SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - - Morgan Arden scored a game-high 28 points and Shepherd forced 19 UVa-Wise turnovers as the Rams claimed a 69-62 Mountain East Conference win at the Butcher Center Wednesday. The victory was the second consecutive league win for Jenna Eckleberry's club who improved to 4-8 overall and 3-3 in league action.

Playing just two days after a double overtime loss at Fairmont State, UVa-Wise (6-4, 2-4 MEC) got off to a sluggish start. After an early bucket inside by the Cavaliers' Kayla Carey, the Rams would go on a 15-2 scoring spurt to take a 15-4 lead at the 3:28 mark of the opening period.

The Shepherd lead would grow to as large as 15 points when Tiffany McKinney picked off an errant pass and raced coast-to-coast for a layup to give her team a 25-10 lead with 8:37 remaining in the opening half.

A possession later, UVa-Wise began its comeback. Coach Kristin Kunzman's team would finish the half on a 20-5 run to go to intermission tied at 30. Twelve of the Cavs 20 points during the stretch would come from points in the paint while two more came from drawing a foul at the rim.

Momentum carried over for UVa-Wise when play began in the third quarter as the visitors scored eight of the period's first 10 points. Blair Harding found Carey inside for the first points of the half before sinking a pair of free throws. Taylor Sandidge added the other four points for the Cavs during the stretch.

Trailing 40-36 with 5:35 to play in the quarter, Shepherd went on a run of its own. The Rams closed the third stanza by outscoring the Cavs 16-6. Tiffany McKinney made two 3-point baskets and Shepherd scored six points off UVa-Wise turnovers to close out the quarter.

A Natalia Saar jumper with eight minutes to play got UVa-Wise within two points at 52-50. It would be as close as the Cavs would get over the remainder of the contest. The Rams scored six of the next eight points to stretch their lead to 58-52 with 6:06 showing on the clock.

UVa-Wise made one final push when a 3-pointer by Harding and an inside bucket by Carey cut the lead to three at 60-57 with 4:29 remaining. As they had done all night, the hosts responded. Shepherd went on a 6-0 run to take a 66-57 lead with under two minutes to play.

An old fashioned 3-point play by Harding got her team within six with just over a minute to play but the free throw shooting of Arden and Kari Lankford salted the game away for the Rams.

Arden added three assists to her game-high 28 points while Lankford went six of eight from the field en route to 13 points. Lankford added eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Carey scored 16 points and recorded a season-high 16 rebounds as UVa-Wise won the battle of the boards 47-32. Harding led the Cavs with 17 points and Sandidge chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and five assists from her point guard position.

For the second consecutive game Sandidge played every second of the contest. She has now played 90 minutes in the last two contests.

The 19 turnovers proved costly for UVa-Wise as Shepherd turned the mistakes into 20 points.

The game was the second of four consecutive league contests away from the Prior Center for UVa-Wise. Next up is a trip to Urbana University on Sunday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. and the game can be heard live on www.uvawisecavs.com