Box Score Greeneville, TN – The Newberry women's basketball team took on Tusculum University in Tennessee on Wednesday, falling 71-61 after they were unable to come all the way back from an early deficit.
 
The Pioneers got off to a fast start on the night as they connected on three of their first four attempts and took advantage of a couple of turnovers to open the game up with an 11-0 run. With the early game out of hand, Newberry coach Joanna Tincher called a timeout and was able to make some adjustments as the Wolves would put up the next six points.
 
But Tusculum soon reclaimed their double-digit lead as they took advantage of offensive rebounds and turnovers, firing 20 shots to the Wolves' 11 in the first quarter. They received fewer opportunities in the second but made up for it with hot shooting, going 4-6 from deep to build the lead to 18 midway through the period.
 
With Newberry struggling on offense, they were kept afloat by center Tyla Stolberg, who went 4-7 in the first half and added six from the line as she scored 14 of the team's first 22 points. The Wolves finally began to get in their rhythm as Holly Davies and Courtney Virgo hit three-pointers to trim the lead to single-digits before Tusculum pushed it back to 10 at the break.
 
The Pioneers again came into the half shooting well, but this time Newberry was able to keep up with them. After going back and forth for most of the period, the Wolves scored seven of the last eight points to head into the fourth down seven.
 
With their lead dwindling, Tusculum struggled to generate shots in the fourth as their lead was trimmed down to two with six minutes to play. But they again capitalized from deep, hitting two big shots to hold onto the lead.
 
Attempting to complete the comeback, the Wolves played aggressive defense late in the game, but they were undone by foul trouble in the fourth. Forced to foul late to keep the pace from slowing too much, they gave the Pioneers 12 trips to the line in the period, where they scored 10 of their last 20 points to come away with the victory.
 
Stolberg led the Wolves with 16 points on the night. Ericka Wisely also hit double figures with 10 as she shot a perfect 5-5 from the field, also pulling down six boards. Holly Davies contributed nine points, five rebounds and four assists.
 
With their game against Coker delayed due to COVID-19 protocols, the Wolves will next play on Monday, December 20, when they travel to Lenoir-Rhyne University for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff.