GAFFNEY, S.C. - Squaring off for the second time in six days, third-seeded Anderson University women's basketball used 19 points from junior Jasmine Franklin en route to a 69-57 victory over sixth-seeded Newberry in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Southeast Region on Friday at the Timken Center on the campus of Limestone College.
With the victory, the Trojans advance to the second round of the regional for the first time since the 2008 NCAA Tournament and improve to 26-4 on the season. The Wolves, who knocked off AU on Sunday in the South Atlantic Conference championship game, close their season at 21-11. The win also gives head coach Jimmy Garrity his first victory in his first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Franklin led the way with 19 points and a team-high nine rebounds, including six boards on the offensive end. Senior guard Sierra Simpson added 11 points, as the natives of Simpsonville, S.C. combined for 30 of the teams' 69 points. Senior Lesley Woods and junior Jennifer Monroe added eight points, while Monroe grabbed five rebounds. As a team, the Trojans out-rebounded the Wolves, 44-39.
Newberry's senior duo of Samantha Creed and Haylee Lepaio combined for 31 points and 11 rebounds, as Creed paced the Wolves with 17 points on 5-of-8 from the floor. Newberry's starters totaled 45 of the team's 57 points, while substitute Colleen Leung recorded eight points in the setback.
The Trojans stormed out of the gate with six unanswered points which led to a 15-2 run through the first 4:42 of the contest. Within the run, Franklin and Monroe scored four points, while sophomore guard Nakia Young buried the Black and Gold's first 3-pointer of the game. Lepaio knocked in a base-line jumper and snapped the run with Newberry's first field goal of the game at the 15:11 mark.
The Lepaio bucket began a streak of six unanswered points for the Wolves and they brought the score with seven at the 15-8 mark. Through the first eight minutes, Lepaio and sister, Hannah Lepaio, scored six of the team's first eight points underneath the basket.
Newberry cut its deficit within four at the 8:42 mark when Lepaio knocked down another jumper, marking the Wolves' last field goal of the opening period. Following the jumper, Anderson out-scored the sixth seed 17-3 for the remainder of the period, and held Newberry without a field goal in the span. Within the Anderson spurt, the Trojans used two traditional three-point plays from Katie Davis and Franklin and a corner trey from Woods.
The AU run capped off the half and set the halftime score at
36-18, as the Trojans closed the half shooting 15-for-38 (39.5
percent), including a 50 percent mark from behind the three-point
line. Defensively, Anderson held Newberry to 22.7 percent from the
field, headlined by a 1-for-6 performance from behind the arc.
After Franklin buried a jumper to open the second half, Newberry scored the next five points to bring the deficit to 15. Despite the unanswered points, Woods and Young knocked in back-to-back 3-pointers to push the score to 44-25 with 15:49 left. The 19-point advantage would be the largest AU advantage for the remainder of the game, as the Wolves began to chip away at the Trojan lead.
The Black and Gold maintained their double-figure lead over the first 12 minutes of the second half, but a pair of free throws from Zara Pearson brought Newberry's deficit to eight with 7:42 left. Leung continued the Wolves' comeback and cut the score to 54-49 with a runner outside the key. Despite the momentum shift, Anderson's Heather Jankowy buried a 3-pointer from the wing while being fouled in the process, as she completed the rare four-point play to put Anderson back up double-figures at 60-49 with 4:33 left.
The closest Newberry came for the remainder of the game was six, as Anderson shot 6-of-8 from the free throw line in the final 2:53 of the game, to seal its 19th win in its last 20 games. The victory also hands AU's third win over the Wolves this season, after sweeping the regular-season series.
The Trojans totaled 25 second-chance points on the afternoon, while the Wolves managed just two. Anderson also capitalized with 19 points off of 19 Newberry turnovers.
Anderson awaits the winner of second-seeded Columbus State and seventh-seeded Carson-Newman in the second round. Tip-off from the Timken Center on Saturday is set for 5 p.m.
