NEWBERRY, S.C. – In the team's first conference game of the season, the Newberry College women's basketball team (4-5, 0-1 South Atlantic Conference) were defeated by the Anderson Trojans 66-38 on Wednesday night at Eleazer Arena.

Redshirt senior center Ericka Wiseley (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) led the Wolves in scoring with 16 points. She also recorded five rebounds and two blocks which were also both team highs. Senior guard Holly Davies (Camberley, Surrey, England) was second on the team in scoring with eight points. Davies recorded five rebounds, tied with Wiseley for the team lead, and three steals. 

The Wolves opened the game's scoring as Wiseley made a layup 21 seconds into the contest. Davies then hit a three pointer to put the Wolves up five points before the Trojans scored their first basket. After a back and forth exchange of made baskets, the Trojans gained a one-point lead with 6:14 to play in the opening quarter. A layup by sophomore center April Rummery-Lamb (Darwin, NT, Australia) tied the game at nine points and following a make on the end of the court, senior guard Giulia Bongiorno (Rome, Italy) tied the game again with a layup of her own with 3:06 remaining in the first quarter. Despite the flashes by Rummery-Lamb and Bongiorno, the Trojans ended the quarter on a 10-0 run and the Wolves entered the second quarter down 21-11.

Just as she did in the first quarter, Wiseley started the second quarter off by making a layup to open the quarter's scoring. This time, however, the Trojans did not take as long to respond and went down the court and put up three points of their own just 18 seconds later. After the teams combined to miss five shots, the next basket would not be scored for almost another three minutes. That shot was an Anderson three pointer that pushed the lead to 27-13 with 6:39 to play in the first half. Just over a minute-and-a-half later, Davies ended the Wolves' scoring drought with a layup for her fourth and fifth points of the contest. She completed the three-point play by knocking down the free throw and the score stood at 27-16. The Trojans ended the half on a 10-6 run that saw Wiseley put up five of Newberry's six points. At halftime, the score stood at 37-22.


The offensive struggles continued in the second half for the Wolves. The Wolves missed their first four shots and scored their first points when junior guard Faith Putz (Des Moines, Iowa) knocked down both of her free throws after three-and-a-half minutes had elapsed in the third quarter. It would be over five minutes and seven points from the Trojans before the Wolves called on the game's top scorer, Ericka Wiseley, to make a layup and get the Newberry offense rolling again. She made another free throw in the final minute of the quarter and brought the score to 49-27 in favor of the Trojans as the teams entered the final quarter.

The Wolves defense stepped up to start the fourth quarter, forcing three missed shots from the Trojans before Wiseley sank the first bucket of the quarter. Newberry forced two more missed shots before the Trojans finally made their first shot in the fourth quarter. Following that Anderson basket, four Wolves each scored two points over the next two-and-a-half minutes while holding the Trojans to five points of their own. That brought the score to 57-37 with just over four minutes to play. However, over those four minutes the Wolves scored just one point and were defeated by the Trojans 66-38.

The Wolves are back on the court this Saturday, Dec. 10, as they host the Catawba Indians for their second SAC game of the season. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.