WISE - - Junior Nia Vaznat scored the 1,000th point of her UVA Wise career as part of a 24-point, 13-rebound outing in her team's 71-55 South Atlantic Conference basketball victory over Limestone at the Prior Center Saturday.
WHERE IT BEGAN
Vanzant's basket with 1:06 to play in the opening quarter gave her eight in the period, allowed her to surpass 1,000 career points and gave UVA Wise a 14-13 lead. The opening 10 minutes also saw Kalee Johnson get off to a fast start. The redshirt senior grabbed seven of her career-best 20 rebounds in the stanza as the Cavaliers limited the Saints to 1-of-9 shooting from the 3-point line to start the contest.
THE MIDDLE QUARTERS
During the middle portion of the game, Limestone was assessed 14 fouls which sent UVA Wise to the charity stripe 18 times. Jamie Cluesman's team would convert 16-of-18 attempts during the run to build a 57-45 lead going to the fourth quarter.
CLOSING IT DOWN
Defense ruled the day for UVA Wise and it was no more evident than in the fourth quarter. Limestone made just 3-of-23 field goal attempts in the final period as the visitors would be unable to get closer than 10 points in the period en route to losing its first game ever to the Cavs.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Limestone finished the game 23-for-82 from the floor; the 28 percent shooting is the second lowest total by UVA Wise foe this winter. The Cavs grabbed 54 rebounds to tie for the most by the team this season as four players recorded at least six rebounds in the game. Vanzant's 13 rebounds were a career-high while Caitlyn Ross stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. By joining the 1,000 point club, Vanzant becomes the 23rd player in program history to do so.
Regan McCray netted a team-best 18 points in the loss while Kalisha Hill chipped in 10 for the Saints.
NEXT UP
UVA Wise travels to Mars Hill Wednesday in search of a season-series sweep of the Lions when the squads tip at 5:30 p.m. Fans not traveling to the game can hear it live on FM 92.5 (wlsdradio.com)
