HICKORY, N.C. - The Newberry College women's basketball team failed to close the gap late in the game as they fell to Lenoir-Rhyne in a nationally televised event, 57-52.
Down nine points with 43 ticks left on the clock, Newberry (12-8, 7-5 South Atlantic Conference) made things exciting with a Leeara Creet (Brisbane, Australia) layup which cut the Lenoir-Rhyne (11-9, 8-4 SAC) lead to seven. Ellie Gleeson (New South Wales, Australia) then stole the inbounds pass and picked up an assist as Jessica Bearzatto (Melbourne, Australia) nailed a three to make it 54-50 Bears.
Lenoir-Rhyne guard Cameron Sealey (Mount Holly, N.C.) was then called for a charge near the baseline, sending Wolves senior Leanne Watson (Stone Mountain, Ga.) to the free throw line. Watson was good on both attempts and put Newberry within two with 22 seconds to go.
But the momentum was swiftly put to an end as the Bears made four consecutive free throws as time expired to take down the Wolves for the second time this season.
“It was a disappointing loss but I'm proud of our girls for battling back,” said Newberry head coach Sean Page. “We just needed to be much smarter on defense. We put them on the line way too much and six or seven times we picked up fouls 90 feet from the basket. We need to give ourselves better opportunities at the end of games to win and we didn't do that today.”
Newberry led three times during the game and as late as 1:55 left in the first half. But a 6-2 run by Lenoir-Rhyne to end the period ended the Wolves' final lead of the game.
“We made more field goals and more threes, the difference today was simply the foul line,” said Page. “We didn't get things done in the paint and when you take 61 shots and only get two offensive rebounds, you're just not going to win.”
As a team, the Wolves were 20-of-61 from the field and 5-of-13 from beyond the arc while the Bears were 19-of-53 from the field and just 1-of-11 from three-point range. Newberry was outrebounded 5-32 with the Wolves picking up just 2 offensive rebounds, allowing the Bears 41 defensive boards.
Despite fouling out with three minutes left to play, senior Helen McKinney (Owensboro, Ky.) led the Wolves with 16 points. Bearzatto was 5-for-9 from the field with 10 points and four assists while Creet scored 10 and grabbed four rebounds. Watson led in the rebound category with eight to go along with her eight points.
Lenoir-Rhyne scored 30-plus points in the paint on the Wolves for the second time this season, putting in 32 under the basket.
Newberry ends its four game road trip with a 2-2 mark and return home for a Feb. 9 contest with Anderson. Game time is on slate for 6 p.m.
