LIBERTY, Mo. — Shaunice Robinson tallied 14 points and Brianna Caldwell added 12, including a big 3-pointer in the final minutes, as the Newman women's basketball team ended nonconference play with a 58-55 victory over William Jewell Saturday afternoon.
The Jets (6-2) took control late in a game full of wild momentum swings, outscoring the Cardinals (4-8) 21-13 in the final quarter to push their winning streak to three games. Junior Cierra Tjaden posted nine points to go with three rebounds and two steals, while classmate Natalia Hausmann delivered six points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Senior Lizzy Harrison scored the first five points for Newman, tying things at 2-2 with a jumper and again at 5-5 with a three-point play. Jewell was able to rattle off the next nine points though, pushing out to a 14-5 lead and eventually taking the largest lead either side would hold in the game at 17-7 with 3:05 left in the opening quarter.
The Jets quickly answered in the second quarter. After a pair of Cardinal free throws made it 22-15, the Jets sprinted out on an 11-0 run. Caldwell netted six of those points on a pair of buckets and a free throw, Harrison had a big basket to cut the lead to two, and Robinson sank three freebies to make it 26-22. Jewell managed only four free throws for the entire quarter, going 0-of-15 from the floor in the period, while Newman shot 6-of-11, including layups on back-to-back possessions from Tjaden and Robinson to head into the break up by six.
The game of runs was not over yet though, as Jewell scored the first six points of the third quarter to tie things up again. Tjaden broke that draw with a bucket, and Erica Olerich made it a four-point lead with another, but starting with a free throw with 3:46 left in the quarter, the Cardinals ended the frame on a 10-1 run to hold a five-point advantage at 42-37 entering the final stanza.
A short break must have been all the Jets needed, as five straight points from Robinson ended with a 3-pointer to tie things at 42-all with 7:57 left. A lay-in from Tjaden handed the guests the lead once again and a three-point play out of Hausmann made it a 10-0 run to start the quarter. The Cardinals were able to get within reach and momentarily take the lead once again at 51-49, but that lead lasted less than 30 seconds, as Caldwell nailed her third 3 of the game to give the Jets the lead for good.
The Jets shot 9-of-14 from the line in the fourth quarter to help hold on to their lead, and only turned the ball over once in the final period. William Jewell committed seven of their 17 turnovers in that fourth quarter, and Newman turned them into 10 points. In all, the Jets netted 14 points off of turnovers, and 22 points in the paint.
Newman gets started with Heartland Conference play this week, traveling to St. Edward's Thursday and Texas-Permian Basin Saturday afternoon.
