ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Jets traveled to compete in the University of Missouri-St. Louis Thanksgiving Classic on Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30. On Friday, Newman took on the host team, Missouri-St. Louis. The Jets came into this afternoon's matchup looking to get back to .500 on the season. The Tritons looked to stay above .500 this season.
In the first quarter,
Kaitlyn Potter got the scoring started with a 3 pointer. A jumper from UMSL's Breanna Diestelkamp concluded a 10-0 run by the Tritons to make the score 10-3.
Faith Mason-Vestal stopped the Tritons run with a layup in her first game back after an injury in last season's Heartland Conference Tournament. Diestelkamp would answer back with a layup of her own. Newman would then go on a 6-0 run to get the lead down to 1.
Brooke Haney would be fouled on a 3 point attempt, she would make all 3 free throws.
Kaitlyn Potter would make her second 3 of the game to make the score 12-11 for the Tritons. Potter would make her third three of the quarter with 1:18 left that would tie the game at 14-14. USML would make a free throw to end the quarter with a 15-14 lead.
The Jets came out in the second quarter looking to avoid the bad second quarters they have been having this season. And that is exactly what they would do. Potter would once again get the scoring started for the quarter as she would make her fourth 3 pointer of the game giving the Jets their first lead since they led 3-0.
Bailey Hawkins would follow up the Potter 3 with a layup to build the Newman lead to 4 points.
Amoni White would make a layup of her own to give the Jets their largest lead, 6, 21-15 with 7:54 left in the half. The Tritons would fight back to get the lead down to one before layups from
Michaela Mack and
Abbey George would build the lead back to 5, 25-20 with 5:30 left. White would make a layup to extend the Newman lead to 7, tying the largest lead for either side as the Jets lead 27-20. UMSL would tie the game up at 29-29 with 29 seconds remaining in the half, but White would make a last second jumper to give Newman a 2 point lead at the half, 31-29. Potter led the Jets with 12 points at the half.
For the third time in the game, Potter would get the scoring started for the quarter with a 3 pointer, her fifth of the game. Potter would make her third 3 of the quarter to give the Jets a 9 point lead, the largest for either side, 42-33.
Abbey George would make a layup and draw the foul. She would make her free throw to complete the three point play, giving the Jets a 45-33 lead. The Tritons would go on a 5-0 tun to get the score to 45-38 with 4:50 left in the quarter. Potter would make her fourth 3 of the quarter before the Tritons would go on another 5-0 run. Potter would end the run with a jumper making the score 50-43 for the Jets. UMSL would make a free throw before
Haley Albers would make a 3 to give the Jets a 53-44 lead to end the quarter. Potter would double her point total in this quarter as she would finish with 14 points, making her total for the game 26.
The Tritons would make a three 30 seconds into the quarter. After that, both teams would go scoreless for the next 4:30 until the Tritons would score again, making the Jets lead just 4 points, 53-49 with 5:00 left in the game. After going more than 7 minutes without a bucket,
Bailey Hawkins would make a jumper to get the Jets on the board in the 4th quarter with just 3:30 remaining. Back to back made baskets by the Tritons would get the Newman lead down to 2 points, 55-53, with 2:20 left in the game. Another bucket from Hawkins would build the Jets lead back to 4, 57-53. Potter would make two free throws to build the lead back up to 6 points with 50 seconds remaining. The Tritons would make two free throws and Albers would make one of two with 19 seconds left. UMSL would make a 3 six seconds later to cut the lead to 2, but Potter would make two free throws before stealing the ball to seal the game for the Jets.
Kaitlyn Potter led the way for Newman with 30 points, a career high, on 9-19 shooting and 8-14 from 3.
The Jets will be back in action for their second game of the Thanksgiving Classic tomorrow, November 30 at 1:00 P.M. against Maryville.
