BUENA VISTA, Va. — The Southern Virginia University women's basketball team earned their tenth win of the season in a thriller over Averett University by the score of 64-59. 

"We showed a lot of grit tonight, and hopefully, we will be able to show that continuing into our future games." said head coach Lynnette Schroeder. "We struggled in the first half of the game, but we were able to reset and have a better second half." 

Savanna Christensen took charge on the night with a game-high 18 points and contributed 12 boards on the night recording herself a double-double. Sophie Wright had her best game of the season and career, scoring 15 points, which included several key buckets that were crucial to the Knights' (10-2) win. Katie Garrish played consistently with a double-double that included a game-high 14 rebounds and 11 points.

Southern Virginia started off strong scoring the first four points of the game but soon found themselves trailing Averett (6-5) 10-5 early in the first quarter after going on a 10-1 run and ended the quarter leading 19-12. The Cougars showed a strong defensive effort in the second quarter, limiting the Knights' to tie their worst quarter of the season with only seven points. With 1:36 before the break, the Cougars used a 13-4 run to obtain their largest lead of the game at 16 points. 

At the break, Southern Virginia trailed Averett 34-19. Averett outshot the Knights 40 percent (14-for-35) to 16.57 percent (5-for-30) from the field. Southern Virginia dominated on the boards outrebounding the Cougars 22-16, eight of which were offensive. 

The Knights came out after the break scoring the first six points of the second half and began to chip away at Averett's lead. Southern Virginia outscored the Cougars 22-13 in the third quarter, led by Christensen's seven points. 

With 5:58 remaining in the fourth quarter, Wright hit a vital three-pointer to erase Averett's 16 point lead to tie the game at 50 apiece after going on a 31-16 run. Three minutes later, Wright came up big again with a jumper that gave the Knights their first lead of the game since the 6:02 mark in the first quarter. Southern Virginia held the Cougars off the rest of the game and earned their tenth win of the season 64-59. 

Although being outshot 37.5 percent (24-for-64) to 34.4 percent (21-for-61) from the field and 33.3 percent (2-for-6) to 25 percent (3-for-12) from three, Southern Virginia utilized 19 points from free throws to aid them in their victory. The Knights outrebounded the Cougars 48-39, and the bench outscored Averett's bench 15-9. 

Southern Virginia will play Elizabethtown on Jan. 4. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.