The Royals enter Monday's game off their first win of the season. Queens topped Mars Hill 74-60 Saturday behind a pair of 20-point scorers. Taylor Stevens made a quartet of 3-pointers while teammate Kalaya Hall canned a trio of long-range shots as each woman tallied 20 points for first-year coach Jen Brown who collected the first head coaching win of her career. Rebounding and defense has been an issue for the Royals this season. Entering Monday, the team is allowing 75 points per game while opponents are shooting 42.9 percent from the field. That narrative changed Saturday as Queens won the battle of the boards 46-to-32 and held Mars Hill to 38.1 percent shooting. Christina Deng led the rebounding charge as she corralled 11 offensive boards as part of a 15-rebound performance. The forward finished with a double-double as she scored 12 points in the contest. The defensive effort was the best of the season for the Royals who held an opponent to 60 points or fewer for the first time since Feb. 26, 2020 when the team limited Wingate to 56 points.

UVA Wise will put the longest winning streak in the Southeast Region on the line Monday against Queens. The Cavaliers are off to the best start in program history at 8-1 and stand a game and a half back of the Tusculum Pioneers for the top spot in the South Atlantic Conference  standings. Sophomore guard Caitlyn Ross has been handing out assists in rapid fashion. The 5-foot-6 Ross has tallied 27 assists over the last two games, including 14 in last Monday's 87-79 win at Lincoln Memorial. The number is the most by any woman in the NCAA this season, regardless of classification. While Ross has been handing out assists, it's been a balanced scoring effort for Jamie Cluesman's squad. Both Kalee Johnson and Nia Vanzant have each scored in double figures in each of the last eight contests. Vanzant enters the game third in the league in scoring at 16.0 points per game while Johnson is fifth at 15.6 points a contest. At LMU, the team also placed senior Ada Stanley and junior Mackenzie King in double figures as each woman finished with 11 points. As a team, UVA Wise is averaging a league best 20.3 assists per game. The ball sharing has led to a shooting percentage of 44.9 this season, the Cavs are undefeated when shooting at least 40 percent from the floor. A win would allow the team to start the season 6-0 inside the Prior Center for the first time since the  2016-17 season. That year, UVA Wise went 12-1 at home en route to a 21-11 overall record.