HICKORY, N.C. -The Newberry College women's basketball team dropped out of the 2009 Food Lion SAC Tournament in the semifinals by losing to the second seeded Lenoir-Rhyne Bears Saturday, 78-62

Newberry (18-11 overall) was led by a career-high 26 points from sophomore Helen McKinney (Owensboro, Ky.). Anita Bulcher (Russia, Ohio) earned a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Laura Marquardt (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) rounded out double-digit scorers with 10 points.

Lenoir-Rhyne (25-4 overall) was led by freshman Cameron Sealey (Gastonia, N.C.), who was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field en route to an 18-point, seven-rebound performance. Denise Moore (Newport News, Va.) and Jami Safrit (Hickory, N.C.) each netted 16 points for the Bears and Amber Holt (Charlotte, N.C.) scored 15 points.

"Denise Moore was the difference for them. She made some tough shots; she's a big time college player who made big time college plays. We had no answer for her," said Newberry head coach Sean Page.

Lenoir-Rhyne trailed by a 29-25 margin at halftime, but sharp shooting in the second half allowed the Bears to outscore Newberry by 20 and claim the win. L-R was 15-of-22 (68.2%) from the field in the second stanza, a distinct difference from the two team's last meeting when the Bears connected on only three shots in the second half.

"Look at the way they shot the ball... It's hard to beat anybody doing that," said Page. "They're a really good team and played without who I think is their best player in Brittany Mitch. They played a great game today. Some of it was bad defense from us and some of it was great shooting from them. In the second half, they hardly missed a shot."

The turning point in the game came midway through the second half, when L-R went on a 12-4 run to claim its first double-digit lead of the game. The Bears made shots on five consecutive trips down the floor to pull away.

Newberry managed to cut the deficit down to eight points with 2:51 to play, but spectacular shooting from the charity stripe worked in Lenoir-Rhyne's advantage. The Bears went 22-of-26 (84.6%) on free throw attempts in th half, including connecting on 13-of-14 attempts in the final three minutes of the game.

Lenoir-Rhyne now faces top-seeded Tusculum in the tournament final tomorrow afternoon. The two teams split their regular season meetings.