ANDERSON, S.C. -- Mount Olive built a 19-point halftime lead then held off a second-half rally by No. 12 Anderson University to upset the Lady Trojans 73-63 in the championship game of the 2008 Conference Carolinas Tournament Saturday afternoon at the Abney Center. With the victory, Mount Olive, 20-10 overall, earned the league's automatic bid to next week's Division II NCAA Tournament at either Indiana (Pa.) or California (Pa.). Anderson, 27-3 overall, had its 20-game winning streak snapped and lost at home just the second time in Jeff Dow's three years as head coach. Anderson, ranked No. 3 in this week's East Region poll, will now wait to hear its NCAA Tournament fate Sunday night. The Lady Trojans have been to four straight NCAA Tournaments. "It's disappointing," Dow said. "We had a great regular season. We wanted a clean sweep of the regular-season and tournament titles. We wanted to back it up and reinforce it. But you can't spot a good team a 19-point lead. In the first half, we just didn't make much happen. It seemed like we were a step late." Mount Olive never trailed. The visiting Trojans jumped out to an 11-1 lead in the first four minutes. A putback by Nikki Anthony cut the Mount Olive lead to 11 -- 34-23 -- with 2:34 left in the first half. But Mount Olive scored the final eight points of the first half to take a 42-23 lead at the break. In the second half, Anderson tried to rally. A 22-11 run by the Lady Trojans to open the second half cut the Mount Olive lead to 53-45 with 8:20 remaining. Keana Boyd, who lead all scorers with 31 points, led the Anderson rally with 10 points. Boyd scored 22 points and made four 3-point goals in the second half. A putback by Anthony and two 3-point baskets by Boyd got Anderson within four -- 57-53 -- 6:19 to play. But Mount Olive beat back the Anderson rally with an 8-0 run to push its lead back to 12 -- 65-53 -- with 3:24 left. Helen Moore scored two field goals during the Mount Olive run. "They made the plays and we didn't," Dow said. "It was a great effort defensively by them in the second half to commit just six fouls and send us to the line just six times. I'm blown away by how good they were defensively." Anderson made one more push and got within six -- 65-59 -- with 1:43 remaining, but Mount Olive made six free throws in the final 50 seconds -- four by Lakeisha Monroe and two by Tomeka Prichard to seal the upset and the tournament championship. Mount Olive was led by Moore, who scored 20 points, and Monroe, who tallied 19. Following Boyd for Anderson was Anthony with 17 points and a game-high 17 rebounds. The double-double was Anthony's 17th of the season. She has recorded double-doubles in seven of Anderson's last eight games. Mount Olive shot 53 percent in the first half and 49 percent for the game. After shooting just 28 percent in the first half, Anderson shot 46 percent in the second half to finish the game at 38 percent. Mount Olive forced 23 Anderson turnovers and 25 points off those turnovers. Anderson scored just 10 points off 17 Mount Olive turnovers. Led by Anthony and Genia Holbrook, who had 11 rebounds, Anderson won the boards, 44-30. Mount Olive had 18 assists on 28 baskets. Monroe and Keona Corley had six assists apiece for the visiting Trojans. "The biggest thing now is we can't let this loss linger," Dow said. "This game is over and done with. The players have done everything I have asked them to do this season. We've got to shift gears and get ready for the NCAA Tournament on Friday." The members of the All-Tournament team were Corley, Moore, and Monroe from Mount Olive; Anthony and Boyd from Anderson; Mercedes King from Belmont Abbey, and Sara Fleming from Barton. Monroe was named the tournament MVP. Box: Mount Olive 73, Anderson 63 Anderson University Women's Basketball Statistics