HICKORY. NC – After a hard-fought back and forth game, in the end it came down to the last shot as Lenoir Rhyne hit a basket with five seconds left to escape Shuford Arena with the 77-75 South Atlantic Conference win over UVA Wise Saturday afternoon.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Result: Lenoir-Rhyne 77, UVA Wise 75
Records: UVA Wise (5-3, 2-2 SAC); Lenoir-Rhyne (3-4, 2-3 SAC)
Location: Hickory, NC | Shuford Memorial Arena
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Bears opened the game with a 9-2 run, but the Cavs would come back to cut it to three on multiple occasions over the balance of the first quarter.
- They would cut the lead to one point three times early in the second quarter, finally taking their first lead on an
Ella Karst jumper with 5:06 left in the half. Lenoir-Rhyne would quickly regain the lead and go ahead by four, but a three-pointer by
Caroline Mullins and an unconventional layup by Emilia Preece late in the period gave the Cavs the 40-39 lead at the intermission.
- Baskets by
Sable Burnside and
Katlin Burger put the Cavs ahead by five points to open the second half, and the teams would essentially trade baskets down the stretch until a three-pointer by Karst gave UVA Wise a 61-56 lead with 30 seconds left in the third.
- A basket by Mullins with 8:22 left in the game gave the Cavs the 65-57 lead, their larges of the game. The Bears would then score eight unanswered points to tie the game at 65-65. Neither team led by more than two points the rest of the game. Karst tied the game at 75-75 with 31 seconds left, and the Bears held the ball until they saw a gap in the defense and drove in for the layup with five seconds left. UVA Wise called timeout to advance the ball, but the basket as time expired hit the front of the rim and L-R escaped with the 77-75 win.
- Three Bears scored in double-figures, led by Alexandra Merceron's 25 points. Emily Harman had 18 points and Vanessa Jurewicz had 12. Blaikely Crooks led L-R with eight rebounds.
GETTING WISE
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Sable Burnside led the way for the Highland Cavs as she tied her career high of 28 points. She also had four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
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Ella Karst chipped in 12 points and three rebounds.
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Caroline Mullins led the team with seven rebounds and four assists in addition to scoring nine points.
- The Cavs shot 48.4 percent from the field, a season-high 41.7 percent from three-point range, and 80.0 percent from the free throw line. They had a season low 12 turnovers while the Bears had 14, and trailed in rebounding 33-31.
UP NEXT
The Cavs return home to host #5/#4 Carson-Newman Wednesday evening on the Quillen Court. The Eagles are currently ranked fourth in the CSC Media Poll and fifth in the WBCA Coaches Poll, but that will change after they suffered their first loss of the season at Anderson earlier today. 77-68.
