NEWBERRY – The Newberry College women’s basketball team locked up the No. 3 seed in the upcoming South Atlantic Conference tournament as they beat Mars Hill 72-63 on senior day.

Newberry started the game with all four seniors on the floor. Kirsti Hawkins (Newberry, S.C.), Kaitlynn Pacholke (Tampa, Fla.), Zara Pearson (Echuca, Vic, Australia) and Haylee Lepaio (Bathurst, NSW, Australia) got the start and were also honored between games in a ceremony.

The Wolves (18-8, 14-6) have secured a home game in the first round of the SAC tournament and will host a quarterfinal match that will take place on March 4.

In the game, Samantha Creed (Montmorency, Vic, Australia) had a game-high 23 points to go along with four steals. Lepaio had 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in the victory and Colleen Leung (James Island, S.C.) had 13 points off the bench.

Newberry won the game from the free throw line as the Lions were in foul trouble all game. Three Mars Hill players ended up fouling out as they sent the Wolves to the line an incredible 39 times. The Scarlet and the Gray would go 30-for-39 including making nine free throws in the last minute of the game.

The Wolves shot 50-percent from the floor despite only going 2-for-8 (25-percent) from 3-point range. Newberry held Mars Hill to just 38.7-percent shooting while also holding the league’s leading scorer Camille Glymph to just 7-for-22 shooting and two rebounds.

After Mars Hill scored the first basket of the game, the Wolves went on a 9-0 run covering just under four minutes of playing time and would manage to hold the lead for the remainder of a fairly close contest.

The Lions would come back in the first stanza and get within three points on two separate occasions with one of them being at halftime. Newberry took a 27-24 lead into the break.

In the second half, Mars Hill cut the lead to 32-30 with 16:55 remaining but Newberry responded with a Creed layup and an old-fashioned three point play from Leung. The Lions would then get no closer than six points for the remainder of the contest as Newberry did enough down the stretch.

Newberry did give up 12 offensive rebounds but the Lions were only able to score five second-chance points. In contrast, the Wolves had five offensive rebounds and scored nine second-chance points.

The final home game will be on Wednesday as Newberry hosts second place Wingate in a 6 p.m. game. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 6 in the NCAA Southeast Regional Poll and the Wolves are No. 9 in what is a pivotal matchup between teams competing for at-large bids to the NCAA Division II tournament.