Lions Lose at Newberry

NEWBERRY, S.C. – The Lions basketball team fell to the Newberry Wolves by a final of 69-56 on Wednesday evening during South Atlantic Conference basketball action. Mars Hill dropped to 2-8 overall and 0-4 in the league, while Newberry improved to 7-2 overall and 3-2 in the SAC.

Paige Chavis led the Lions scorers with a team-high 16 points. Madiosn Ervin and Jenny Edwards also hit the double-digit plateau with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Aliyah Farmer chipped in a team-high seven rebounds. The Lions finished the game shooting 37.9% (22-58) from the floor and 66.7% (10-15) from the charity stripe. Mars Hill recorded a slight 41-36 advantage on the boards over the Wolves.

The game started on an even basis as the two teams battled out to 6-6 tie halfway through the first period. However, Newberry started to impose its height advantage down low, outscoring the Lions 11-2 to end the opening period and taking a 17-8 lead into the second.

Mars Hill began the second quarter with six quick points to narrow the margin to one possession at 17-14. A mountain of fouls against the Lions allowed Newberry to cushion its lead to 36-26 following an old-fashioned three-point play by Meg Essex. Chavis collected a hoop-and-harm of her own to make the score 36-29, but a layup with less than a second remaining in the half sent the Wolves to the locker room with a 38-29 advantage.

The Lions produced their best shooting half of the season over the initial 20 minutes, connecting on 12-of-24 attempts (50%), while holding their own on the boards, battling to a 17-17 rebounding tie. The demise for Mars Hill in the first half was 17 turnovers, which led to 23 points for Newberry.

MHU started the second half with a mini 5-0 run, capped off by a three-point play by Edwards, benefiting from a beautiful bounce pass from Chavis. With the contest at 38-34 in favor of the home team, Newberry tallied nine of the next 11 points to once again open a double-digit lead (47-36) with 4:38 to play in the third. That lead would to grow to 57-43 heading into the final 10 minutes of action.

Comer opened the fourth with a layup and the Lions cut the deficit to 12 on two separate occasions during the final segment, but that was as close as they would get as Newberry finished off the 69-56 win.

Meg Essex led the Wolves with 23 points, while Sydney Britten chipped in a game-high nine rebounds in the victorious effort.

The Lions will be back in action on Saturday, December 17, traveling to the Queen City of Charlotte, N.C. to take on the Royals of Queens University. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.