HICKORY, N.C. - Facing the team that handed them their last defeat, the Lenoir-Rhyne women's basketball team defeated UVA Wise 89-86 to win their 13th game in a row.
UVA Wise outscored the Bears 29-17 in the fourth quarter but an and-1 from
Aaliyah El with a second left gave the Bears the win.
Abigail Brown (16p, 2r) went 6-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to keep the Bears ahead.
With the win the Bears hold the solo lead in the South Atlantic Conference regular season standings.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: #25 Lenoir-Rhyne 89, UVA Wise 86
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (18-4, 14-2 SAC), UVA (13-9, 10-6 SAC)
Location: Hickory, N.C. | Shuford Arena
STORY OF THE GAME:
- Tatum Bowen hit a three to cap off a 12-0 Lenoir-Rhyne run in the first quarter to put them up 25-10.
- Lenoir-Rhyne led 31-15 early in the third after buckets from Trista Charles and Aaliyah El.
- Amiya Porter and Elyseia Brown hit late threes in the second quarter to give the Bears a 48-32 lead at the break.
- Brown hit yet another three early in the third to give the Bears a 20 point advantage.
- Ralee Bare was fouled at the third quarter buzzer and hit two free throws to give Lenoir-Rhyne a 72-57 lead going into the final 10 minutes of play.
- There were 25 combined free throw attempts in the fourth quarter, 16 coming from the Cavaliers.
- UVA WIse hit 13 of those 16 free throws to keep themselves in it, eventually tying the game at 86-86 with 10 seconds left.
- Aaliyah El did what she does best, hitting a turnaround jumper to win the game for the Bears.
STATS OF THE GAME:
- Aaliyah El (19), Abigail Brown (16), and Elyseia Brown (15) finished in double figures.
- 10 Bears scored a point in this one.
- Lenoir-Rhyne was 9-9 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.
- Madelyn Winterton finished with a strong stat line of nine points, eight boards, and four assists.
- The Bears were 32-64 (50%) from the field, 8-22 (36.4%) from three and 17-19 (89.5%) from the free throw line.
- UVA Wise went 26-62 (41.9%) from the field, 6-25 (24%) from three, and 28-38 (73.7%) from the charity stripe.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
- UVA Wise leads the all-time series 7-5.
- The Bears (14-2) sit in solo first place in the SAC ahead of Lincoln Memorial (13-3) and Coker (13-3).
- Lenoir-Rhyne was ranked #25 in last week's WBCA Poll, their first ranking since week 10 of the 2022-23 season.
- The Bears' longest win streak of all time is 15 games, set in the 1979-80 season.
UP NEXT: Lenoir-Rhyne his the road next week for matchups at Newberry and Mars Hill. Their next game will be on Wednesday at Newberry, who defeated Emory & Henry 69-64 earlier today. The Bear defeated the Wolves 86-51 in Hickory in early January. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
