MARS HILL, N.C. – The Newberry Wolves women’s basketball team dropped a close game on the road to the Lions of Mars Hill University on Saturday, 65-61.

The Wolves had a 31-29 lead at half in a physical and hard fought game but foul trouble ultimately caught up to Newberry down the stretch. The Wolves were led by Haylee Lepaio (Bathurst, NSW, Australia) who had 16 points and  rebounds. Samantha Creed (Montmorency, Vic, Australia) had 12 points.

Lepaio, who was extremely effective in the low block, picked up her fourth foul at the 16:18 mark in the second half and went to the bench. In her absence, Jaya Shultz (Santa Clarita, Calif.) and Colleen Leung (James Island, S.C.) did their best to keep Newberry in the game as they combined for 10 points in the second frame.

Newberry (9-5, 5-3) opened the game with a 10-5 lead but Mars Hill (5-8, 3-5) answered with a 7-0 run spanning just over four minutes while the Wolves went scoreless for a 6:40 stretch until Samantha Creed hit a jumper with 10:56 left in the first half.

Trailing 22-17 with 7:15 left in the first half, Newberry strung together their own 7-0 run triggered by a Creed jumper and emphasized with a 3-pointer by Leung. The lead grew to 31-26 but the Wolves only took a 31-29 lead into the break thanks to a buzzer beating 3-pointer by Mars Hill’s Victoria Leroy.

Lepaio picked up her third and fourth personal fouls in the first four minutes of the second half. Newberry ended up with three players each having four personal fouls when it was all said and done. Shultz picked up her fourth with 6:21 left in the game and took a brief stint on the bench.

When Lepaio returned, she provided an instant spark to Newberry. She scored six straight points for Newberry and four rebounds in a three minute span.

As the game winded down, the South Atlantic Conference’s leading scorer Camille Glymph came to life in the second half. She scored 15 points in the stanza including 15 of the Lions last 17 points to help the Lions pull away for the victory.

The closest Newberry came was when they were down 63-61 with eight seconds remaining but the final pair of free throws by Glymph iced the game.

The Wolves outrebounded the Lions 43-38 for the game but turned the ball over 18 times to the Lions 11. Newberry shot 41.8 percent from the field and 27.8 from behind the arc. Mars Hill shot 36.5 percent and 26.3 percent from downtown.

The Wolves will be back on the road again on Wednesday as they travel to Lenoir-Rhyne for 6:00 p.m tipoff.