WICHITA - The Newman basketball teams opened Heartland Conference play with a sweep of St. Edward's Thursday night inside Fugate Gymnasium. Hadley Freeman's career-high 17 points led the women to a 67-52 win and snapped a five-game losing streak, while Chip Steven and Jake Darby each put up 12 in the men's 76-72 win over the Hilltoppers.

WOMEN: Newman 67, St. Edward's 52
Newman (2-8, 1-0 Heartland) fell behind early to an under-manned St. Edward's (1-9, 0-1 Heartland) squad, but kept things tight throughout the first half. The Jets never trailed by more than six in the first half, and a three-pointer by Rainey Nickel in the final 25 seconds pulled Newman to within three at the halftime break, when they trailed 32-29.

The lack of depth on the Hilltoppers' bench, thanks to three players out for the season due to injury, reared its ugly head for the visitors, but worked straight into the hands of the Jets. Newman opened the second half on a 7-2 run, and took its first lead of the night on a Ladessa Nachbor jumper with 15:55 to play. Newman could never stretch the lead past three in the first 10 minutes of the final frame, but that's when Hadley Freeman arrived on the scene. Over the final eight minutes of the game, Freeman connected on three long balls, and helped the Newman stretch the lead to double figures. St. Edward's simply didn't have an answer, and the Jets were able to pick up their second win of the season by a final count of 67-52.

Freeman hit five three balls in the game, and led all scorers with 17 points in the winning effort. Rainey Nickel and Ladessa Nachbor each grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Jets, who shot 43.4 percent (25-53) from the field. Nickel and Nachbor each added eight points as well.

Brittany Ward led the Hilltoppers with 11 points in the game, while Kelli Payton added a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double.

MEN: Newman 76, St. Edward's 72
Newman (7-2, 1-0 Heartland) fell behind by nine, 11-2, in the first five minutes of the second half thanks to relentless defensive pressure from St. Edward's (2-6, 0-1 Heartland), but the Jets were able to battle back over the next 10 minutes. Newman tied the game, 22-22, on a Jake Darby three-pointer at the 5:42 mark, and took their first lead when Tommy Brumbelow connected on a free throw at the 5:19 mark. It was neck-in-neck from there, but a Jeff Miner jumper in the final seconds of the half gave the visiting Hilltoppers a 33-30 advantage.

Newman opened the second half on a mission, Jake Darby found another gear and scored six points as part of a 14-3 Newman run over the first four minutes of the final frame that gave the Jets a 44-36 lead. The Toppers weren't done, though, putting together a 6-2 spurt to pull within two, 46-44, two minutes later. Newman maintained a lead of at least five for the next eight minutes, but St. Edward's wasn't interested in rolling over. A Jeff Miner lay-up forced the seventh tie of the game at the 6:26 mark of play, but Newman countered with back-to-back three-balls from Keaton Schultz and Chip Steven. to take a 70-64 lead with just better than five mintues to play. That, combined with two clutch free throws from Terrell Northington in the final 15 seconds, proved to be the difference in the game, as the Jets held on for the 76-72 win.

Darby and Steven led the Jets with 12 points each in the contest. Jaray Mathews and Justin Berry each added 11 points, and Mathews added 11 rebounds for his second-consecutive double-double.

Jeff Miner led St. Edward's with 29 points in the contest, while Reggie Shanks finished with 23 points in the losing effort.

Both squads will be back in action Saturday afternoon, hosting Texas A&M International at 2 and 4:30 p.m., respectively. The TAMIU women dropped a 69-59 decision to Lincoln tonight in Jefferson City, Mo,. while the Dustdevil men scored 52 points in the second half on their way to an 83-48 laugher over the Blue Tigers.