Box Score WISE - - Visiting Urbana University stopped UVa-Wise's three game winning streak with a 77-66 victory in the Mountain East Conference for both schools on Saturday. The Blue Knights' DeVonyea Johnson led all players with 29 points, the guard also grabbed seven rebounds and handed out six assists in the victory.
Mid-way through the opening half, the Cavaliers (3-1, 0-1 MEC) had built a seven point advantage due in large part to three made 3-pointers. Two of the perimeter shots came from junior
Katie Jo Lester who finished the game with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Urbana (2-1, 1-0 MEC) would finish the first half on a 21-11 run to take a 35-32 at the half. Johnson scored 11 of her points in the half posting four assists in the opening period. The Blue Knights overcame a 28-16 rebounding deficit by connecting on 5-9 3-point attempts in the half.
In the opening five minutes of the second half, the visitors were unable to stretch the lead to double digits. The Blue Knights would eventually get to that mark with a jumper by Lexi Taylor that gave first year coach Kristina Danella's club a 54-43 lead.
UVa-Wise would trail by double digits for most of the remainder of the contest. The Cavaliers closed the game to six with five minutes to play on a 3-pointer by
Makenzie Cluesman only to see the Knights push the margin back to 11 with just under three minutes to play.
Urbana finished the game 27-56 from the field (48.2 percent) and 9-22 from beyond the arc (40.9 percent). Kennedy Boggs, 12 and Taylor 10 joined Johnson in double figure scoring.
Reynesha Archer came off the bench to post a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds for UVa-Wise and Cluesman scored a team-high 16 points in the loss. For the game, the Cavs out-rebounded the Knights 49-33. Cold shooting doomed UVa-Wise as the team made 21-69 attempts (30.4 percent) from the field and 7-27 (25.9 percent) of shots from distance.
The Cavs will return to play on Monday when Notre Dame College visits the Prior Center for a 5:30 pm tip.
