WISE - - UVa-Wise built a 53-40 lead after three quarters and held off a late King University rally to claim a 72-67 victory over the Tornado at the Prior Center Sunday. The win completes a perfect 4-0 non-conference slate for the Cavaliers who have also defeated Tusculum, West Virginia Tech and Winston-Salem State in the early season.

UVa-Wise (6-2) built a 23-12 lead after the first period as Blair Harding made four 3-pointers in the opening 10 minutes. 

King (5-5) took its only lead of the game on the day's first two points. Amy Van Deventer boarded a miss and put the ball back in the basket to give the Tornado a 2-0 lead.

Harding's first triple of the day seconds later gave UVa-Wise a lead it would hold for the remainder of the contest.

A 3-point basket by Allison Ball gave UVa-Wise its biggest lead of the day at 32-14 with 8:16 to play in the opening half. Ball's long distance basket was the third 3-point make by the sophomore in a 71 second span.

King would get as close as 11 points with 3:02 to play in the first half when Sheena Jackson's foul shot found the bottom of the net.

Consecutive jumpers from Harding and Natalia Saar extended the lead back out to 15 at 40-25 as the teams headed to intermission.

Coach Kristin Kunzman's Cavs made seven of 12 3-point attempts in the half as Harding and Ball combined to score 27 of the team's 40 first half points. UVa-Wise forced 11 King turnovers and a 0-5 showing from beyond the arc.

UVa-Wise would hold a double digit lead throughout the third period as Taylor Sandidge scored four of her 10 points in the stanza.

The Tornado began their run at the start of the fourth quarter. A 3-pointer by Kristen Cupples cut the lead to 53-43. Cupples' bucket was the start of 12-2 run for the Tornado. With the spurt, King had cut the UVa-Wise lead to 55-52 with 5:20 to play.

A Sandidge layup halted the run but the Tornado would not go away. A Whitney Mitchell jumper cut the lead to one at 62-61 with 1:24 remaining. Again, Sandidge responded, this time the Waynesboro, Virginia native made two free throws to extend the lead to 64-61 with just under a minute to play.

Consecutive free throws by Mitchell once again cut the lead to one only to see Harding sink a pair of free throws for UVa-Wise to run the lead back to three at 66-63 with 55 seconds left.

Mitchell's strong fourth quarter continued as she scored inside with 45 ticks left making the score 66-65. It would be the final time, King would be within a point. Kehana Grayer made a 15-foot jump shot before an Arnelle Collins miss led to two more free throws by Harding.

Harding would make two more free throws in the final 10 seconds to provide the winning margin of 72-67.

Harding scored a game-high 25 points while Ball scored a career-high 16 points. Sandidge finished with 10 points and seven assists against just one turnover while Grayer led all players with 10 boards.

The Cavs' foul shooting proved to be the difference as they made 17 of 19 attempts in the win.

Ashley Albertson led King with 20 points while Van Deventer added 13.

The win preceded a win by the UVa-Wise men over King to give the Cavs a sweep on the day.