WINGATE — Catawba College’s women’s basketball team is showing that it will be the one to watch during the rest of the South Atlantic Conference season.

The Indians charged from behind in the last half to trim Wingate University 78-76 in a thriller here Wednesday night.

It was the fourth straight win for Coach John Duncan’s 18-4 women, who strengthened their grip on second place in the SAC race with an 8-4 record and three regular season games left.

“It was a good win for us,” said Duncan. “We did not get off to a good start and missed a lot of free throws but we stayed in there and did what it took to win. I am proud of our effort.”

Catawba trailed by 12 points, 34-24 in the first half but rallied to close the gap to 41-40 at intermission.

The Indians grabbed their first lead at 54-52 with 11:50 left. It then was an air-tight struggle down to the final whistle.

Ashley Cox, a 5-6 freshman playmaker, combined with senior Ella Pasola to provide the key points in the game-winning drive.

A pair of 3-pointers by Cox gave the Indians a 57-54 advantage. She added three key free throws and made two interceptions in the final 48 seconds to lock up the win. She scored 11 points in the late surge. Pasola, a native of Sweden, had seven points in the winning rally.

The Indians who have recently seen their regulars score consistently in the double figures, saw four reach that level.

Dorthell Little, who is average 14.6 points, fired in 24 in one of her best performances of the season. She also had 13 rebounds. Nineteen of her points came in the first half when the Indians struggled.

Cox followed with 18 in her top effort of the season, and Pasola fired in 15. Ice Darden added 10.

Danyel Locklear, leading Catawba scorer, ran into early foul trouble and spent quite of bit of time on the bench. She had only three points.

NOTES: Wingate dropped to 4-7 in the SAC and 12-9 overall. ... It was Catawba’s second win over the Lady Bulldogs this season. ... Catawba made only six of 16 free throw attempts in the first half and hit only 15 of 32 in the game. ... Catawba will host Newberry Saturday at 2 p.m.

CATAWBA (78) — Little 24, Cox 18, Pasola 15, Darden 10, Pugh 6, Locklear 3, Tate 2, Prescott, Kaufman

WINGATE (76) — Harrington 24, Dunn 18, Thompson 12, Bah 10, Daise 9, Hankins 9, Miller 7, Vandergrift 2, Brown.

Catawba 40 38 — 78

Wingate 41 35 — 76