Newberry girls hand Keenan first region loss of season

Newberry girls coach Melissa Mendenhall thought her team didn’t play up to its potential in its first matchup against Keenan.

That wasn’t the case in the second meeting.

The sixth-ranked Bulldogs shook off a rough first quarter to defeat the No. 5 Raiders 68-64 on Tuesday in a matchup of ranked teams in the South Carolina Coaches Class 2A poll.

“We invented this theory called “The fist,” and you can’t make a fist without all five fingers being a part,” Mendenhall said. “Everybody has to play hard and everyone did that tonight.”

With the win, Newberry takes over first place in Region 3-2A by a ½ game over Keenan. The Bulldogs have four region games left, while the Raiders have five. If the two teams finished in a tie, they will play a tiebreaker game at a neutral site.

Nigeria Davis had a game-high 19 points and Bryanna Davis added 15 for the Bulldogs, who lost to Keenan 59-51 on Jan. 9.

Newberry trailed 20-8 after the first quarter, but used its full-court press to turn the tide in the second quarter to pull within 29-27 at halftime. The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game as Bryanna Davis hit two free throws to put them up 35-33 with 3:26 left in the third quarter.

“We wanted to run them to death and get them in foul trouble,” Mendenhall said. “I think we did both.”

The game was tied at 42 headed into the fourth quarter before Keenan’s Meagan Young hit a 3-pointer and Breia Jackson has a basket to give the Raiders a 47-43 lead with 5:24 left.

Newberry answered with a 10-2 run to take its biggest lead of the game, at 54-49, with 3:40 left.

Keenan got within 64-62 on Logan McDaniel’s layup with 28.6 seconds left, ut Bryanna Davis hit four free throws and came up with a big steal to seal the victory.

“In the last timeout, we told her we needed her to make those free throws and she made all four,” Mendenhall said.

Jackson and Jadiamond Hickman each had 17 points to lead the Raiders. Hickman hit three of the team’s six 3-pointers.

“They made us turn it over and that is their game,” Keenan coach Reggie McLain said. “They play fast and make you turn it over and get a lot of easy opportunities. And they got a lot of easy opportunities.

“And down the stretch, we turned it over did things that wasn’t like us. We did things we normally don’t do.”

Keenan turned the ball over 18 times in the game.

BOYS Keenan 65, Newberry 57

Dantrell Sligh-Rodgers scored 14 points and Thurman Trapp added 13 as the Raiders extended their region winning streak to 58 games.

Keenan hasn’t lost a region game since 2010 when it fell to Eau Claire. The Raiders (12-7, 7-0) maintain a one-game lead over Fairfield Central in the Region 3-2A standings. The two teams will meet Feb. 12 in a makeup game from Friday’s postponement.

Terrell Rogers led Newberry with 17 points.