NEWBERRY — The Wolves women’s basketball played their final home game for the 2025-26 regular season, and fought hard but came up short. Newberry College(13-15, 7-14 SAC) fell 67-49 to Catawba(12-14, 10-11 SAC) on Wednesday, Feb. 25th.
The Newberry faithful packed Eleazer Arena to see the Wolves one final time at home in their resurgent season. The first quarter was back-and-forth between the two teams. Newberry jumped out to a 9-4 lead to start the game, but the Indians stormed to close the quarter on a 15-4 run and would lead 19-14 at the end of the opening quarter.
The second quarter was a struggle for the Wolves on the offensive end. They only shot 33% from the field and missed both three-point attempts. The Wolves also had a hard time defending Sheree Gidney and Saniya Wilson off of the Indians bench. Both players finished the game scoring in double figures and help engineer a 11-0 run to extend their lead.
Catawba would take a 39-24 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was disastrous for the home team. The Indians got off to a 6-0 run to start the second half and extend their lead to 21 points, 45-24. Newberry was forced to call a timeout to try to regroup.
Things got worst for the Wolves after the timeout because Indians center Mary Spry began to dominate on the offensive end. She scored nine of her 20 points in the third quarter. She finish the game with 20 points, eight rebounds, three steals and three assists.
Catawba would take a 55-39 lead into the final quarter and would close the Wolves out. Newberry would only shoot 27% from the field in the third quarter and 25% from the field in the fourth quarter. They would make 9-of-10 free throws in the second half, but finished the game shooting 33% from the field and 25% from the three-point line. The Wolves would not reclaim the lead again after the first quarter.
“When we went to their place Mary Spry had a double-double. She had 25 points and 10 rebounds so we knew coming into this game we had to double team her. We drilled it and worked on it but when the lights come on and a sense of urgency kicks in then none of that matters,” said Wolves women’s head coach Johnette Walker. “She is good and is top ten in scoring and rebounding in the league. When you play with a sense of urgency like they did then they deserved to win. They outplayed us on our floor and will probably go to the playoffs because of this win.”
Despite the shooting struggles, the Wolves did have three players finish in double figures. Rickell Brown and Marykate Kent had 12 points while Leigha Harris finished with 10 points. The Wolves got off to one of their best starts in program history at the beginning of the season, but had just a 3-13 record since the start of the new year.
“My squad is resilient. Myself and my staff also did an awesome job recruiting this year. We have some really really young players that people need to keep on their radar. Arguably we have one of the best freshman in our league, Jada Brown, and hopefully the league sees that as well,” said Walker.
She continued, “I am proud of our player’s fight, I am proud of the buy in and I am proud of starting five and our top ten players. Seven of them are underclassmen and that’s a recipe for success when you have those kids come back. The portal is always an option but when those kids come back and we can continue to build around those the freshmen and sophomores. Man we are going to look real real good. First year we win six games and second year we are currently at 13 right now. It’s okay and no complaints but I am most excited about the young players coming back.”
The Wolves will hit the road for their final game against Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, Feb. 28th.
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