Lenoir-Rhyne hosts UVA Wise in a pivotal South Atlantic Conference game Wednesday as the two schools take part in women's basketball annual Play 4 Kay Games in honor of former North Carolina State coach Kay Yow who passed away from breast cancer in 2009, fans can donate to the cause by visiting kayyow.com. The Bears are tied with the Cavaliers for the final SAC Tournament berth and with just three regular season games remaining following the contest, Wednesday's game will go a long way in determining one of the final tournament berths. LR has lost three in a row and five of its last six heading into its game with UVA Wise. The Bears have been playing without leading scorer Madeline Hardy over the last four games. Hardy is averaging 14.6 points per game and since being out, LR has only cracked 60 points once as a team. Prior to Hardy's departure, the Bears scored over 60 points on 14 occasions and the team is averaging 64.5 points per game. A key to the game may be how well Kennedy Weigt shoots from distance, Weigt leads the league in 3-point field goals attempted (196) and third in made 3-pointers (56). In her team's win in Wise earlier this season, Weigt made a pair of 3-pointers en route to a game-high 20 points.

The youthful talents of Nia Vanzant and Caitlyn Ross helped carry UVA Wise to a 76-58 road win at Queens Saturday. With the win, the Cavaliers moved to a tie for eighth place in the league standings with LR. Vanzant netted a season-high 30 points as the point total was the highest for any UVA Wise player this season while Ross continued her fine freshman season by scoring 21 points, grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out seven assists. The Cavaliers have been playing better defense as of late. Against Lincoln Memorial last Wednesday, UVA Wise held the Railsplitters to 30 percent shooting from the floor and 18 percent from the 3-point line before following up the performance by holding Queens to 38.5 percent shooting and 25 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Ross is in hot pursuit of the single-season school assist record. The guard enters the game with 143 assists, 28 shy of the 171 assists tallied by Amber Carter in the 2010-11 season. Vanzant has become the team's leading scorer down the stretch as the guard has scored in double figures in five straight games while scoring at least 18 in four of the games. Over the last five games, Vanzant is averaging 20.4 points per game.