NEWBERRY - The Newberry women's basketball team used big first quarter in a 65-54 home win against Wingate. 

The Bulldogs got off to an early start within the first minute of play. A jumper by Jasmine Stephen and then a quick steal by Daphney Saylor, follow by a jumper by Saylor, gave Wingate the early 4-0 advantage. A little over two minutes into the game was when Newberry got their first points, with a jumper by junior Keli Romas. Over two and half minutes went by before either side scored again with Wingate getting a layup from Destiny Coleman. Newberry was down 6-2 before junior Talia Roberts started to make her presence felt on the court. Less than a minute after coming off the bench, the Columbia, S.C. native hits her first three of game-high 17 points to make it 6-5. With 3:33 left in the quarter, Roberts drained another three to give the Wolves their first lead of the game with a score of 8-6.

Teliyah Jeter of Wingate tied the game up at 8-8 after a made layup. Red-shirt sophomore Julie Kinard gave Newberry the lead 10-8 again with her made jumper, and from that point on the Wolves never relinquished the lead. Roberts went on to score the next six points for the Wolves to stretch their lead to 16-8. The Bulldogs got one last point in the quarter with a made free throw by Jeter. The Wolves got the final bucket of the first with senior Kelsey McDermott making a layup. 

Freshman Courtney Virgo gave Newberry the first double digit lead with a made three to make the score 21-11. After a 5-2 run, in favor of the Wolves, the score arose to 28-13. Wingate was able to cut into the lead by going on a 8-0 run in a two and half minute span to make it 28-21 with 4:52 left until half. The rest of the half was fairly quiet as Newberry scored the final four points in the remaining time for the 32-21 score heading into the break.

The Wolves came out with a bang to start the second half. 15 seconds into the quarter junior Kelsey Brett made a three before a quick steal, by McDermott, which lead to a three by Virgo for a six point swing. The Bulldogs got their first points of the half with two made free throws from Coleman for a 38-23 score. With 7:21 left in the third, McDermott pushed Newberry to their largest lead of the game with a jumper to make it a 17 point difference. For the next two and half minutes, Wingate outscored the Wolves 7-2 to cut the deficit to single digits. After a jumper by Kinard of Newberry, the Bulldogs went on another run of 5-0 to make it 45-39 with 46 seconds left in the third. The Wolves were able to make one last three from Virgo for a 48-39 score at the end of the quarter. 

In the first four minutes of the quarter, each side traded four points to make it 52-43 with six minutes left. Wingate got a three from Hannah Clark and a jumper from Jeter to make it a four point game five minute left in the quarter. A jumper by Virgo had it back at a six point game, but the Bulldogs did not back down as Jeter and Clark would once again get four more points for Wingate to make it a two game with 3:38 left. They was the closest that Wingate got to the Wolves lead as Newberry would start to pull away, starting with a three from Virgo. In that remaining time span the Wolves defense held the Bulldogs to zero points and the offense scored another six, via free throws, to give Newberry their victory. 

Top Performers:
Newberry
Talia Roberts - 17 points and four rebounds
Courtney Virgo - 16 points and one rebound
Keli Romas - 14 points, six assists, and six steals

Wingate
Hannah Clark - 14 points and two rebounds
Destiny Coleman - 12 points and four rebounds
Jasmine Stephen -  10 points and two rebounds

UP NEXT:
The Wolves will be home again this Saturday Jan. 18th to take on Carson-Newman. Tip-off is set for 2:00 PM