NEWBERRY - Lenoir-Rhyne College center Crystal Clary (Hampton, Va.) missed only two shots all night, connecting on 10 of 11 shots from the field and five of six foul shots, to lead the Bears to a 79-72 victory over Newberry College Wednesday night at Eleazer Arena.  Lenoir-Rhyne moves to 15-11 overall and 8-5 in the South Atlantic Conference to capture a tournament first-round home game, third seeding, and at least a share of third place in the regular season.

Newberry (16-10, 6-7 SAC) currently sits in fifth place in the league, but can tie for fourth with a win Saturday combined with a Catawba loss.  The chase is still on for the most successful season in the program's history, as 18 or more wins are still possible counting the potential contests in the conference tournament.

The first half featured three ties and eleven lead changes, and the largest lead by either team was a 12-6 Bear advantage.  Newberry swiped the lead with ten seconds left before the break with a Tonique Frasier (Walterboro, S.C.) layup, her eighth point of the half.  The Lady Indians went into the locker room leading 30-29 with the help of a 12-4 advantage in offensive rebounds and 16 L-R turnovers.

Bears guard Nacarrus Hudson (Pensacola, Fla.) started the action in the second period with takeaways and 15-foot jumpers in the lane on consecutive possessions. Lenoir-Rhyne grew the lead to 11 three times, the last coming at 58-47 with 9:44 remaining.  Newberry scored eight straight points before L-R responded with five of its own.  The Lady Indians inched as close as three on three more occasions off difficult Jonelle Yaklich (LaSalle, Ill.) three-pointers.  Frasier's bucket with 26 seconds left closed the margin to 75-72, but four-for-four Bear free throws down the stretch sealed the final margin.

Freshman forward Carnicha Bellinger (Greenville, S.C.) had another monumental effort, recording 23 points and 11 rebounds.  Frasier pitched in 14 points and 11 boards, and Yaklich produced ten points in 11 minutes of play.

For Lenoir-Rhyne, Clary's 25 points and 13 rebounds were seconded by teammate Shannon Jones (Warrenton, N.C.), who contributed 11 points and 10 boards.  Clary also notched five assists, four blocks, and two steals on the night.

Bellinger is only 11 points from the tenth-best point total for a season by a Lady Indian.  With 385 points and a 15.4 scoring average, projections put her in ninth place after Saturday's game and a first-round tournament game.  As of the last four games, Bellinger is scoring 19.8 points per game, so the potential is there to reach as high as fourth place on the single-season scoring list.

Newberry travels to Mars Hill Saturday and controls its own destiny for sole possession of fifth place in the conference.  The Lady Indians must win to have hopes of retaining the #10 spot in the NCAA South Atlantic Region poll.  Lenoir-Rhyne travels to Tusculum for a 2 p.m. matchup.