Greenville, S.C.----The Wingate University were knocked off in the semifinals of the SAC women's basketball tournament, falling 87-75 against the Anderson University Trojans Saturday afternoon on the campus of Furman University. The loss drops the Bulldogs to 22-7 overall, while the Trojans go to the championship game with an 18-12 record.
 
KEY STATS

- Anderson shot 47 percent from the field; Wingate hit 41 percent of its shots
- The Trojans converted six-of-12 three-point attempts, while the Bulldogs made four of their 13 tries from deep
- WU scored 10 points off of 12 AU turnovers; while Anderson scored 15 points against Wingate's 10 turnovers
- The Trojans controlled the glass in the contest, out rebounding the 'Dogs by a 43-38 margin and edging WU 12-9 in second chance points
- AU got to the line 28 times, making 19 of its free throw attempts while WU went 11-14 at the charity stripe
 
KEY BULLDOGS

- Bryanna Troutman finished with a game-high 26 points and 14 rebounds
- Emily Hege put up 11 points with five boards and an assist
- Laney Beale and Laura Kozo each hit double figures with 10 points each
- Leah Barringer scored seven points off the bench on three-of-six shooting, adding three rebounds
 
FIRST QUARTER

- Wingate got out of the gates quickly, starting the game on a 12-4 scoring run, with Beale contributing seven of those points
- Anderson closed the gap quickly with threes from Britney Bailey, cutting the deficit down to 14-13 at the media timeout
- Barringer got on the scoresheet with a triple to put Wingate up by seven
- AU finished the quarter with the lead following a Nelliah Wilson layup, putting the Trojans ahead 25-24
 
SECOND QUARTER

- Anderson started a strong quarter with Ashlyn Sheridan leading the offense with consecutive layups and pushing the lead to 11
- Troutman owned the only Bulldog points in the period for a majority of the clock, making an early layup and a late free throw
- Kozo notched her first points of the contest with a layup
- AU finished the quarter strong, and a Diamond McDowell jumper gave WU a 50-32 deficit going into the halftime break
 
THIRD QUARTER

- The Trojans continued their strong play out of the break, eventually pushing the lead to as high as 22 points about a minute and half into the period
- From this point on, the Bulldogs went on a scorching run to get back into the contest with a 21-5 spurt to cut the lead to six at the end of the third period
- Wingate went right to its leading scorer in the stretch with Troutman scoring 10 total points in the quarter
- Hege added five points, with Beale scoring two to take a 59-53 deficit to the fourth
 
FOURTH QUARTER

- Heading into the decisive quarter, Bailey and Wilson got Anderson started quickly but were matched by Kozo and Troutman to keep Wingate in striking distance
- The 'Dogs fell further behind the Trojans as AU took a 12-point lead to the media timeout field by a Diamond McDowell layup
- WU tighented the gap again with a 7-2 scoring run down the stretch with Hege, Barringer, and Hannah Clark contributing points 
- Wingate was as close as seven points over the final minutes, but Anderson made the free throws when it counted to pull out a 97-75 win

UP NEXT

- Wingate will learn its postseason future Sunday night when the NCAA Tournament field is announced
- The brackets will be announced live on NCAA.com at 10:30 p.m. Sunday night
- The 'Dogs were ranked second in this week's NCAA Region poll