Newberry Spoils Matt Schmidt's Home Coaching Debut, 63-57

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Visiting Newberry College spoiled the home head coaching debut of Matt Schmidt as the Lady Pirates dropped a 63-57 decision on Tuesday evening at Alumni Arena.

The loss was the first of the season for AASU (3-1), while Newberry halted its two-game slide to improve to 3-2 on the year.

Newberry opened up a seven-point lead at halftime, 34-27, and widened that lead to nine, 39-30, on two free throws by Laura Marquardt with 15:56 left in the game. AASU embarked on a 17-6 run over the next seven minutes, taking the lead on a Lauren Hall layup to make it 47-45 Lady Pirates with 7:15 left. A three-pointer by Helen McKinney, however, sparked a 15-3 run by Newberry to take control of the game.

Marquardt led all players in the contest with a career-high 22 points for Newberry on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 2-of-4 three-pointers and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. McKinney finished the night with 17 points and 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and Anita Bulcher chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds. 

The Lady Pirates placed four players in double figures, led by reigning PBC Player of the Week Lacey Willis, who collected 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor, to go with a career-high 14 rebounds. Lauren Hall added 13 points off the bench, while Lindsey Holmes hit 4-of-10 three-pointers for 12 points and Dartayvia Thomas added 11 points and eight rebounds.

Newberry enjoyed a healthy advantage from the free throw line, hitting 18-of-26 from the stripe (69.2 percent), compared to AASU hitting just 3-of-8 from the line (37.5 percent). It was the fewest amount of free throws attempted by the Lady Pirates since the opening game of last season, when AASU went 6-6 against Alabama-Huntsville on Nov. 16.

AASU returns to action on Saturday, November 29, with a 2:00 p.m. contest against Limestone at Alumni Arena.