NEWBERRY - A double-double and two statistical outings that fell just shy of double-double earned the Wolves' women's basketball team an important 72-68 victory over in-state conference rivals Anderson inside of Eleazer Arena on Saturday.

Newberry (12-6, 8-6 SAC) fell behind Anderson (11-9, 7-7 SAC) for a brief moment before taking a 2-1 lead and pushing the lead to seven points at the 14:28 mark when senior Tasia Holdorf (Anchorage, Alaska) hit a jumper off an assist from fellow senior Ellie Gleeson (Albury, New South Wales, Australia). The seven-point lead evaporated for Newberry over the following two minute, but the Trojans never gained an advantage as the Wolves never allowed the game to fall below a tie.

Holdorf broke a 10-10 deadlock with a 3-pointer at 11:54, before junior Haylee Lepaio (Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia) pushed the lead to five with a jumper in the paint. The Newberry lead fell to as few as one over the following three minutes, but soon turned around as the Wolves saw Lepaio hit a pair of free throws with 6:35 to go in the first period.

A jumper by redshirt sophomore Emily Perry (Nambour, Queensland, Australia) put the Wolves up by five, before free throws by the Trojans cut the lead back down to three. Holdorf and Lepaio scored on back-to back possessions to put Newberry up seven, while a Perry three and Gleeson Layup saw the Newberry lead reach 12.

The Trojans continued to battle against the Wolves as the halftime buzzer sounded on a three-point ball game with Newberry leading 34-31 at the break.

The two sides battled back-and-forth over the opening seven minutes of the second half before Jasmine Franklin hit a free throw to knot the sides at 47-47. Newberry again answered to a tie ball game with a run and saw its lead reach six as Gleeson and Holdorf ran the score to 53-47.

Newberry saw its lead fall and rise to six points on multiple occasions over a five minute span, including an eight point advantage with 5:44 as junior Zara Pearson (Echuca, Victoria, Australia) hit a jumper to give Newberry a 61-53 lead.

As was the case most of the afternoon, the Trojans cut into Newberry's lead and forced the Wolves to regroup on offense. Lepaio took the lead to six points on a jumper, while five free throws from Holdorf saw the advantage hit double digits at 11 points.

With under a minute to play the Trojans kept fighting and scored back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Newberry lead to three with eight seconds left. A free throw make from Lepaio made it a two-possession ball game and secured a 72-68 win for the Wolves.

Lepaio notched 22 points and ten rebounds, for her 29th career double-double. Holdorf just missed her first career double-double as she scored 21 points and snagged nine rebounds. Gleeson was two boards from a double-double as she grabbed eight rebounds and scored a career high 15 points.

With 22 points on the day, Lepaio now has 1,211 in her career and sits 19 shy of the career top ten. Former Newberry women's basketball player Monica Alexander ranks 10th all-time at Newberry in scoring with 1,230 points.

Junior Kaitlynn Pacholke (Tampa, Fla.) led the Wolves in the assist column with four, while Gleeson and Pearson each dished out three. Gleeson's three assists give her 300 for her career and leave her two short of Jessica Bearztto's 302 career assists at No. 4 all-time in Newberry history. Pearson's three assists give her 210 for her career and leave her 19 short of the career top ten.

Newberry stays home on Wednesday for a 6 p.m. tip against the visiting Wingate Bulldogs.