HICKORY, N.C. - An impressive 11th double-double by freshman Haylee Lepaio did not push the Newberry women's basketball team to a victory at Lenoir-Rhyne as the Bears topped the Wolves 71-60.

Neither team was able to jump out to a convincing lead until late in the first half. The game opened in a tightly contested manner early as the Wolves (12-8, 7-5 South Atlantic Conference) and Bears (16-5, 8-4) traded early baskets. It was Newberry senior Brittany Brown (Fort Myers, Fla.) who opened the afternoons scoring, but the Wolves early lead was turned into a four-point Lenoir-Rhyne lead a little over five minutes into the game.

Newberry regained the lead at 11:34 when freshman Zara Pearson (Echuca, Victoria, Australia) hit a 3-pointer to put the Wolves in-front 13-12. Nearly a minute later Pearson struck again from the 3-point lead, which gave Newberry an 18-14 lead.

The Wolves four point lead was short lived as Lenoir-Rhyne regained the lead on a 3-pointer by the games leading scorer Cameron Sealey. The 3-point make by Sealey set off an 11-4 run by the Bears as the two teams headed to halftime. At the break Lenoir-Rhyne headed to the locker room with a 34-29 lead.

Lepaio (Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia) led the Wolves with eight points at halftime and seven rebounds.

The second half opened in Newberry's favor as the Wolves went on a 10-0 scoring run which was capped off by a layup by Lepaio with 15:47 on the clock. The Newberry run put the Wolves up 39-34 on the Bears, before a Danielle Bongiorno 3-pointer turned the momentum back to the Bears.

The momentum returned to the Wolves minutes later as juniors Kendra Brown (Swansea, S.C.) and Neicey Lewis (Riverdale, Ga.) scored on consecutive possessions putting Newberry up by a point. Newberry extended its lead to as many as four points before relinquishing its final lead of the afternoon with 8:10 remaining in the game.

After surrendering the lead to the Bears, Newberry was unable to fight back into the game as the Bears iced the game with 33 seconds on the clock when Krystal Patton hit on her second free throw attempt to give LR an 11 point victory as time expired.

Lepaio led the Wolves with 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Lewis added 16 points and eight rebounds of her own. Sealey led all scorers with 27 points and it was Lenoir-Rhyne's Whitley Culler who led the game with 12 rebounds.

Newberry hits the road once again on Wednesday when the Wolves travel to Anderson for a 6 p.m. start.