SALISBURY, N.C.- The Newberry College women’s basketball team fell to Catawba College 62-55, on Wednesday night.

With the loss, Newberry falls to 9-8 overall and 8-3 in the South Atlantic Conference while Catawba improves to 8-9 overall and 5-6 in the conference.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• At the half, Jaya Schultz led the team in points with six followed by Meg Essex who scored five. As a team, Newberry shot 71.4% from the free throw line.
• For the game, Samantha Creed led the team in points with 12 and rebounds with eight. Schultz finished the game with nine points followed by Essex who scored seven.
• As a team, Newberry shot 81.0% from the line and 30.0% from the arch.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter

Catawba got on the board first with a layup by Terri Rogers at the 8:53 mark. Newberry didn’t score until 7:56 when Essex went 1-for-1 from the line. The Wolves took the lead just 30 seconds later with a layup by Essex.

Creed extended the lead for Newberry with a layup off a pass from Samara Hill at 6:50. Emily Perry scored the last four points with a 3-pointer at 1:26 followed by a free throw at 1:25.

Second Quarter

Going into the second quarter, the game was tied at 12-12. Newberry was quiet on offense until the 7:56 mark when Shelby Britten drained a 3-pointer off a pass from Schultz.

Less than a minute later Hill hit a 3-pointer with the assist going to Nicola Handreck. Hill’s 3-pointer was the last shot that Newberry made until there was 2:30 left until half. Schultz took a pass from Handreck and scored a layup to cut Catawba’s lead to 33-20. With 28 seconds left Schultz went 2-for-2 from the line to end the quarter.

Going into halftime Catawba had a 37-24 lead.

Third Quarter

Newberry picked up the pace offensively and scored 18 points while Catawba only scored eight.

Kirsten Dunsmore started the scoring off with a layup just 27 seconds in. Creed drained a 3-pointer one minute into the quarter off a pass from Hill. With 7:04 left Handreck hit a 3-pointer to cut the Indians’ lead to 41-34.

Hannah Lepaio got on the board at the 5:24 mark after going 1-for-1 at the line, followed by Dunsmore who went 2-for-2 at the line with 4:28 left. Britten put Newberry just three points behind Catawba (43-40) with a 3-pointer with 3:26 left.

Perry finished the quarter for the Wolves with two free throws with just less than three minutes left.

Fourth Quarter

Newberry scored 13 points in the final quarter but it was not enough to take the win. Schultz made a layup at 8:37 followed by a free throw after getting fouled. With 7:56 left Handreck went 1-for-1 at the line 

The Wolves didn’t score again until 4:57 when Essex made a layup off a pass from Hill. In the last minute of play Creed was the only player who scored for Newberry. Creed hit all three free throws with just 16 seconds left.

UP NEXT
The Wolves host Carson-Newman on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 2 p.m in Eleazer Arena.