GREENEVILLE, TN - A late Newberry rally in the fourth quarter fell short as the Wolves fell to the Tusculum Pioneers in a defensive slugfest on the road in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Pilot/Flying J South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship by a final score of 59-43. With the loss, Newberry's season comes to an end with a 10-10 record and 8-9 in conference play. The game also marked the end of the careers of senior guards
Ke'Shaun White,
Keli Romas,
Talia Roberts and
Kelsey Brett.
Newberry's only lead was 3-2 on sophomore guard
Courtney Virgo's transition three with 08:59 in the first quarter. White hit Newberry's second triple of the quarter with 02:23 left to cut Tusculum's lead to five. At the end of the first quarter the Wolves trailed 19-10.
In the second quarter redshirt sophomore center
Ericka Wiseley scored four of her six first half points, each on layups. The first occurred at the 07:18 mark and the second was at 05:17, twice cutting the Pioneer lead to eight. At intermission Newberry trailed 28-18.
The third quarter was dominated by
Keli Romas and
Talia Roberts. The duo scored 12 of Newberry's 15 points in the frame. Romas's three with 02:36 left and subsequent free throw after a steal cut the lead to nine. Roberts answered on the next defensive possession with a steal and hit a three while being fouled with 01:22 left. Her free throw cut the lead to six as the Wolves went into the fourth quarter down 39-33.
The Wolves continued to rally in the fourth, getting to within three twice, with the second being a fastbreak layup by Brett with 05:05 left, making the score 43-40. But the Pioneers closed the game on a 16-3 run, with freshman guard
Payton Cronen getting the lone Newberry score during the run, a three-pointer with 00:41 left.
Romas led the Wolves with nine points in 39 minutes of play and Brett scored eight points on 3-8 (37.5%) shooting from the field and collected five rebounds.
Roberts led the defensive effort for Newberry with five defensive rebounds and three steals. Roberts also led the Wolves with three assists to go along with her seven points in 16 minutes of action.
