NEWBERRY — Shelby Britten scored her 1,000th career point as the Newberry Wolves won their sixth-straight, cruising to a 63-52 victory over the Lady Catawba Indians on Wednesday night at Eleazer Arena.

Britten’s 1,000th career point came on a technical free throw, given to the Wolves after the officials deemed Catawba’s uniforms to be illegal due to having no contrast between the colors of the jersey and the numbers. She punctuated her milestone with a three-point bucket less than three minutes later, stretching the lead to its largest of the game at 15 points, on her way to pouring in 17 after the intermission.

Newberry (6-0, 2-0 SAC) played their best defensive game of the season, forcing the Lady Catawba Indians (2-3, 0-1 SAC) to shoot a season-low 30.4 percent from the floor. Meg Essex recorded nine of the Wolves season-high 16 blocks to prevent the Indians from getting into any sort of rhythm on the offensive end.

The Wolves never trailed in the contest, starting strong with back-to-back three pointers from Britten and Regan McCarty to open the game. After limiting the Lady Catawba Indians to only seven points in the second quarter, Courtney Lyons would drain a long buzzer-beating three pointer at the end of the first half to extend the lead to nine at halftime.

Lyons finished with a season-best 13 points on three-of-four shooting from behind the arc.

The Lady Catawba Indians would close the gap to as few as seven in the fourth quarter, but with only two minutes remaining the Wolves would stave off any sort of comeback from Catawba.

Britten led all scorers in the contest with a season-high 25 points, making five three pointers.

Essex, in her first game since being recognized as the USBWA National Player of the Week, flirted with a near triple-double with eight points, nine blocks, and 12 rebounds.

McCarty would round out the scoring effort for the Wolves with 13 points.

Post game Notes:

• The Wolves have won their sixth-straight game to open the season.

• Newberry extended their winning streak against Catawba to four games.

• Essex is now tied with former Newberry student-athlete Tiffany Johnson (1996-00) for the most career blocks in program history at 225.

• Britten is now fifth in program history with 303 career assists. She is also third in program history with 136 made 3-pointers.

Shelby Britten scored her 1,000th career point as the Newberry Wolves.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_BasketballCatawbaWomen.jpgShelby Britten scored her 1,000th career point as the Newberry Wolves. Courtesy photo

Staff Report