HARROGATE, TENN. — A hearty Cavalier defense held the Railsplitters to only 8-of-28 from beyond the arc en route to a 69-62 triumph in Tex Turner Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
UVA Wise (15-13, 6-11 SAC) and Lincoln Memorial (16-11, 9-9 SAC) held each other within arms reach throughout the first quarter, evening the score five separate times before Lauren Flowers found a three-pointer in the last 55 seconds to take the Railsplitter lead.
Saquita Joyner added onto the Lincoln Memorial lead with a layup right out of the break — but a floater from Nia Vanzant and a three-pointer from Caitlyn Ross quickly tied things up at 17. After a back-and-forth eight minutes and a late two buckets at the charity stripe from Ross, UVA Wise held a mere two-point lead going into the locker room.
The Cavaliers mustered up a significant six point lead by the end of in the third quarter with Vanzant at the forefront. Vanzant produced three consecutive layups and swatted away a shot from Lincoln Memorial's Geovana Rios in less than two minutes to aid the Cavaliers in a 46-40 lead.
UVA Wise put the game away early in the fourth. A layup from Katlin Burger and a three-ball from Vanzant put their squad ahead by 11, and remained at least a two-possession game for the remainder of the contest. Ross would score 10 of her 20 total points in the quarter.
Vanzant and Ross ended the night with 21 points and 20 points, respectively. Burger came off the bench with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cavaliers put up a solid 50-percent shooting performance from three-point range while putting up a 48-percent from the field. Defensively, the Cavaliers outrebounded the 'Splitters by a 49-29 margin.
Lincoln Memorial had a tough shooting night, hitting 31.3-percent from the field and a 28.6-percent from three-point range.
Alexa Smiddy led Lincoln Memorial with 24 points while Joyner trailed right behind with 15 of her own. Flowers was the only other Railsplitter in double-digit scoring with 10.
Up next, UVA Wise rounds out the regular season against the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday, Feb, 25 with a 4 PM tip in the David J. Prior Convocation Center.
