NEWBERRY – The Newberry College women’s lacrosse team extended their winning streak to three games as they held off the visiting Mountain Lions of Young Harris on Wednesday night for a 12-11 victory.

The Wolves jumped out to an 8-3 lead by halftime but a second half surge saw Young Harris tie the game at 10-10 with 11:35 remaining. Newberry responded with two unanswered goals to go up by a score pf 12-10 with 4:54 and held off a late rally from Young Harris.

The Wolves improved their record to 3-7 overall on the season while Young Harris fell to 8-3.

Newberry got the first goal out of halftime when Katie Thompson netted a free-position attempt with just 3:38 off the clock to make it 9-3. Young Harris then scored five straight goals to bring it to 9-8. All five goals came within a short 4:31 spurt that put Newberry on their heels.

Ajahna Grosvenor (Lawrenceville, Ga.) relieved the pressure momentarily after Alexis Kahler (West Bloomfield, Mich.) assisted on her goal and pushed Newberry in front, 10-8. Young Harris responded by going back-to-back to tie it up and ensure a close finish. With 6:16 left, Victoria Thomas got an unassisted goal and Tessa Davis put home the game-winner with 4:54 left on an assist from Olivia Knight.

The reigning South Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Week Jessica Baxtrom (St. Leonard, Md.) led the way for the Wolves with two goals and two assists on five shots. She also caused three turnovers and picked up two ground balls. Victoria Thomas (Manhattan, Kan.) scored two goals and recorded one assist while grabbing three draw controls and causing two turnovers.

Megan Kenny (Mauldin, S.C.), Katie Thompson and Tessa Davis (Triangle, Va.) all scored two goals for Newberry. Kahler and Grosvenor each scored one goal. Morgan Raffaele (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) got the start between the posts for Newberry and played all 60 minutes and made 16 saves in the victory while improving her record to 3-4 on the season.

As a team, Young Harris outshot Newberry 33-25 and had an advantage in ground balls at 35-28 on the evening. The Wolves took a 15-10 edge in draw controls and went 3-for-9 on free-position shots. The Mountain Lions were only able to convert on a couple of those tries, going 2-for-13 on free-positions.

Newberry pounced on the Mountain Lions midway through the first period to build a sizeable edge by the break. The teams traded off on the first four goals as they score was 2-2 with 17:47 left in the stanza. Victoria Thomas then got the ensuing draw control and held on to it before flicking it over to Baxtrom for the goal.

The goal started a 6-1 run by Newberry that threatened to blow the game open early. Kahler and Kenny added two more goals after Baxtrom before Young Harris could respond. Rachel Lepine got a goal but ultimately did not stop the bleeding. Thompson, Baxtrom and Kenny all added one more tally before the halftime horn sounded.

The Wolves will be at home again on Saturday against Lincoln Memorial at 2 p.m. in a SAC matchup.