NEWBERRY  - The Newberry women's basketball team came back from behind to defeat nationally ranked Anderson 58-56 in overtime on home court. 

With 2:09 left on the clock in overtime, freshman Courtney Virgo drained a three to give Newberry a 55-54 lead. The Wolves went a total of 42:51 minutes of either trailing or tied before their first lead of the game. Two minutes later McKenzie Gadson of Anderson tied the game up at 56-56 with a layup. Senior Kelsey McDermott hit the eventual game-winner jumper with 30 seconds left to put Newberry up 58-56. In the last 16 seconds Anderson took three different shots for either the tie or lead, but nothing would fall as the clock reached zeros to complete the win. 

Heading into the fourth quarter the Wolves found themselves down 41-38. That changed after a made three by junior Talia Roberts to tie the game at 41-41. Anderson then went on a 5-0 run, capped off by Taylor Hair knocking down two free throws, to go up 46-41. Junior Kelsey Brett made a layup to get her team within three points at 46-43. Gadson of Anderson came back to score the next four points to re-extend their lead to 50-43. Newberry went on a 6-0 run to get within one for a score of 50-49 with nine seconds left in regulation. Anderson in-bounded the ball and was quickly fouled by the Wolves to send them to the charity stripe. Hair makes both of them to make the score 52-49 with two seconds left. The Wolves ran a sideline play that eventually got Brett open, who took a wide open three, and makes the shot as the buzzer goes off to send it to overtime. 

Anderson opened up the third quarter scoring with a layup by Alexis Tate to go up 33-22. Each side traded the next four points to make the score 37-26 with 6:53 left. A three by McDermott brought the lead down to single digits, but a jumper by Alexy Mollenhauer put their lead back to double digits. The same situation happen later with Roberts making a three and a jumper by Anderson's Makayla Green made the score 41-32 with 2:42 left. Newberry closed out the final 1:22 left on a 6-0 run, including junior Keli Romas scoring the final four points, to make it 41-38 heading into the final frame. 

In the first 3:17 minutes of the second quarter only two points were scored. Both sides exchanged buckets to make the score 16-10 with 6:18 left until halftime. Virgo would hit three straight three's on Newberry's next three possessions to get within one point of the lead at 20-19 in favor of Anderson. The Trojans closed out the half on a 11-3 run to take a 31-22 lead heading into the break.

The first 2:22 opened up with no scoring by either side. The Trojans got on the board with back-to-back three's by Madison Baggett and Gadson. Center Dragana Petkovska got the first points for the Wolves with a jumper for a score of 6-2. A three by Baggett and a jumper by Mollenhauer to increase their lead to 11-2. Fellow center Ericka Wiseley made a layup to make it 11-4 with 2:59 left in the first. Newberry closed out the first quarter on a 4-1 run to make it 12-8 with Anderson leading heading into the second quarter. 

The last time Newberry beat a nationally ranked team was back in 2017, when Newberry defeated No. 8 Lincoln Memorial 56-52 in February at home. This was also the first time since 2015 that the Wolves beat the Trojans. The last time was when Newberry upended Anderson 64-58 in the South Atlantic Conference championship game.  


Top Performers:
Newberry
Courtney Virgo - 14 points and nine rebounds
Talia Roberts - 16 points and four rebounds
Kelsey Brett - 10 points and six rebounds

Anderson
McKenzie Gadson - 15 points and seven rebounds
Madison Baggett - 12 points, five rebounds, and two blocks
Taylor Hair -  Nine points, nine rebounds, and three blocks

UP NEXT:
The Wolves will go on the road to play newly South Atlantic Conference member UVa-Wise on Saturday, 14. Tip-off is set for 2:00 PM.