Storylines – vs Newberry College
Newberry saw its three-game winning streak snapped Wednesday in an 86-45 road loss at Anderson. The Wolves enter their game with the Cavaliers in fifth place in the South Atlantic Conference Standings but still in danger of missing the league tournament. Teams fifth through nine are separated by just two games and a loss to UVA Wise would put Joanaa Tincher's team on the bubble. The Wolves are led by a trio of players averaging 10 or more points per game. Junior guard Talia Roberts is the team's leading scorer as she averages 12.4 points per game off the bench while fellow guard Keli Romas is netting 12.3 points per game and senior Kelsey McDermott is chipping in just over 10 points per game. Kelsey Brett was a problem for the Cavs in the first meeting between the two schools as she scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting. The strength of the Wolves this season has been the team's ability to limit opponents from the the 3-point line. To date, teams are making just 25.5 percent of 3-point field goal attempts against the Wolves, the number leads the SAC and ranks 11th nationally. In Newberry's first meeting against UVA Wise, the Wolves allowed eight made 3-pointers on 38 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
About UVA Wise
Tied for the eighth and final SAC Tournament berth, UVA Wise enters the final seven games of the regular season in need of victories to secure a postseason berth in its first season as a SAC member. The team has endured arguably the most injuries in school history but finds itself just a game below .500 overall at 10-11 due in large part to a core group of Kalee Johnson, Hanna Oliver, Nia Vanzant and Caitlyn Ross. The quartet for the most part has avoided the injury bug and has played more minutes than could have been imagined at the start of the season. Entering Saturday, Johnson is shooting a career-high 43.1 percent from the floor while having already made a career-best 24 3-pointers. Oliver has recently broke out of a shooting slump having made multiple 3-pointers in six of the last eight contests, Vanzant has become the team's most consistent scorer having scored 20 or more in back-to-back games while Ross is the only player in the nation with at least 275 points, 130 assists, 100 rebounds and 50 steals. The Cavaliers won the first meeting between the two schools behind a career-high 25 points from Ross on 10-of-14 shooting. Johnson also chipped in 14 points as UVA Wise claimed a 79-75 victory.