NEWBERRY, S.C. – Home-standing Newberry scored the first 14 points of the afternoon to set the tone early, and held off a handful of comeback attempts by the UNC Pembroke women's basketball team in the second half to register a 68-64 victory over the Braves on Saturday in Eleazer Arena.
 
It was the third-straight road loss dating back to last season for the Braves (0-4) who will lift the lid on the Conference Carolinas portion of their 2022-23 regular season schedule on Tuesday at Mount Olive. It was the first win of the season for the Wolves (1-3) who have now won three-straight games in the series with UNCP.
 

THE BASICS

SCORE: Newberry 68, UNC Pembroke 64 RECORDS: UNC Pembroke 0-4; Newberry 1-3 LOCATION: Newberry, S.C. (Eleazer Arena

HOW IT HAPPENED

1ST QUARTER

Newberry canned four 3-pointers in the opening period – all in the first four minutes of action – to ultimately grab a 14-0 advantage at the 6:14 mark. The Braves responded with four-straight points, and the teams traded buckets after that. Aminata Johnson's short jumper with 21 seconds left made it a 22-12 contest after one.

2ND QUARTER

The Wolves continued their prowess on the perimeter in the second quarter, but the Black & Gold kept pace this time around. UNCP cut its deficit back to six points, 24-18, on a 3-pointer from Kelci Adams with 6-1/2 minutes left before the break, but Newberry responded with a 9-2 run over the next two minutes to pad its lead out to 13 points, 33-20.

3RD QUARTER

The Braves limited the hosts to just 27.3 percent shooting, but were only able to make a slight dent in their deficit. UNCP pulled to within four points, 42-38, following a trey from Lillian Flantos at the 6:46 mark, but the Wolves answered with seven-straight points to push their lead back out to double digits. The visitors tacked up the final five points of the stanza to make it a seven-point game, 52-45, heading to the fourth.

4TH QUARTER

The Black & Gold put together an 11-2 run to take its first lead of the afternoon, 56-55, on Zaria Clark's jumper with 3:59 left to play, but the Wolves answered the call again and eventually took a five-point lead, 64-59, on Payton Cronen's 3-pointer with 34 seconds left. Clark tallied a steal and an ensuing layup with four seconds left, but the Wolves hit both ends of a two-shot foul on the other end of the court to secure the final outcome.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

+ Sophomore Zaria Clark scored a game-high 19 points on 8-for-17 shooting, while also pulling down six rebounds and adding a trio of steals. + Newcomer Aminata Johnson added 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting, while also turning in a 4-for-5 success rate at the free throw line. + Junior Kelci Adams turned in a season-best 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, while also pulling down four boards.

NOTABLES

+ UNCP has held each of its first four opponents to sub-37 percent shooting, but yielded 16 or more free throws for the third-straight outing on Saturday. + The Braves won the rebounding battle for the second time this season on Saturday, out-boarding the Wolves by a 40-36 count. The rebounding total for UNCP including 18 offensive boards – the most for the program since registering 18 offensive rebound in a loss at Georgia Southwestern on Dec. 19, 2018. + Saturday's meeting marked the first home game for Newberry in the 5-game-old series. The squads met for the first time during the 1990-91 season in Pembroke, and had met three-straight times at neutral sites prior to Saturday.

UP NEXT

The Braves will continue a three-game road trip on Tuesday when they load up their show and head north to open Conference Carolinas play at Mount Olive (0-3, 0-0 CC). Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. inside Kornegay Arena.

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BACK THE BRAVES

Fans can help support the UNC Pembroke Women's Basketball program by joining the Braves Club. To find out more information about the Braves Club, visit UNCPBraves.com/BravesClub or email braves.club@uncp.edu.