WINGATE, N.C. - - Host Wingate withstood a furious second half comeback bid by UVA Wise to knock off the Cavaliers 16-13 in South Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse action at Graham Gill Field Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs led 13-5 with 19:25 to play before the guests scored eight of the game's final 11 goals to put a scare in Abby Wiley's squad.

Wingate (3-1, 1-1 SAC) built its large lead behind the play of sophomore Annie Plotts. The attacker led all players with six goals while adding four assists, four groundballs and 14 draw controls.

Plotts' draw control ability loomed large. UVA Wise (0-3, 0-1 SAC) won just 10-of-31 draw controls contested in the contest; Wingate won 11-of-15 first half draw controls en route to a 10-4 halftime advantage.

Juniors Katie Allen and Caroline Earnshaw helped ignite the comeback effort for Meghan Dennehy's squad. The duo scored two goals each as part of a 4-0 scoring burst for the Cavaliers that cut the deficit to 13-9 with 12:23 to play.

Senior Jesse French assisted on Allen's second goal, the assist was significant as it gave French the 225th point of her career. She is the only player in program history to account for 225 career points.

Wingate bounced back with a pair of goals of its own, one each by Plotts and Leah Knowles to push the lead to 15-9 only to see Sydney Trask score unassisted for UVA Wise to get it back within five goals at the 7:41 mark.

The goal by Trask was one of five on the day for the sophomore, the five goals were a team-high and give the sophomore 10 on the young season.

Knowles would answer back just under two minutes later with her third goal of the contest, leaving the score 16-10 with 5:50 remaining.

The Cavs would put forth a final rally as Mallory Trimble, Ashley Wells and Caroline Earnshaw would each net a goal over the final five minutes, but the guests would eventually run out of time, to provide the final margin of 16-13.

Goalie Jordan Edwards led all players with nine groundballs in the loss. UVA Wise finished with more shots (38-33) and shots on goal (27-26) in the contest but would be unable to crack Wingate goalie Megan Biase who finished with 14 saves.

Dennehy's squad will be off until March 17 when Lincoln Memorial University visits Smith Stadium for a SAC contest. First draw set for 3 p.m. and the action can be seen live on uvawisecavs.com