WICHITA, Kan. –The Newman women's basketball team held off a fourth quarter charge Wednesday evening (Feb. 27) inside the Fugate Gymnasium to prevail 58-52 over Rogers State. The victory secured the Jets the second spot in the Heartland Conference improving to 18-9 on the year and 9-4 in conference play.
Sloppy play in the opening ten minutes was the story line as the Jets and Hillcats combined for 13-first quarter turnovers. Freshman, Faith Mason-Vestal sparked the Newman offense from the get go scoring the first five Jets points on 2-of-3 shooting. Despite both teams cold from the field over a three minute span midway through the quarter, the Jets took a 12-10 lead into the second after a Haley Albers triple in late seconds.
Midway through the second quarter Mason-Vestal and Kaitlyn Potter stretched the Newman lead out to their largest of the first half with a combined 8-0 run, 25-16 with 2:24 to play in the quarter. RSU however stormed back scoring the final four points of the quarter holding the Newman offense scoreless in the final 2-minutes. Junior Kaitlyn Potter provided the Newman offense scoring eight of the Jets 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting in the second quarter giving Newman a 25-20 edge at the break.
Newman jumped out to their largest lead 39-29 with 3:59 to play in the quarter after Bria DeGrate knocked 1-of-2 from the free throw line. The Hillcats however continued to claw back cutting the deficit to 39-38 with 1:26 to play with a 9-0 run. Potter ended the Jets 2:34 scoreless drought connecting on her lone third quarter triple giving Newman a 42-38 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter the Hillcats made things interesting taking their first lead 52-51 for the first time since the 1:25 mark in the first quarter after an 8-0 run. A pair of Mason-Vestal free throws put the Jets back in front 53-52 with a minute approaching. After an RSU offensive foul DeGrate dialed up her second triple of the contest giving Newman some breathing room 56-52 with 44-seconds left to play. The Jets would avoid the comeback attempt as RSU went scoreless over the final 3:11.
Kaitlyn Potter led the charge scoring a game high 20-points off the bench with nine coming in the final period. Faith Mason-Vestal added in 16 points while recording five rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting. Bria DeGrate just missed out on a double-double finishing with 11 points and eight rebounds.
The Jets will conclude the regular season at home Saturday afternoon (Mar. 2) against Arkansas-Fort Smith. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. inside the Fugate Gymnasium in Wichita, Kan.
