NEWBERRY — Newberry College women’s basketball team struggled from the field and had a tough night against one of the top two teams in the conference. The Wolves(11-9, 5-8 SAC) fell 65-51 at home to Coker(16-3, 11-2 SAC) on Wednesday, Jan. 28th.
Newberry played the final game of a tough seven game stretch at home on Wednesday. They were 2-4 and 0-4 against the top five teams in the SAC entering ahead of Wednesday’s’s matchup. Things didn’t get much better in this matchup and the Wolves would fall to 0-5 against the top teams in the conference.
The home team Wolves jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in the opening quarter of this game but the Cobras would make a 12-3 run late in the quarter to get their first lead of the game. Coker would lead 15-11 at the end of the first quarter and wouldn’t look back.
The second quarter would start off going back-and-forth between the two teams. Coker would hold a slim 20-18 lead with about five minutes left in the second quarter, and then proceed to go on 9-2 run for the remainder of the quarter. Coker would take a 29-20 lead into halftime. The Wolves were 4-of-18 from the field in the second quarter and shot one-of-eight from the three point line in the first half.
The third quarter wasn’t kind to the home team either as their deficit grew much larger. The visiting Cobras got off to a 11-2 run to begin the quarter and led by 15 points, 39-24, before Newberry was forced to call a timeout to regroup.
The timeout didn’t help much because Coker continued to dominate after the brief intermission. Rickell Brown was the only offense for the Wolves on the night but it wasn’t enough. They made only one field goal in the third quarter out of 15 attempts, but they did attempt 10 free throws. Newberry trailed 49-31 at the end of the third quarter and had an uphill battle to climb in the final period.
The beginning of the fourth quarter was not kind to the Wolves, and they found themselves trailing 56-36 with 8:36 left on the game clock. The home team would battle and trim the deficit down to just 13 points, but that is the closest the game would get.
The Wolves would only make four field goals in the fourth quarter and five total in the second half. They did attempt 13 free throws in the fourth quarter and 23 total in the second half while only missing two. They would finish the game going 26-of-32 from the free throw line.
“The good thing is that we play everyone twice in the conference. So, now with these losses there is a lesson and area for growth. We will better when we play them again because I will do a better job on preparing them for what we will see,” said Wolves’ women’s head coach Johnette Walker.
Rickell Brown finished with 24 points and Jada Brown had 13 points and 13 rebounds. Those were the only two Wolves to finish with double digit points in the game. Coker’s Shawnteanna Tillman had a game-high of 28 points.
“We knew Coker was a good basketball team and they are tied for first place for a reason. Some good things is that this team pressed and are one of the most aggressive teams in the league but we only turned the ball over 15 times. So imagine how we will play on this Friday and next Wednesday when we face teams that are not as aggressive,” said Walker.
“We should cut it down to about eight turnovers to give ourselves more possessions. My freshman[Jada Brown] had a double-double, 13 and 13. I start freshmen and sophomores. I am encouraged by our energy and effort that should carry over from the first half of conference play to the second. I am playing babies but when the light comes on and stays on, we are going to be dangerous.”
Newberry College will hit the road to face UVA Wise on Friday, Jan. 30th in another conference battle. Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m.