SALISBURY, N.C. - - No. 11 Catawba College withstood a valiant UVA Wise effort Saturday as the Indians scored an 86-78 South Atlantic Conference women's basketball victory at Goodman Gym. With the win, Catawba improved to 11-0, the best start in the history of the program.

The game featured 11 ties and 10 lead changes with the last coming with 4:24 to play when Catawba's (11-0, 8-0 SAC) Shemya Stanback scored inside to put her squad in front 76-74. The layup came as part of a 13-4 game-closing run as UVA Wise (3-8, 3-6 SAC) would go nearly three minutes without scoring in the final quarter.

The Indians win came despite a career-game from Cavalier redshirt senior Kalee Johnson. The Elizabethton, Tenn. product scored a career-best 33 points while making a career-high 14 field goals.

Johnson's big day began early as the forward was 5-of-7 from the field in the opening 10 minutes as her 12 first quarter points paced the visitors to a 28-22 advantage going to the second period.

She stayed hot in the second quarter as she finished the first half with 20 points but, Catawba battled back to take a 45-44 lead to intermission behind five made 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.

A Johnson basket at the 8:06 mark of the third quarter put the Cavs up 51-46 before the Indians charged back to take 57-56 lead with 2:49 showing on the third quarter clock following Mercedes Wampler's only bucket of the day.

Thanks to a layup by UVA Wise's Nia Vanzant with four seconds to play in the third quarter, the two schools entered the final period knotted at 64.

The Cavs earned their last lead on a Katlin Burger layup with 5:04 to play before the Indians closed the game on the decisive scoring spurt.

Vanzant finished with 18 points thanks to an 8-for-8 showing at the charity stripe. Her foul shooting led a 13-for-16 effort for UVA Wise at the stripe. Caitlyn Ross tallied eight points, eight rebounds and seven assists while Leah Kestner put in a season-high eight points in defeat.

Stanback led the Indians with 22 points, Taisha DeShazo chipped in 16 with Janiya Downs (15), Sara McIntosh (14) and Ashley Roberts (10) also finishing in double figures.

Catawba finished with a 43-to-30 advantage on the glass; Downs grabbed 10 rebounds to be the only player in the game with a double-double while Roberts finished with six offensive rebounds as part of a seven-rebound day.

The 78 points scored by the Cavs are the most against the Indians this season. Catawba entered the game as the league's top defensive team, holding foes to 55 points per game.

The game concludes the 2021 portion of the season for Jamie Cluesman's squad. UVA Wise will return to play on Sunday, Jan. 2 at 2 p.m. when Wingate visits the Prior Center.