By Sonny Jones
Who says you can’t go home again? East Bladen High graduate Ann Hancock returned to her college alma mater 10 years ago as head basketball coach and has enjoyed much success.
Sunday night, her Wingate Bulldogs earned their seventh NCAA Division II women’s tournament bid during her tenure, joining UNC Pembroke in the eight-team Southeast Regional that opens Friday in Salisbury. Top-seeded Catawba is the host school.
No. 2 seeded Wingate will play No. 7 North Georgia at 2:30 p.m. Friday. Eighth-seeded UNC Pembroke will play Catawba at 5 p.m. Semifinals are Saturday and the championship game is Monday, March 13.
The UNC Pembroke men’s team also earned a bid to the NCAA Division II tournament. The second-seeded Braves (26-3) will play No. 7 North Georgia (20-7) at noon Saturday in Augusta, Georgia.
Hancock was one of the top high school players in the state during her career at East Bladen. The 1988 graduate scored 2,276 points, which is 24th-most among girls basketball players in N.C. High School Athletic Association history. She scored 2,195 points in four seasons playing for Wingate, helping the Bulldogs go 103-23 from 1989-92.
Hancock was an assistant coach at UNC Chapel Hill in 1994 when the Tar Heels won the NCAA championship, spent 10 seasons as head coach at UNC Wilmington, time as an assistant at East Carolina and returned to Wingate in 2012. She has a 204-92 record as Wingate’s head basketball coach.
I’ve known Ann since she was 8 years old. She has earned all of her success. Not a better person to know.
• The UNC Pembroke’s women’s team and Coach John Haskins will be making their first NCAA Division II tournament appearance. The Braves upset top-seeded Belmont Abbey 56-46 on Sunday to win the Conference Carolinas tournament and the automatic NCAA bid. Haskins has coached the women’s team for 19 seasons after coaching the men’s team for 10 seasons. It’s great that both he and the program are getting an opportunity to be part of the “Big Dance.”
• The Campbell men’s basketball team came up just short in its bid Sunday in its bid to reach the NCAA Division I tournament for the second time in school history. UNC Asheville won the Big South tournament 77-73. Campbell’s previous NCAA Division I tournament appearance came in 1992.
• The UNC Wilmington men’s basketball team is in the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. The Seahawks will play Hofstra Monday at 6 p.m. Tournament games are broadcast on CBSSN.
“March Madness” is officially here.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
• 2001 — George Mason beats North Carolina-Wilmington 35-33 in the second-lowest scoring game in the shot-clock era of NCAA basketball.
POTATO PICKS TO WATCH TODAY
• WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Sun Belt championship – Texas St. vs. James Madison, 2 p.m., ESPNU
• PREMIER SOCCER: Fulham at Brentford, 3 p.m., USA
• BASKETBALL: Colonial semifinal – UNC Wilmington vs. Hofstra, 6 p.m., CBSSN
• BASKETBALL: Southern championship – Chattanooga vs. Furman, 7 p.m., ESPN
• BASKETBALL: Sun Belt championship – South Alabama vs. Louisiana, 7 p.m., ESPN2
• BASKETBALL: Horizon semifinal – N. Kentucky vs. Youngstown St., 7 p.m., ESPNU
• WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Big East championship – Villanova vs. Connecticut, 7 p.m., FS1
• NBA: Atlanta at Miami, 7:30 p.m., NBATV
• BASKETBALL: Colonial semifinal – Charleston vs. Towson, 8:30 p.m., CBSSN
• BASKETBALL: West Coast semifinal – Brigham Young vs. Saint Mary’s (Cal), 9 p.m., ESPN
• BASKETBALL: Horizon semifinal – Cleveland St. vs. Milwaukee, 9:30 p.m., ESPN2
• NBA: New Orleans at Sacramento, 10 p.m., NBATV
• BASKETBALL: West Coast semifinal – San Francisco vs. Gonzaga, 11:30 p.m., ESPN
Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com.
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