Greg Hollis | ghollis@newberryobserver.com

Greg Hollis | ghollis@newberryobserver.com

<p>Greg Hollis | ghollis@newberryobserver.com</p>

Greg Hollis | ghollis@newberryobserver.com

<p>Greg Hollis | ghollis@newberryobserver.com</p>

Greg Hollis | ghollis@newberryobserver.com

NEWBERRY — Newberry College women’s basketball losing streak continues as they come up short in another hard fought battle. The Wolves(5-13, 4-10 SAC) lose 65-48 at home to Coker(16-2, 12-1 SAC).

Eleazer Arena was the meeting place for these two conference opponents on a cold Wednesday evening on January 23rd. It was the first meeting of the season between Wolves and the Cobras this season. The Wolves were looking to snap a six game losing streak on the season and a five game losing streak against Coker. They had a tall task because they were looking to pick up a conference win without their best player, Jess Thomkins. She was out with an undisclosed injury.

The first quarter started off slow for both teams. Coker made just two field goals out of 15 attempts and Newberry made just four shots out of 13 attempts. The visiting Cobras also shot bad from the three-point line by making none out of their eight attempts.

The Wolves led 10-7 after the first quarter.

Coker found a hot hand on the offensive end in the second quarter despite still struggling to shoot from the field and the three-point line. Their offensive rebounding and second chance points help build their lead. The Cobras closed the half out on a 9-4 run after the game was tied 20-20 with about 90 seconds left on the game clock. The Wolves turned the ball over three times and ended up on the wrong end of the run.

Newberry found themselves trailing 29-24 at halftime.

The Cobras came out hot in the second half behind a strong effort from Shawntenna Johnson. She had a game-high 26 points along with nine rebounds and six steals. Despite that strong effort, Newberry continued to hang around but didn’t close out the third quarter well. Two back-to-back turnovers led to two easy lay-ups and extended Coker’s lead. The Wolves found themselves trailing 47-38 going into the final quarter.

The home team Wolves couldn’t find their a rhythm on the offensive end and struggled to shoot the ball in the fourth quarter. The Cobras built their biggest lead of the game in the fourth quarter and never looked back.

“I am proud of the fight in this team. We knew Jess was going to be out and she is a big piece of our offense and defense. I am really proud of Khia Lee, Nyah and collectively they[team] stepped up and played really well. I thought we fought hard for two and half quarters, but when you are playing one of the top teams in the league you have to put together four quarters. I applaud our effort, our energy and our detail to the game plan,” said Wolves head coach Johnette Walker.

Despite the loss, the Wolves did hold Coker to just 31.9% shooting from the field and 17% shooting from the three-point line. Unfortunately, they loss the rebounding battle 46 to 35 and gave up 25 offensive rebounds which led to 22 second chance points.

“It’s offensive rebounds, that’s it. They took 41 three’s and they only average between 15-20 takes and only makes about five a game on average. They took 41, which was great, but got 25 offensive rebounds. If you can figure out how to out rebound other teams then you will put yourself in position to be successful more times than not. That’s it, it was rebounding,” stated Walker.

Newberry College women’s basketball team will be on the road for their next two games against Emory & Henry on Jan. 25th and against Catawba College on Jan. 29th.

Reach Greg Hollis @ 803-768-3117 or on X @TheNBOnews