind the Bears with a 34 percent field clip (18-of-53). Lenoir-Rhyne hit six-of-seven shots from the charity stripe (85.8 percent) compared to Wingate's 16-of-20 shooting performance from the line (80 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.)