GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - From the first basket to the final buzzer the Newberry women's basketball team led No. 3-seeded Tusculum on its way to a 60-54 victory at Pioneer Arena on Wednesday night moving the Wolves into the semifinals of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament on Saturday.
Less than 30 seconds into the game, Newberry (16-11) sophomore Ellie Gleeson (Albury, New South Wales, Australia) scored the first points of the evening. After Gleeson's early jumper, the Wolves never looked back jumping out to a six-point lead with 12:34 on the clock.
After a short Tusculum (17-10) run that cut the Wolves lead down to two with a little over ten minutes to go in the first half, freshman Haylee Lepaio (Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia) hit a jumper to put the Wolves back up by four.
On Newberry's following possession, freshman Zara Pearson (Echuca, Victoria, Australia) drained a 3-pointer to put Newberry up by seven. A back-and-forth final five minutes of the half ended as the Wolves took advantage of a final shot opportunity when senior Keisha Henderson (Columbia, S.C.) hit a 3-pointer to take the Wolves into the locker room with a 10-point lead.
Gleeson, Lepaio and Pearson led the Wolves at half with six points each.
The second half was more of the same as the Wolves lead extended to 14 points two minutes into the half. After Tusculum cut into Newberry's lead, the Wolves tallied another bucket on a fast break layup by junior Neicey Lewis (Riverdale, Ga.).
Tusculum battled to cut into the Wolves lead, but Newberry was 10 of 13 from the free throw line in the final three minutes, clinching a trip to Hickory, N.C. and a berth in the semifinals.
Newberry was led by Lepaio's 14 points, while Pearson and Henderson contributed 11 and 10, respectively. Lepaio led all players with nine rebounds on the evening.
After defeating Tusculum for the third time this season, the Wolves will meet No. 2 seed Catawba on Saturday at 8 p.m. inside the Catawba Valley Community College Tarlton Complex. The Wolves and Lady Indians split the season series 1-1.
