HICKORY, N.C. - Wingate University's junior center Veronica Taylor (Columbia, SC) and sophomore guard Tanetra Barrett (Marshville, NC) combined for 38 points to lead the top seeded Bulldogs to a 67-53 victory over the #5 seed Newberry College Lady Indians in the semifinals of the 2005 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament held at the Catawba Valley Community Center Saturday afternoon. Wingate advances to tomorrow's championship game at 2:00 pm against the winner of #2 seed Carson-Newman College and #6 seed Mars Hill College.
The first half was closely contested as the game was tied twice and had five lead changes before intermission. The Bulldogs held a four point lead on three different occasions early in the half before going on a 10-5 run to push the lead to 29-20 at the 3:27 mark on a three-pointer by Barrett. Barrett keyed the Wingate run with eight of the team's 10 points. Wingate pushed the lead to its largest margin of the first half at 31-20 on a layup by sophomore forward Kerri Metzker (Charlotte, NC) with 2:47 remaining before Newberry's junior guard Jonelle Yaklich (LaSalle, IL) hit a three-pointer to trim the lead to 32-23 entering halftime.
The Bulldogs shot 41.4% from the field in the first half and were led in scoring by Barrett's 10 points. WU's Taylor led all scorers with a first double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Newberry struggled to shoot 21.6% from the field and were led in scoring by freshman guard Monica Alexander (Norcross, GA) shot tallied eight points on three-of-seven shooting from the field.
The Lady Indians came out in the second half and put together a 16-7 run keyed by six points from freshman forward Tonique Frasier (Walterboro, SC) to trim the Bulldog lead to 40-39 with 12:10 remaining. The Lady Indians had four straight possessions to retake the lead, but came up empty. Wingate responded with a 6-0 run to extend the lead back to seven points at 53-46 on a jumper by Barrett with 3:42 remaining in the game. The Bulldogs closed the game on a 14-7 run including 12-of-13 at the free throw to seal the 67-53 victory.
Wingate was led on the day by Taylor's 21 points and 18 rebounds while Barrett added 17 points and three steals. Sophomore forward Lankin Byer (Bassett, VA) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 points off the bench. Newberry was led by freshman forward Carnicha Bellinger (Greenville, SC) who tallied a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds while Alexander chipped in 10 points.
Wingate improves to 20-9 on the season while Newberry falls to 18-11. Eighteen wins ties a school record for victories in a season.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH JOHNNY JACUMIN:
"We might have had the jitters a little bit to start the game. We tried to loosen them up with some jokes during pre-game. At halftime, I thought we were in good shape. We were able to stop their big kids and in the second half they got some penetration. We mixed up some defenses on them, and the fouls at the end made the game not as close as it was. This is our third year in a row in the championship game, but we haven't won one yet."
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH JASON BRINK:
"It was a tale of two halves. In the first half, we simply didn't show up. The second half was much different, we demonstrated much higher intensity."
