GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Nicola Handreck finished with 15 points and nine rebounds as Newberry College defeated Tusculum College 61-48 in a South Atlantic Conference Women's basketball game at Pioneer Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Wolves (7-7, 6-2 SAC) put three players in double figures and held the Pioneers (6-5, 4-4 SAC) to 28.8 percent shooting for the contest. Meg Essex added 13 points and six rebounds while Samantha Creed scored all of her 11 points in the second half for Newberry in its third consecutive victory..
Tusculum was led by senior guard Shynese Whitener, as the leading scorer in the league, finished with a game-best 24 points for the Pioneers. Freshman Kasey Johnson had nine points and eight rebounds for the Pioneers, who were beaten on the boards by the Wolves by a 50-37 margin.
The teams exchanged the lead seven times in the first period, with a jumper at the buzzer by Whitener giving Tusculum a 14-11 lead. The Pioneers led 16-13 after two foul shots from Whitener with 7:34 left in the first half, but the Wolves ran off nine straight points to go ahead 22-16 on a layup by Essex with 4:45 remaining in the half.
Newberry led 24-21 at the half behind nine points and five rebounds from Handreck, while Whitener led all players in the opening half with 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting. Tusculum held Newberry to 39.3 percent (11-for-28) from the field in the first half, but connected on just 8-of-30 tries from the floor as a team.
A foul shot by Whitener tied the game at 26-26 with 4:36 left in the third quarter, but baskets by Samara Hill and Jaya Schultz sandwiched a three-pointer from Creed as the Wolves went on top 33-26 with 3:13 to play in the period. Newberry stretched its lead to 11 points at 39-28 on two free throws by Creed with 1:42 left in the period, only to see the Pioneers pull within six on a Whitener jumper and a Johnson three-pointer.
Leading 39-33 at the start of the fourth period, Newberry built its lead back to double figures at 47-37 on a layup by Hannah Lepaio with 6:01 to go. The Wolves would lead by as many as 16 in the closing minutes on their way to their fourth straight win in the series over the Pioneers.
Kirsten Dunsmore had a game-high 10 rebounds for Newberry, while Schultz had eight points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench for the Wolves. As a team, Newberry received 16 points from its bench and tallied 16 points off Tusculum turnovers.
The Pioneers forced the Wolves into 19 turnovers, with Whitener and Sydney Wilson coming up with three steals apiece. Wilson finished with five points for Tusculum, with Callie Patterson contributing six points, four rebounds and a pair of steals for the Pioneers. Kristen McMillion finished with eight rebounds for the Pioneers, including four on the offensive glass.
Whitener is just 11 points shy of reaching the 1,000-point plateau for her career. She would be the 17th player in program history to achieve the milestone.
Tusculum will conclunde its three-game home stand on Wednesday night when Mars Hill visits for a 6 p.m. tipoff at Pioneer Arena.
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