HICKORY, N.C. - The Newberry Wolves (7-4) dropped to 3-4 in the conference with a loss on Wednesday evening to the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (8-4, 4-3) by a final of 50-36.

Coming into the day, the Bears ranked first in the South Atlantic Conference allowing 49.0 points per game this season. It is the fourth time this season that Lenoir-Rhyne have held their opponent to under 40 points. The 36-point output by the Wolves is a season-low.

The Bears were catapulted by a 14-2 run in the third quarter when the Wolves hit a bit of a cold stretch. After back-to-back baskets by Meg Essex and Jaya Schultz, Newberry jumped out to a 27-23 lead in the first three minutes of the second half. However, Lenoir-Rhyne would go on to score 14 unanswered points over the final 6:11 of the third period to gain a 10-point advantage heading into the last 10 minutes. 

Schultz dominated the boards for Newberry pulling down 17 rebounds, 12 of which came on the defensive end as both became career-highs for the senior from Santa Clarita, Calif. Her previous career-high was an 11-rebound effort in a win at Queens in January of last year. Jaya chipped in eight points on the evening nearly notching the first Newberry double-double since Nicola Handreck recorded one vs. Limestone in November. 

Essex tallied 10 rebounds of her own, although the sophomore would be limited from the field notching five points on 2-of-13 shooting.

Shelby Britten lead Newberry with 13 points, 11 of which came in the first half. The Wolves would shoot a season-low 13.8 percent from the floor in the second half, to the Bears 40 percent. 

Newberry will host Tusculum this Saturday, Jan. 7 at Eleazer Arena where the Wolves are 6-1 on the season. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.