NEWBERRY - The number 4 seed Newberry women's basketball team suffered a 47-56 home loss to the number 5 seed Catawba in the quarterfinals of the South Atlantic Conference Pilot Flying J Women's Championship. 

Heading into the fourth quarter, Catawba led 41-29 for a 12 point difference. In the first 30 seconds of the quarter, senior Brandi McMillan hit a jumper and than a quick steal by fellow senior Kelsey McDermott led to a three by junior Talia Roberts to make the score 41-34. This forced the Lady Indians to call a timeout. After a layup by Lauren Ford of Catawba, the Wolves made back-to-back three's by McDermott and junior Kelsey Brett to get it to 43-40. The Lady Indians eventually pushed their lead back up to seven after they scored four straight points. Newberry made the game interesting by making the score 50-47, after McDermott made her second three of the quarter, with 36 seconds left in regulation. This was the closest the Wolves got to the lead as Catawba iced the game away by making six straight free throws. 

Lyrik Thorne of Catawba opened up the game by making the first four points. Newberry got on the board with their first points, a layup by Brett, to make it 6-2. The Lady Indians than went on a 9-0 run to increase their lead to 15-2. Red-shirt sophomore Julie Kinard added two more points to the Wolves total, via the charity stripe, to end a three and a half scoring drought. After Catawba made one more point, a free throw by Talia Barnes, neither side would score again in the final 2:32 of the quarter. 

The Lady Indians started off the second quarter by scoring the first four points to make it 20-4. Junior Keli Romas ended the Wolves longest scoring drought of the game, over eight and a half minutes, by knocking down tw free throws. Newberry scored the next five points, after another pair from the charity stripe and a three by Roberts, to cut the lead down to single digits. Ford of Catawba would change that by making an open corner three on the next possession to make it 23-11. The two squads would match point for points for the remainder on the first half to get to the 26-15 score. 

Newberry opened up the scoring of the second half with red-shirt freshman Ericka Wiseley making her first basket of the game. Catawba responded back by scoring the next six points to stretch their lead to 32-17. Buckets by McDermott and Brett of Newberry help bring the score up to 32-21. McMillan of the Wolves eventually scored their next four points to make it 36-25. Thorne of Catawba would then score three straight points, but Kinard answered back by draining a three of her own. Each side score their finals points, with the Lady Indians holding the slight 2-1 advantage, in the remaining time of the third to get to 41-29. 

Top Performers:
Newberry
Kelsey McDermott - 10 points and one steal
Brandi McMillan - Nine points and eight rebounds
Kelsey Brett - Seven points, five rebounds, and two steals

Catawba
Lyrik Thorne - 17 points, four steals, and two rebounds
Keyotta Garis - Eight points and seven rebounds
Lauren Ford - Seven points, four rebounds, and three blocks
 
UP NEXT:
This concludes the 2019-20 Women's Basketball season for the Wolves.