FLORENCE — Despite a hard fight the Newberry College women’s basketball team fell to Francis Marion University 67-61, on Saturday afternoon.
Francis Marion got on the board first with a layup from Victoria Dye but Newberry answered back quickly with a layup from Emily Perry. Scoring was quiet until the 6:22 mark when Samara Hill finished a pass from Meg Essex to score a layup. Hill tied the game at 6-6 with 4:45 left in the first quarter with another layup.
While the Patriots took the lead back, Essex tried to lessen it with a layup giving the assist to Jaya Schultz at the 3:08 mark. With two minutes left until the second quarter, Colleen Leung drained a 3-pointer to give Francis Marion only a one point lead. Essex finished the quarter for Newberry with a layup in the last 12 seconds.
Going into the second quarter the Patriots had a 17-13 lead. Nicola Handreck scored first for Newberry with three foul shots to trail Francis Marion by one (17-26). At the 6:06 mark Essex tied the game (18-18) with a jumper off a pass from Perry. Hill closed out the second quarter for Newberry with a three point play. Hill made the layup and the free throw from being fouled by Khayani Chandler.
At halftime, Francis Marion had a 24-23 lead over Newberry. Essex led the scoring for the Wolves with eight points followed by Hill who scored seven. Leung and Kirsten Dunsmore both grabbed three rebounds apiece and Essex dished four assists. Handreck shot 100% from the free throw line (3-3) and grabbed two rebounds.
Newberry had a short lead early in the third quarter. Essex made a layup in the first 11 seconds followed by a jumper from Perry at 8:27 (27-24). Dunsmore made the lead 28-26 by going 1—2 at the free throw line.
Francis Marion tied the game at 28-28 but Handreck helped Newberry take the lead back with two free throws. The Patriots tied the game yet again with a layup from Camille Dash with 5:42 left until the final quarter. Handreck gave Newberry the lead back with a 3-pointer followed by a jumper by Essex with just over four minutes left in the third quarter. Leung drained a shot from the arch for just a one point lead (41-40) with 2:07 left.
Francis Marion took the lead back and kept it throughout the rest of the third quarter. Newberry was down by only one point (46-45) going into the fourth and final quarter.
Essex started the scoring off for Newberry 31 seconds into the final quarter with a jumper giving the assist to Handreck. The Patriots had a three point lead until Dunsmore made a layup off a pass from Leung with 7:41 left to play. Francis Marion answered back quickly by scoring seven points for a eight point lead (57-49).
Newberry finally scored again with a layup from Samantha Creed with 4:14 left to play. Essex followed Creed with another layup roughly a minute later. Schultz then passed to Creed who finished for a 3-pointer with three minutes left. With 2:14 left in the game Schultz lessened the Patriots’ lead to 58-64 with two free throws.
Handreck finished the game for Newberry scoring wise with a layup and a free throw in the last minute.
For the game, the Wolves shot 46.7% from the field and 83.3% from the free throw line. Essex led the team in scoring with 19 points followed by Handreck with 15. Dunsmore grabbed nine rebounds with Leung behind her with six.
The Wolves are on the road on Saturday Dec. 5 at Carson- Newman. The game will begin at 2 p.m.