FORT SMITH, Ark. — Facing some sturdy second-half shooting, the Newman women's basketball team fell on the road to Arkansas-Fort Smith, suffering a 75-65 setback Thursday evening at the Stubblefield Center.

KEY SEQUENCE

A 27-26 game at the half, the Lions (17-8, 10-6 Heartland) doubled that total in the third quarter, the biggest part of that run coming when UAFS got 3-pointers from Olivia Hanson and Jasmine Brainard right after the Jets (10-13, 4-11 Heartland) tied things up with four free throws.

HOW IT HAPPENED

-The Lions opened the game with five straight points and were up 7-2 when the Jets called the first timeout of the game. From that point, Newman netted 14 of the next 16 points in a stretch of nearly six minutes to jump in front 16-9. Natalia Hausman dumped in nine of those points for the Jets.

-The Lions scored the last five points of the first as well, all coming on free throws, and extended that to a 9-0 run on two buckets to start the second and put them ahead 18-16 just over a minute in. It stayed a one-possession game for the entire second quarter, with the Jets tying things up twice, including at 24-24 with 1:11 left on a Hausman layup.

-UAFS began getting to a tight Newman defense in a fast-paced third quarter. The Lions hit nine buckets in the frame — one fewer than they did in the entire first half — and sunk five 3-pointers. Four of those shots from deep came in the final 4:30, after the Jets tied things up with four straight free throws after a technical against the Lion bench and a foul.

-Bria DeGrate hit a 3-pointer of her own to keep things close with 1:29 left in the third quarter, but three more treys in a 52-second span by the Lions made it 60-47 less than a minute into the final stanza. A three-point play from Cierra Tjaden started an 8-2 run for the Jets that brought things back to a seven-point deficit at 62-55 with 5:52 to play.

-Shaunice Robinson got hot late for the Jets, hitting three straight jumpers, followed on the next possession by a bucket from Hausmann, but the Lions answered nearly every time to hold on to their lead.

NOTES

-Newman played some stifling defense in the first half, holding the Lions to 10-of-32 shooting, including just 2-of-18 (11.1 percent) from 3-point range. That came as the Jets shot 10-of-21 to go into the break down just one. To follow that up, the Lions shot 10-of-18 just from deep in the second half to put a dagger in the Jets' comeback attempt.

-Hausmann put up a game-high 19 points, shooting 8-of-12 from the field and pulling in a game-high seven rebounds and three steals. The 19 points were a new season-high for the junior, topping her previous best of 14, and was her third game out of four to reach double digits.

-Robinson also hit double digits, netting 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting to go with four rebounds. Lizzy Harrison added nine points and five boards, while Tjaden and DeGrate each went for seven.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Jets close out their final roadtrip of the regular season Saturday, heading to Rogers State for a 1 p.m. contest Saturday.