NEWBERRY — The Newberry College women’s basketball team are now 3-1 in the South Atlantic Conference after dropping to No. 16 Anderson University 68-61, on Saturday afternoon.
The Trojans took a 4-0 lead before Newberry got on the board. At the 8:24 mark Emily Perry made a layup to cut Anderson’s lead to 4-2. Perry then tied the game with a jumper off a pass from Samantha Creed.
Creed tallied her first basket of the game with a 3-pointer off a pass from Nicola Handreck at the 5:59 mark. Creed gave Newberry the lead (10-7) 30 seconds later with another 3-pointer.
In the last minute of the first quarter, Meg Essex hit two free throws after being fouled by Bailey Sims. Essex then hit a jumper in the paint with 46 seconds left.
Newberry had just a two point lead (15-13) going into the second quarter. The Wolves scored eight points in the second quarter with Essex leading the way with five. Essex hit one free throw at the 9:13 mark then hit a jumper at the 5:50 mark and finished with two free throws with 4:54 left in the quarter. Hannah Lepaio hit a layup off a pass from Perry with 3:37 left until half. Samara Hill finished the quarter for Newberry by going 1-for-1 at the free throw line.
Going into the third quarter, Anderson had a 27-23 lead. Essex had nine points followed by Creed who had six points. Kirsten Dunsmore and Essex both had three rebounds each.
The Wolves got on the board at the 8:55 mark with a jumper from Dunsmore. Newberry didn’t score again for two minutes until Creed went up for layup cutting Anderson’s lead to 34-27. With six minutes left in the third quarter Essex hit two free throws after being fouled by Alexis Dillard. Hill put Newberry only nine points behind with a jumper with 3:33 left.
In the last minute Hill hit a 3-pointer followed by a free throw from Jaya Schultz. Handreck went 1-for-1 from the line in the last couple seconds.
Going into the final quarter Newberry trailed Anderson 44-39. While the Wolves scored 22 points in the final quarter, they were not able to take the win. Essex hit a layup just 1:03 into the quarter followed by Creed who hit a 3-pointer about a minute later. Essex hit another layup at the 7:08 mark off a pass from Creed.
Hill took a pass from Dunsmore and hit a layup with 5:33 left in the quarter. Hill sunk a jumper at the 4:12 mark followed by a layup from Essex. In the last minute of play, Creed and Essex hit one layup each.
Essex finished the game with 23 points, five rebounds and six blocks. Creed finished with 13 points, two boards and five assists. Perry led the team in steals with three in 28 minutes of play. As a team, the Wolves shot 66.7% from the free throw line and 45.5% from the arch.
The Wolves travel to play Mars Hill on Dec. 16 for a 6 p.m. tipoff.