Lady Bulldogs lose a thriller to Swansea on Senior Night

NEWBERRY — The lady Bulldogs ended their regular season and senior night with a thriller despite coming up short. Newberry(8-16, 4-4 region 4-AAA) fell 42-41 at home to Swansea(7-9, 3-4 region 4-AAA).

Willie L. Scott gymnasium on the campus of Newberry High School on Thursday, Feb. 13th was packed and the fans got a chance to experience a thriller.

It was a struggle to score for both teams and you can credit that to the good on ball defense that both teams played against each other. Newberry had six first quarter turnovers, but forced five.

Jasmin Robinson and Shalarria Robinson both were able to get things going for the lady Bulldogs and combined to score six of Newberry’s 10 total points in the quarter. They went into the second quarter with a 10-8 lead.

The lady Tigers got things going offensively in the first few minutes of the second quarter to tie the game. Newberry found some offense late in the first half and closed out the second quarter on a 7-1 run to go into halftime with a 22-16 lead.

The home team offensive struggles showed its ugly head again in the third quarter. The lady Bulldogs were held scoreless for four minutes and 28 seconds of the game time coming out of the half. They didn’t score until the 3:32 mark in the third quarter and found themselves trailing 24-20 at that point in the game.

After two and half quarters of barely any scoring, the two teams closed out the third quarter going back and forth. Newberry score back-to-back baskets to tie the game at 24-24. Then, Zy Dunbar knocked down a huge three-pointer to give the lady Bulldogs the lead back. The lady Bulldogs began to lose composure in the third quarter and got themselves two technical fouls to help fuel a Swansea run.

The lady Tigers closed out the quarter on a 8-1 run to give them a 32-29 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Newberry came out on fire to start the fourth quarter and tied the game behind a 4-1 run. Swansea wouldn’t go away and matched the home team’s run with one of their own to reclaim the lead. Then, the rims got tighter for Newberry because they went on another scoring drought about midway through the final quarter.

The lady Bulldogs found a way to get some easy baskets with their full court defensive pressure and were able to tie the game, 40-40, behind to tough layups through traffic from Daizee Williams. Swansea quickly inbound the ball and passed up the court to get a quick layup that gave them a 42-40 lead with about seven seconds left on the clock.

The final few seconds were complete madness. Newberry took the ball out and attempted a last second shot from halfcourt to win the game, but play was stopped by the referees. A technical foul was called because the Swansea coaching staff attempted to call a timeout when they didn’t have any left. So, Newberry was gifted two free throws, time put back on the clock and a final possession. They made one of two free throws and failed to make the last shot attempt.

Williams had a team-high of 10 points in which she scored eight in the final quarter.

It was a heartbreaking loss, but the lady Bulldogs will still have the playoffs to look forward too. They will host North Charleston at 7:00 p.m. at home on Monday, Feb. 17th.