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Lady Trojans Upset Armstrong Atlantic, 84-77

ORLANDO, Fla. - Deidra Langston scored a career-high 30 points and Stephanie Ponds and LaShonda Chiles added 16 points and 15 points, respectively, to lead Anderson College to an 84-77 upset of Peach Belt preseason favorite Armstrong Atlantic State Friday afternoon in the first round of Disney's Division II Tip-Off Classic at the Milk House at Disney's World of Sports. "Anytime you can beat the No. 1 team in the Peach Belt, you feel very fortunate and you know you played a tremendous game," said Anderson head coach Kevin Pederson. "I'm extremely proud of our team. We had plenty of foul trouble in the second half, but we didn't give up. We showed a lot of mental toughness. I'm really happy we pulled this one out." Anderson, 1-0 overall and the preseason favorite to win the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference title, advances to Saturday's second round to face Bentley (Mass.) at 6 p.m. Armstrong, 0-1, will play Mesa State in the second round at 1 p.m. Saturday. In their last 22 games when they score 80 points or more, the Lady Trojans are 22-0. The Lady Trojans scored the first 14 points of the game, relinquished the lead six minutes into the second half, rebuilt a 10-point margin, and then held on for the victory. The game was played at a hectic pace as both teams pressed and ran the entire contest. The pace created plenty of turnovers on both sides - 29 for Armstrong and 28 for Anderson. Anderson benefited from some poor Armstrong free throw shooting. The Pirates made just 21-of-39 from the line. The pace of the game stressed Anderson's bench. When the game ended, the Lady Trojans had six players with four fouls, but they did not have a player foul out. Langston, a sophomore from Gainesville, Ga., scored most of her points on drives off passes over Armstrong's pressure defense. Langston's previous high was 22 points against Lees-McRae on Feb. 18, 2004. Armstrong was led by Audosha Kelley with 22 points, Alicia Durham with 13 points, and Peaches Howard with 12. Armstrong won the boards, 55-52. Kelley was the game's top rebounder with 13. Ponds and Deanna Thompson had 10 rebounds apiece for Anderson With the game tied at 58, the 10th tie of the game, the Lady Trojans went on a 19-9 run for a 77-67 lead with 3:36 remaining in the game. Chiles had seven points and Ponds had four points during Anderson's run. But the Pirates bounced back with a 10-2 run to slice Anderson's lead to 79-77 with 1:58 left. Kelly scored four points during the run for the Pirates. Durham's layup at 1:58 was Armstrong's final score of the game. Langston made two baskets in a 54-second span to give Anderson an 83-77 lead with 1:04 to play. Box: Anderson 84, Armstrong Atlantic 77

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