GREENWOOD - Newberry College used a 27-5 second-half run, rallying from a 15-point halftime deficit to defeat nationally-ranked Lander 66-59 Friday in a non-conference game in the first round of the Lady Bearcat Classic at Horne Arena.
The Lady Indians (4-0) outscored Lander 42-20 in the second half, breaking a trend of jumping ahead early and coasting to victories this season.
"We came out a bit flat at the start of the game," Newberry head coach Jason Brink stated. "We were taking good shots, but nothing seemed to fall. The girls came out with more intensity in the second half. They never gave up, and the hard work and persistence paid off."
The preseason #18 Lady Bearcats (0-4) have as many losses as they had in the entire regular season last year. Lander's national tournament team went 22-4 in the regular season last year, finishing 24-6.
Carnicha Bellinger (Greenville, S.C.) led Newberry with 15 points, Tonya Deese (Prosperity, S.C.) scored nine of her 13 points in the second half, and Taquala Cooks (Lithonia, Ga.) added eight of her 10 points after halftime. Deese led the Lady Indians with eight rebounds.
Tracy Jacobs led Lander with 20 points and Lashaundra Dubose added 12 points. But only nine of their 32 combined points came after halftime. Chinessia Lee led the Lady Bearcats with eight rebounds.
Lander led 39-24 at the intermission and Natasha Hemphill's steal and basket made it 46-34 with 15:14 left.
But Newberry caught fire, scoring 11 unanswered points on a Claire Hogan (Lansing, Mich.) three-pointer, two Ashley Marine (Peachtree City, Ga.) three-pointers and a Tonique Frasier (Walterboro, S.C.) basket that cut its deficit to 46-45 with 11:10 to go.
Dubose ended a Lander scoring drought of more than four minutes to push the lead back to 48-45. It would be the team's only field goal over an eight-minute stretch. The Lady Indians answered Dubose's basket with six consecutive points, taking their first lead at 49-48 on Deese's layup with 10:15 left.
Bellinger's basket gave Newberry its biggest lead of the game to that point at 61-51 with 4:42 to go, capping the 27-5 run. The Lady Indians extended their lead to 66-55 on Deese's three-point play with 3:10 left.
"Overall, we played well as a team, with contributions from a lot of people off the bench," Brink added. "Playing together is the key to our success."
Jacobs scored eight points and Dubose had seven to stake the Lady Bearcats to a 26-10 lead with 8:14 left in the first half. Newberry scored seven unanswered points to pull within 26-19.
Lander responded to the challenge, regaining a 10-point lead, 29-19, on a Jacobs three-pointer with 5:45 left. Dubose followed with a three-pointer to make it 32-19.
The Lady Bearcats closed the first half with five unanswered points, capped by Linlei Ward's three-pointer at the buzzer for a 39-24 halftime lead.
Jacobs led all scorers in the first half with 13 points, making 4-of-5 shots from both the floor and the free throw line. Dubose had 10 points in the first half while Bellinger had nine points for the Lady Indians.
Newberry shot 47 percent from the floor (27-of-58), 39 percent from the free throw line (7-of-18), and 31 percent from three-point range (5-of-16). Lander shot 38 percent from the floor (22-of-58), 56 percent from the line (10-of-18), and 36 percent from three-point range (5-of-14). Newberry outrebounded the Lady Bearcats 40-38.
