SAN ANTONIO, Texas - One of the best seasons in Newman women's basketball history came to a close, as the top-seeded Jets dropped a 77-58 decision to fourth-seeded St. Edward's in the opening game of the 2011 Heartland Conference Women's Basketball Championship Friday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena in San Antonio, Texas. Alex Adekunle led the Jets with 17 points in the loss.

Newman (19-8) opened the game on a mission. The top-seeded Jets scored the first nine points of the game, taking a 9-0 advantage when Rhea Codio drained a three-pointer at the 16:09 mark. St. Edward's (10-17) scored its first points of the game at the 15-minute mark, when Brittany Ward nailed a jumper. Ward's jumper sparked a 17-8 Hilltopper run that allowed SEU to tie the game at 17-17 when Ward drained another lay-up at the 9:08 mark. The Jets answered with back-to-back Codio treys to take a 23-17 lead with 7:49 remaining. The Jets led by at least five until the final 90 seconds of the half, when the Hilltoppers scored the final three points of the period. At halftime, the Jets found themselves clinging to a 29-27 lead.

St. Edward's used an 8-2 run to take a 37-31 lead just over three minutes into the second half, and stole the momentum of the game in the process. Newman countered with a 7-2 spurt, and pulled within one, 39-38, after a Tasha Cannon free throw at the 13:48 mark, but a 12-2 Hilltopper run over the next four minutes pushed the SEU lead to 50-41 with 8:19 remaining. St. Edward's earned their first double-digit lead when Kendra Field used a long ball to push the Hilltopper advantage to 11, 60-49, with 5:43 remaining, and it was all down hill from there. SEU pushed its lead to 20 inside the final two minutes, then held on for the 19-point win.

Alex Adekunle hit seven of her 18 shots on her way to a team-high 17 points. Rhea Codio added four three-pointers on her way to 13 points, while Tasha Cannon and Celeste Key added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Cannon added a team-high eight rebounds in the loss. As a team, Newman shot just 33.3 percent (20-60) from the field, and committed 22 turnovers.

Brittany Ward scored a game-high 24 points to led the Hilltoppers.

With the loss, the Jets end the season with a 19-8 record.