SALISBURY, N.C.  - The Newberry women's basketball team falls to Catawba 73-55 Tuesday evening in conference opener.

The first quarter of the game was low scoring and competitive by both sides. Within the first three minutes as soon as one team scored a basket the other team came down to tie it. A jumper by junior Talia Roberts gave the Wolves a 8-6 lead with 4:28 left in the quarter. After a few minutes of no scoring, Newberry got a three from freshman Courtney Virgo to put them up 11-6. Catawba made one more layup before the quarter end to make it 11-8 in favor of the Wolves. 

Catawba got a quick five points to start the second, including a three by Tashia DeShazo, gave them a 13-11 lead. After a 10-6 run, Catawba found themselves leading 23-17 with 5:51 left before half. A little under two minutes later, Virgo hit two threes to put Newberry on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 23-23. The Lady Indians close the half out on a 10-5 run to make the half time score 33-28. 

Catawba opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 40-28. Red-shirt freshman Mylaysia Gates cut into the Lady Indians lead with back to back layups to make it 40-32. Keyotta Garris of Catawba went on to score three of the next five points to extend the lead back to double digits. Afterwards the Lady Indians pressed the Wolves for the remainder of the game. Heading into the final quarter Newberry was down 54-39. 

Roberts and Romas combined for the first seven Newberry points and got within ten points in the first two minutes. Catawba then pushed their lead back to 14 points after made layups by DeShazo and Madison Hallman. With 6:20 left in the game, Romas made two free throws then stole the ball and got fouled to send her to the line for two more free throws. That four point swing by Newberry cut the deficit down to ten. That was closest the Wolves got as the Lady Indians went on to win.  

Top Performers:
Newberry
Keli Romas - 15 points, three rebounds, and four assists
Courtney Virgo - 11 points and eight rebounds
Kelsey McDermott - Six points, five rebounds, four assists

Catawba
Tashia DeShazo - 17 points and four rebounds
Talia Barnes - Seven points and nine rebounds
Madison Hallman -  Four points, four steals, and three rebounds

UP NEXT:
The Wolves will stay on the road as they take on Mars Hill on Saturday Nov. 30th. Tip-off is set for 2 PM.