BOLIVAR, Mo. - Both teams came into today's matchup with records of 2-2, looking to stay above .500 on the season. Newman was coming off of a 12 point win against Oklahoma Christian this past Monday. While Southwest Baptist was coming off of a 2 point loss to Rogers State this past Wednesday.

Southwest Baptist would get the scoring started with a 3 point basket. Kaitlyn Potter would answer with a jumper, but the Bearcats would answer right back with a layup to take an early 5-2 lead. Neither team would score for the next 1:30 before Bailey Hawkins would make a jumpshot to cut the SBU lead to just 1 three minutes in to the game. Just after the 6 minute mark, Potter would give the Jets their first lead of the game with a 3 pointer, 7-5. Braxtyn Stewart would come down on the next Newman possession and make a 3 of her own to extend their lead to 5, the biggest lead for either team so far. With 3:45 left in the quarter, SBU would make a 3 to cut the Jets lead to 12-10. Haley Albers would make a three before the end of the quarter to give the Jets a 15-10 lead heading into the break.

The second quarter would be all SBU as the second quarter woes would once again hit the Jets as they would score just 4 points in the quarter. Two of those four points came on a Potter jumper with 8:44 left in the half. The other two points would come on a jumper from Hawkins. Newman would go scoreless for the next 6:59. The Bearcats would put up 21 points in the quarter. SBU would take a 31-19 lead into the half.

Newman came out of the break ready to get back on the right track. They would out score the Bearcats in the third quarter 21-8 behind great defense and 10 points from Bailey Hawkins. Hawkins would score the Jets first 8 points of the quarter as she went on a 8-3 run by herself. At the 5:25 mark in the quarter, Potter would hit a three to cut the Bearcats lead down to just 4, the closest it had been since SBU took the lead with 7 minutes left in the second quarter.

With just under 5 minutes left in the quarter, Potter would make two free throws to get the lead down to two. Two minutes later, Potter would make a jumper to tie the game at 34-34. Southwest Baptist would score a layup to take the lead back. Hawkins would score her final two points of the quarter to tie the game back up at 36 all with 1:38 remaining in the third. The Bearcats would get their lead back to three after an and-one with just over a minute left. Newman would go on a 4-0 mini run to close out the quarter behind layups from McKenzie Brown and Abbey George to give the Jets their first lead since early in the second quarter. 

In the final quarter, SBU would have their biggest quarter of the game scoring 23 points. Newman would do everything they could to stay in the fight but would ultimately fall short. SBU would make two free throws just 28 seconds into the quarter to tie the game and then take the lead. Both teams would trade points back and forth which meant the lead would change too. There would be five lead changes in the first three minutes of the quarter. The Bearcats would build a six point lead after a three with 4:06 left in the game. Hawkins would make a layup to get the score back down to 4, SBU would answer back with two free throws. Hawkins would make a jumper to get the lead back to 4 with 2:48 left. Southwest Baptist would be able to build their lead up to as much as 9, Brown would make a layup at the end of the game to make the final score 62-55. 

Newman was led by Bailey Hawkins with 18 points and 6 rebounds. Kaitlyn Potter would add 17 points. Abbey George led the team in rebounds with 7. 

The Jets will be back in action on Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30 as they travel to St. Louis, Mo. to take part in the Missouri-St. Louis Thanksgiving classic.