NEWBERRY - A complete team effort allowed the Newberry College women's basketball team to breeze past Brevard on Wednesday night. Thanks to some help from around the conference, Newberry (13-5, 6-2 SAC) now finds itself in a four-way tie atop the South Atlantic Conference at the halfway point.
Brevard (6-12, 0-8 SAC) got 21 points out of its junior forward Samantha Winn (Candler, N.C.) but was bested by Newberry in virtually all phases of the game.
Anita Bulcher (Russia, Ohio) used 14 points and seven rebounds in the second half to reach her eleventh double-double of the year. She ended the night with a career-high 24 points and 12 rebounds.
Jessica Bearzatto (Melbourne, Australia) set a career high as well with 11 assists. Bearzatto was previously ranked second in the SAC in assists per game at 4.94. Her 11 assists are the most for Newberry in a single game in over a decade. The last player to produce 11 assists in a game was Shona Davis who did so against Limestone on January 12, 1998.
Newberry spread the ball around in order to rack up more than 20 assists for the third time and get points out of six players.
Newberry shot .473 (26-55) from the field in the game and held the Tornados to just .333 (21-63) from the floor. Newberry's night shooting was the scarlet and gray's best since posting a .520 (26-50) mark in a 77-59 win over Lenoir-Rhyne back on January 9. Newberry shot .846 (11-13) on free-throw attempts which was its best effort from the line in the past eight games.
Newberry dominated the post in order to pull down 47 rebounds, nearly doubling Brevard's 25. Newberry has only been outrebounded four times this season. Newberry outscored the Tornados 18-10 in the paint as well.
Newberry got up on Brevard early by opening the game on a 12-4 run over the first five minutes and extended its lead to 14 at the 7:40 mark of the first half. The Tornados reduced the lead back to 12 with 4:32 remaining in the half. Neither team scored in the final 4:32 of a low-scoring half so Newberry took a 26-14 lead into the break.
The scarlet and gray maintained control in the second half, stretching their lead out to 20 with 12:24 showing on the clock. The Tornados eventually reduced Newberry's attack but couldn't find their way back into the game.
Newberry saw its biggest lead at 22 with 5:23 remaining and ultimately coasted to a 66-47 victory.
Wednesday night losses from Carson-Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne and a Catawba victory places Newberry in a four-way tie with those three teams at the top of the conference. Wednesday's games completed the first cycle of conference games.
Newberry opens the second rotation with a pivotal game against Carson-Newman on January 30. Carson-Newman beat Newberry 86-73 on January 2, 2010, in Jefferson City, Tenn. Newberry will be seeking revenge in Eleazer Arena where they are 9-0 so far this season.
