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—Staff photo by Kelly Snow
CROWDED — NC’s Monica Alexander shoots around two Catawba defenders.
The Newberry College women’s basketball team kicked off the 2009 South Atlantic Conference tournament on the right foot Wednesday with a win against Catawba, 77-48.
Anita Bulcher (Russia, Ohio) earned her sixth double-double in the last seven games with 16 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. The junior center nailed seven of her 10 shots from the field. Helen McKinney (Owensboro, Ky.) led the scarlet and gray in points with 20 on 7-of-11 shooting from the field.
Monica Alexander (Norcross, Ga.) and Laura Marquardt (Mt. Pleasant) played their final games in Eleazer Arena and had strong performances. Marquardt put up 16 points while Alexander posted a game-high eight assists, 11 points, and nine rebounds. Alexander now needs seven rebounds in order to reach the all-time assists record at Newberry College.
Brittany Higgins (Takoma Park, Md.) led all scorers for the Catawba Indians with 20 points on 7-for-18 shooting from field goal range. Dana Hicks (York) was scoreless but still posted eight boards, twice as many as any of her teammates.
Higgins made the first bucket of the opening half, giving Catawba its only lead of the game. Newberry pushed the tempo early in the game and earned a double digit lead within the first nine minutes of the game. The pressure did not stop there, as a Marquardt 3-pointer pushed Newberry’s lead to 21 points with two minutes remaining in the half. NC entered the halftime break with the lead, 46-25.
The scarlet and gray shot lights out in the first half, nailing 56.3-percent of their field goal attempts. They also went 6-for-10 from beyond the arc. On defense, NC held Catawba to 32.3 percent shooting from the field and 20 percent shooting from 3-point range. NC, averaging 17.2 turnovers a game, handled the ball well and committed only five turnovers.
Despite three players in double-digits by the half, Newberry was led by Bulcher who scored a team-high 16 points in the first half. She shot a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor and grabbed four rebounds. Higgins led Catawba in points with 14 on 5-for-10 shooting.
Newberry showed no mercy in the second half as it continued to improve upon the lead. The third-seeded scarlet and gray opened the period with a 12-5 scoring run and improved their lead to 30 points with seven minutes left. NC shot better than 90 percent from the foul line in the second half and walked away with the 29-point victory.
Janine Ward (Tallevast, Fla.) had a solid second half and tied the team-high in both points (6) and rebounds (6). In her final game at Eleazer Arena, Mashanda Thomas (Richmond, Va.) played solid second half defense and pulled down three boards.
Newberry won by doing what it does best, playing defense and crashing the glass. The scarlet and gray held their opponent to under 50 points for the fifth time this season and posted a season-high 53 rebounds. NC earned 18 offensive rebounds in the contest on way to 21 second chance points.
The Newberry College women’s basketball team now stands at 18-10 this season. The win advances the scarlet and gray to the semifinals of the SAC Tournament where they will face second seeded Lenoir Rhyne. The contest will take place tomorrow at 3 pm in Hickory, N.C.
Softball sweeps Southern Wesleyan, 7-2 and 11-3
The Newberry College softball team moved to 14-0 as it disposed of Southern Wesleyan, 7-2 and 11-3.
Kristen Hicks (Bamberg) and Amanda Huckestein (Port Charlotte, Fla.) both won in the doubleheader as their identical records moved to 7-0.
Newberry has now won six straight home games to start the season and 14 overall for the best start in program history.
Game One: Newberry 7, Southern Wesleyan 2
The scarlet and gray started off the opening game with a four-run inning from three hits. Aissa Gatewood (N. Charleston) scored the day’s first run as she reached base on a bunt single and then advanced to second on a Whitney Wiles (Iva) sacrifice bunt. Two consecutive wild pitches scored Gatewood to give Newberry the 1-0 lead.
After a walk to Kat Hammond (Irmo), Angela Cataldo (Sumter) singled down the left side to score Hammond and Huckestein, who reached on a fielding error. With a 3-0 lead, Courtney Flach (Tampa, Fla.) brought home the fourth run of the inning with a single to left-center scoring Cataldo.
Newberry scored again in the third off a Flach sacrifice fly, which brought home Sara Powell (Ocean View, Del.).
The lead extended to 7-1 in the fourth inning as Hammond drove in Amy Jarrell (Dover, Del.) and Gatewood with a single up the middle.
Kristen Hicks picked up the win for Newberry pushing her record to 7-0. Hicks only allowed two earned runs in the game as she struck out ten batters.
Game Two: Newberry 11, Southern Wesleyan 3 (Five inn.)
In the second game, Newberry utilized two homeruns to defeat the Warriors, 11-3 in five innings. Chelsie Hilbourn (Loris) and Hammond both hit three-run dingers to give Newberry its 14th win of the season.
The scarlet and gray scored their first runs of the game in the second inning as Jarrell singled up the middle to score Hilbourn, who reached base on a walk. Jarrell later scored on an error by the Warriors’ first baseman to give Newberry the 2-0 lead.
This weekend, the scarlet and gray will travel to Florence for the Francis Marion Patriot Invitational and play five total games on Saturday and Sunday.
Courtesy of Newberry College Sports Information
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