NEWBERRY — The Newberry women’s basketball team took care of business in their 72-51 victory over Queens.
At the start of the second quarter, Queens held a 17-15 edge over Newberry. Kristian Eanes of the Royals added to that lead by making two free throws to make it 19-15. It took the Wolves a little over two minutes before they scored their first bucket of the second, a layup by junior Kelsey Brett. Newberry tied the game at 19-19 when red shirt freshman Mylaysia Gates collected an offensive rebound and went back up for the layup. With 4:42 left until halftime, senior Kelsey McDermott put the Wolves in the lead by making a shot from behind the arc, to make the score 22-19. That shot would spark an 8-0 run by Newberry for the next three minutes of game time and increase their lead to 30-19. The Royals went on a close to eight minute scoreless drought before Taylor Stevens made a jump shot to give them their first two points since the 9:27 minute mark. The Wolves closed out the half by outscoring the Royals 6-2 to push the lead to 36-23.
A little over minutes went by to start the third before the first points were scored. Eanes for Queens got the first bucket to close the gap to 11 points. Even after Brett made a three for Newberry, the Royals got those three points back with a free throw by Caitlyn Moore and a basket by Eanes. The Wolves scored the next five points, off of a pair of free throws by Gates and a three by junior Keli Romas, to make the score 44-28. Queens got a three point swing when Kelsey Leedle got a bucket and the foul, converting the and-one, with 4:45 left in the quarter. The final four minutes saw Newberry outscore Queens by a 9-2 margin, to give the Wolves a 20 point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Romas added to Newberry’s score by hitting a jump shot for the first bucket of the quarter. Julia Raflund of Queens stringed together the next four points for the team to make it 55-37. The Wolves collected the next six points with shots from freshman Courtney Virgo and senior Brandi McMillan. Much of the remaining time saw both squads matching shots and points down the stretch.
The game started off with Queens jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead. Brett cut it to one after draining her first three of the game. The Wolves took their first lead of the game after red shirt sophomore Julie Kinard made a jump shot. Back-to-back baskets by Eanes put the Royals back on top. After another jumper by Kinard, the Royals went on a 7-0 run to make it 15-7. Almost three minutes went by before Newberry got another basket, a three by McDermott. Once Queens got their lead to 17-10, junior Talia Roberts came off the bench and connected with a huge three to make the score tighter. With 45 seconds left in the quarter, red shirt freshman Ericka Wiseley scored a layup for the final bucket of the quarter to make it 17-15.