HICKORY, N.C. — The Catawba Valley Community College women's basketball team rose to No. 18 in the latest National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II poll, which was released on Tuesday.

The Red Hawks, who are currently 13-4 overall and 8-1 in Region X play, were ranked No. 19 in last week's poll, but moved up one spot this week.

"I'm happy for the ladies and the program," said CVCC women's basketball coach Tisha England. "I've stayed true to what I believe, which is to teach these ladies life skills and life lessons through the game of basketball and building life long relationships for them to be women with a purpose. It takes faith, belief, trust, commitment, hard work, persistence and consistency to build a program and these ladies have come in and bought into the system. Thanks to everyone who has prayed, supported and not gave up on the Lady Red Hawks. I'm just enjoying the moment and looking to create many more memories."

After starting the week with a difficult 87-84 overtime conference loss to Guilford Tech, the Red Hawks responded with victories against Wake Tech (92-74) and Louisburg (95-69), who previously received votes in the Division II poll, but fell out of the rankings this week.

In the victory against the Hurricanes this past Thursday, sophomore guard Shaniya Lester scored a career-high 31 points, becoming the all-time leading scorer in CVCC women's basketball history by surpassing former Red Hawk All-American Anika Jones (2012-14).

The CVCC women's basketball team returns to action Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m. against Patrick Henry Community College. Admission is free.