TIGERVILLE - The Newberry College women's basketball team opened its regular season of play with a game at North Greenville University on Tuesday night. Newberry dominated the second half, outscoring the Crusaders 54-36 in the period and walked away with the 88-66 victory.
“I'm proud of the effort that our team gave,” said John Lesaine. “North Greenville can be a tough atmosphere to play in and everyone did a great job of keeping their poise. They threw some different defenses at us but we were able to make the right adjustments from both the bench and the floor to swing the momentum back in our favor. It was a great win to start our season and we're going to build upon it for this weekend.”
Newberry (1-0) opened the game strong and scored the first seven points of the game before the Crusaders managed a point five minutes into the game. Midway through the opening period, Newberry had stretched the lead to 24-9.
North Greenville responded and began their comeback in the latter portion of the first half. The Crusaders transitioned into a full-court defense and pressured Newberry into turning the ball over. The move proved successful, as Newberry was held to only three points in the final five minutes of the half. In those five minutes, the Crusaders streaked for 12 points to narrow the gap to 34-30 at the half.
Helen McKinney (Owensboro, Ky.) started slow but heated up quickly from beyond the arc. After missing a few attempts, McKinney caught fire and knocked down three quick three-point baskets to reach her halftime total of 9 points.
Newberry came out of the locker room inspired and opened the second period with five quick points in the opening minute thanks to two of Anita Bulcher's (Russia, Ohio) free throws and another three-pointer by McKinney.
The halftime lead of four points was as small as it would get as Newberry dominated the second half of play. McKinney lead Newberry's scoring with 21 points while Bulcher had 16.
The game marked the first time the teams have met since the 2004-05 season when Newberry dominated and came away with an 81-52 win. Newberry is now 6-3 against the Crusaders in the all-time series.
Newberry will travel to Dahlonega, Ga., next weekend to compete in the Chic-fil-a Tip-Off Classic against North Georgia and Montevallo.
