CHARLOTTE, N.C. - - The freshman duo of Nia Vanzant and Caitlyn Ross played beyond their years Saturday as the pair led UVA Wise to a 76-58 South Atlantic Conference women's basketball victory over Queens University of Charlotte. Vanzant netted a season-high 30 points while Ross scored 21 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out seven assists as Jamie Cluesman's team completed the season-series sweep of the Royals.

With the win, UVA Wise (11-13, 7-11 SAC) moves to a tie for eighth place in the league standings with Lenoir-Rhyne. The two schools meet Wednesday evening in Hickory, N.C. with the top eight teams in the conference standings advancing to next month's league tournament.

Queens (5-19, 4-14 SAC) came into the game as one of the league leaders in free throws attempted per game at 20 a contest. UVA Wise limited the host's ability to get to the charity stripe by mixing between a man defense, a zone, and a box-and-one; the continual changing limited the Royals to 10 foul shots.

Conversely, the free throw line was a spark for the visitors as the Cavaliers made 19-of-27 attempts. Ross went to the line 13 times and converted eight of those chances while Vanzant was 7-of-8 from the stripe.

In addition to her season-high point tally, Vanzant tied her season-high for made field goals with 10 while also connecting on 3-of-4 3-point field goal attempts as she finished 10-of-14 from the floor.

Cluesman's club out rebounded the larger Royals with a total team effort on the glass. Five Cavs had at least five rebounds including Ada Stanley who tied Ross for team-high honors with eight boards.

UVA Wise made seven triples in the win, Hanna Oliver finished 2-of-4 from distance while Ross made 1-of-2 3-point field goal attempts to go with Vanzant's 3-for-4 showing.

Kristian Eanes netted a team-high 20 points while Julia Raflund chipped in 13 points in the loss.

The loss was the third straight for Queens who was eliminated from postseason contention with the defeat.

Wednesday's game at Lenoir-Rhyne is set for a 5:30 p.m. tip and fans can listen to the game live on FM 92.5 WLSD or online at wlsdradio.com