Newberry College & Presbyterian renews women’s basketball rivalry after 18-year drought

CLINTON, S.C. — After 18 years, Newberry College and Presbyterian College renewed their women’s basketball rivalry. The two programs got together on New Year’s Eve and the Blue Hose were able to take control of the game in the third quarter to secure the win. The Wolves(5-8, 4-5 SAC) fell 63-43 to the Blue Hose(2-11).

The Blue Hose had their last non-conference game before beginning their Big South conference schedule. Both teams got off to slow starts in the first quarter in large part due to long breaks for each squad. Presbyterian led 11-8 after the first quarter.

Newberry’s offense begin to heat up int he second quarter and they start the period off on a 7-2 run to get their first lead of the game. After going down 15-13, the Blue Hose begin to make their run. It started in the defensive end by making it hard for Wolves’ star Jess Thomkins. They doubled her, denied the entry passes from guards and really ramped up the full court pressure.

Presbyterian answered Newberry’s run with one of their own. They closed out the second quarter on a 14-2 run to reclaim the lead and led 27-17 at halftime.

Things didn’t get much better for the Wolves in the third quarter and the home team got their biggest lead of 18 points in the period. The Wolves got down big and were never able to climb back into the game.

Newberry shot just 33% from the field and 17% from the three-point line. Thomkins finished with 15 points and four rebounds.

Kish Anderson had a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Hose. Paige Kindseth also had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Wolves were out rebounded 49-31.

“We have to get our legs back under us. We had a very long break and Division II mandates us to take a lot of days off. We just have to get our legs back and we will be fine. We will get back to the gym to continue to grind and work. Division II required us to take a lot of days off, which I am fine with because mental health is important, but we just have to get our legs back under us,” said Wolves head coach Johnette Walker.

Walker also spoke on the renewed rivalry after an 18-year drought.

“It’s a blessing and I hope continue this moving forward. I was excited and didn’t know the history behind with me being a new head coach here at Newberry, but I am excited and hope we can continue the tradition. Also, hopefully we can get a better turnout next year,” stated Walker.

Newberry College will start the second half of their season on January 8th on the road at Anderson University.