Newberry Academy faced region foe Laurens Academy on Friday night, and came within a last-second shot of a four-game sweep.

The middle school teams for Newberry Academy continued their impressive run, as the girls’ team won 26 15 and the boys won 34–21.

The girls were led by Natasha Ruff who had 10 points and the boys were led by Landen York with 21 points.

The varsity girls squad got back into the win column with a convincing 31–13 victory, while the boys fell in a thriller, 35–33.

The Lady Eagles varsity team won with timely scoring and defense. The low-scoring affair meant that each basket was important, and Newberry seemed to answer every challenge as they slowly pulled away from the visiting Crusaders.

The Lady Eagles managed a slight 8- 3 lead after the first quarter, as the team relied on their primary scorers, Emily Senn and

Andie Getz. In the second period, Emma Lindsay had two huge baskets, as the hometeam stretched the lead to eight points at the half. In the second half, the Lady Eagles wore down the Crusaders in a game marked by foul trouble for both teams. Senn and Getz each finished with seven points, while Lindsay had six points.

Carman Franklin continued her steady play with four points, while Amanda Crayne and Kaitlyn Nobles each added three points. Charlotte Carulli rounded out the scoring with a point.

The Lady Eagles stand at 5–10 for the season, with a 4–2 region mark.

The varsity boys faced a tough opponent in Laurens. The Crusaders came in averaging over 70 points a game, and they are in first place in the region.

The Eagles showed right away that they were ready, and that it was going to be a defensive dogfight. Both teams struggled to find easy baskets, and the Eagles clawed their way to a 12–7 lead after one period, led by Dylan Skipper and Justin Suber.

The visitors found their footing a little in the second period and Newberry could not generate any offense, leading to a slight deficit at the half, 20–14.

The third period could have been the Eagles undoing, but they slowed the Crusaders offense, and trailed 24–17 with three minutes left in the third period.

A late surge on offense pulled the game to within a single possession, 27–25, after three periods.

Neither team could pull

away, and with just under four minutes to play, Laurens held a slight three-point edge, 33–30.

With just over two minutes remaining, Newberry tied the game at 33 and the gym erupted with cheers from the home crowd.

The last two minutes were tense as both teams had opportunities to score, but it was Laurens that made a shot with less than 15 seconds remaining, pulling ahead by two.

The Eagles had a shot bounce off the rim and Laurens got the rebound but they were quickly fouled. Laurens missed the front-end of the ensuing free-throws, and Newberry got the rebound and called timeout, leaving them 1.4 seconds.

Unfortunately, a desperation shot by Newberry fell short at the buzzer.

The Eagles stand at 8–8 overall and 4–3 in their region.

Newberry Academy is in action Monday at Wardlaw and they face Covenant Christian on Tuesday. They close out the week on Friday against Glenforest.