It was a rough start to the season for the Newberry girls' basketball team.

So rough, that coach Ronney Hunter wasn't sure his team would get a win before the Christmas break.

He got that first one just before the holidays, and his Bulldogs have run off two more, including a 55-50 victory against Union County in the semifinals of the Newberry Christmas Classic.

The ‘Dogs (3-6) will face 3-A power Chapin in the finals tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Scott Gymnasium.

The Eagles have rolled to two easy wins against Newberry this season, including a 72-28 drubbing two weeks ago.

The Bulldogs will get the chance to redeem themselves and compete for a championship tonight.

“We wanted this opportunity; we've got it, and I think we deserve it,” Hunter said. “We played hard (Wednesday) and played through some injuries (last night).”

The Bulldogs played much of last night's game without guard Rebecca Carlson. Newberry's senior sharpshooter is one of four players nursing various injuries right now. Carlson has a sore Achilles tendon and played sparingly, while point guard Whitney Clary battled through pain in her foot to play most of last night's game.

Key reserve Delkira Maybin saw limited action after injuring her leg in Wednesday's first round game, and forward Leona Parr is just getting back to action after sitting for of the first month of the season with a knee injury.

Hunter was busy filling up ice bags for his “walking wounded” team after last night's victory.

“We feel like we have a starting five, but when we have injuries, like to Carlson, we can't start that five,” Hunter said. “When we have them all in there, they play pretty well together. They're gelling together as a team, and when we realize that we don't have to play like we're behind when we're not, we're going to be OK.”

The Bulldogs led for most of the game, but had to hold off Union in the waning minutes with turnovers coming in bunches on both ends of the floor.

Sharae Baxter put the game away for the ‘Dogs by hitting a pair of free throws with 16 seconds to play that gave her team a comfortable 55-48 advantage.

“We had some silly turnovers that could have been costly, but Union did the same thing,” Hunter said. “Union's very scrappy and physical. We had a 10-point lead a couple of times in the game, but we really couldn't hold on to it. The game really wasn't decided until there was 16 seconds on the clock and we made those two free throws.”

The ‘Dogs got a little help from some curious mistakes by the Yellow Jackets.

Union was given a technical foul in the first half after it was learned that several players were wearing different numbers than were written down in the scorebook. They were whistled for another technical in the third quarter after having just four players on the floor following a timeout. Two players ran on the court while play was going on, and the technical was called.

Newberry's Brittany Marshall drilled all four technical free throws.

“We hit all four of the free throws, and we won by five,” Hunter said. “We'll take it any way we can get it. A win is a win.”

Marshall led all scorers with 16 points, while Zanne Williams and Clary chipped in eight each.

Konica Praylow gave the ‘Dogs a lift with nine points, while Baxter finished with seven.

Reanna Tucker, Rhonisha Tucker and Britni Ward each finished with 10 for Union, while Tasha Goggins scored all eight of her points in the first half.

The Yellow Jackets will face Clinton in the third-place game tonight at 6 p.m.

Woodruff and Midland Valley will face each other in the fifth-place game at 4:30 p.m.

Clary's threes carry ‘Dogs past Raiders

Whitney Clary drilled six 3-pointers, including five in the first half as Newberry hammered Bamberg-Ehrhardt 57-42 in the opening round of the Newberry Christmas Classic.

Clary led all scorers with 20 points in the win.

The ‘Dogs raced out to a 14-2 lead in the opening four minutes and never had their lead drop below 10 after Clary's second 3-pointer of the game early in the second quarter.

Newberry took its biggest lead of the game when Brittany Marshall hit a runner at the end of third quarter to stretch the advantage to 53-29.

Marshall finished with 15 points, while Sharae Baxter added eight.

Brittany Barnwell led the Raiders with 13. Bamberg-Ehrhardt lost to Midland Valley in the first game yesterday.