Newberry Wins 2007 Food Lion SAC Women’s Basketball Tournament Title

HICKORY, N.C. --- Ashlee Wright scored 14 points to lead the Newberry College women's basketball team to its second straight Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship as the third-seeded Lady Indians defeated No. 4 Carson-Newman College 67-62 Sunday afternoon at the Catawba Valley Community College Arena.

Newberry (24-6) earns the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament and advances to the NCAA South Atlantic Regional for a third consecutive year. Carson-Newman falls to 21-9 and awaits word later tonight for a potential at-large berth for the NCAA postseason.

The Lady Indians shot 56.6 percent from the floor for the game, including a sizzzling 17-for-26 in the second half as Wright was a perfect 4-for-4 in the final 20 minutes. For her efforts, Wright was named the SAC Tournament Most Valuable Player.

Newberry's Tonique Frasier finished with 15 points and eight rebounds as she garnered All-Tournament distinction, while Monica Alexander and Tosha Goodman accounted for 11 and 10 points, respectively. Alexander also established a new SAC Tournament finals record with her six steals.

The Lady Eagles were led by Shari Buford's double-double as she contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds. Buford was named to the All-Tournament team as she shot 8-for-12 from the floor for Carson-Newman. Stefanie Holbrook added 14 points,while Tykira McDaniel tallied 10 markers in the loss for the Lady Eagles.

The game was highly contested in the opening half as the score was tied on seven occasions and the lead changed hands four times. Carson-Newman led 23-20 at the 5:19 mark of the first period when McDaniel drained a jumper. But Newberry responded with eight unanswered points and limited C-N to just three shots in the five minutes before the Lady Indians took a 28-23 lead into the locker room.

In the second half Newberry continued its hot shooting scoring the first four points of the period to move out to a 32-23 advantage with 19:01 remaining. C-N ended the scoring drought with a Buford lay-up as the Lady Eagles went almost seven minutes without a point.

Newberry jumped out double-digit leads on the four occasions over the next eight minutes including 47-37 with 11:43 remaining in the contest. Carson-Newman answered with a 12-2 run to trim the deficit to 49-45 at the 9:25 mark thanks to a Holbrook three-pointer. The Lady Indians answered with eight straight points, including a three-pointer by Ashley Marine as NC took its biggest lead of the game at 57-45 with 6:41 left.

Newberry led by a dozen (63-51) again with 3:38 left after a pair of Frasier free throws, but the Lady Eagles made one final push as Holbrook exploded for seven points in a 9-0 C-N run to cut the NC lead to 63-60 with 2:08 remaining in the game.

Tosha Goodman's bucket with 57 seconds left moved Newberry out to a five-point cushion. Holbrook added two more free throws 20 seconds later to trim the deficit to 65-62, but that's as close as the Lady Indians would get.

Tanetra Barrett of Wingate University and Tusculum College's Brooke Underwood rounded out the 2007 SAC All-Tournament squad.

QUOTES:

Newberry Head Coach Jason Brink

(On winning the SAC Tournament for the second consecutive year): This time around I appreciate it even more. It has been even more difficult with all the injuries and illness we've had this year.

(On Carson-Newman rallying late in the game): We got a little complacent after building a big lead. Fortunately we had a couple of kids with big baskets, especially Tasha Goodman, who put us up by five.

(On returning to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row): Last year we played with surprisingly more composure than our first year. Our team has had a goal all year of repeating as SAC Tournament champions. An unspoken goal was to advance in the NCAA Tournament. Going back is not enough. We have enough pieces to the puzzle. We want to win and advance.

(On the play of tournament MVP Ashlee Wright): Up to today, my opinion was that Ashlee Wright was the most unrecognized player in the league. I couldn't believe it. I was so happy. Without Ashlee Wright's play on both ends of the court, we absolutely do not win this game.

Carson-Newman Coach Dean Walsh

I'm very pleased with how we played today. Newberry played very well. Newberry played like a veteran team and it showed. We played like a young team, and it showed.

Shari Buford didd a lot of growing up these last three games. She has been tremendous for us.

Newspaper Box Score (Final)
At Hickory, N.C. (CVCC
NEWBERRY 67, CARSON-NEWMAN 62
CARSON-NEWMAN
Shari Buford 8-12 0-2 16; Stefanie Holbrook 3-6 6-6 14; Tykira McDaniel 4-6 2-2 10; Cassie Burks 4-9 0-0 9; Ashley Kyle 2-7 2-3 6; Ashley Tipton 1-1 0-0 3; Casha Foster 1-5 0-1 2; Tashea LedBetter 1-3 0-0 2; Lindsey Eggleston 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-50 10-14 62.
NEWBERRY
Tonique Frasier 6-8 3-3 15; Ashlee Wright 7-11 0-0 14; Monica Alexander 5-10 0-0 11; Tosha Goodman 5-8 0-0 10; Marine, Ashley 2-4 0-0 6; Laura Marquardt 2-5 1-1 5; Bulcher, Anita 2-3 0-0 4; Gray, Brandi 1-3 0-0 2; Smith, Angela 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-53 4-4 67.
Carson-Newman....... 23 39 - 62
Newberry............ 28 39 - 67
3-point goals-Carson-Newman 4-10 (Stefanie Holbrook 2-4; Cassie Burks 1-3;
Ashley Tipton 1-1; Casha Foster 0-1; Ashley Kyle 0-1), Newberry 3-11
(Marine, Ashley 2-3; Monica Alexander 1-4; Tosha Goodman 0-3; Laura
Marquardt 0-1). Rebounds-Carson-Newman 23 (Shari Buford 10), Newberry 28
(Tonique Frasier 8). Assists-Carson-Newman 14 (Ashley Kyle 5), Newberry 15
(Monica Alexander 6). Total fouls-Carson-Newman 11, Newberry 13. A-365