MISENHEIMER, N.C. - Both Anderson and Pfeiffer entered Monday night's contest with identical conference records, sitting one game behind league-leading Barton and a tough night offensively for the Trojans enabled Pfeiffer to defeat Anderson, 77-59, in Conference Carolinas women's basketball action Monday night at Merner Gym. Anderson had won three of its last four contests, while Pfeiffer had won three straight and six of its last eight, so something had to budge. Anderson (9-7, 8-3 Conference Carolinas) trimmed a 17-point first half deficit to just 36-29 early in the second half, but was unable to get any closer as Pfeiffer (9-7, 9-2 Conference Carolinas) improved to an impressive 7-1 in the friendly confines of Merner Gym. "We had some good looks early but then struggled," Anderson head coach Jim Brunelli said. "We need to do something to get ready to play road games." Both teams got off to a slow start, with neither squad able to get on the scoreboard until the Falcons' Charlotte Fuller broke the ice to give Pfeiffer the early advantage with nearly three minutes gone in the first half. The opening half featured four ties and four lead changes in the opening 10 minutes before Pfeiffer's Celeste Caudill knocked down a 3-pointer to spark a 15-1 run and gave the Falcons a 27-15 cushion with 6:34 left in the half. The surge forced AU head coach Jim Brunelli to call for a timeout at the 6:34 mark and the brief break slowed the Falcons momentarily. The Trojans' Egle Bauzaite trimmed the deficit to 10 with 5:29 on the clock, but with four starters saddled with two fouls apiece, Anderson suffered through a four-minute scoring drought. Trailing 34-17 inside the final two minutes, the Trojans made a charge and whittled the Falcons' lead to just eight at the half. A technical foul whistled on the Pfeiffer bench eventually resulted in four consecutive free throws by AU and the Trojans' defense stepped up to hold Pfeiffer scoreless over the remaining 1:04. Alexa Neal's traditional three-point play pulled Anderson within 10 once again and senior guard Shanice Wilson's two from the charity stripe set the margin at 34-26 at the break. Pfeiffer held a 49-35 rebounding advantage and outshot Anderson 49.0 percent to 31.7 while the Trojans connected on 27-of-32 free throws (84.4%) on the night. Neal led all scorers with 19 points, collected five rebounds and handed out a team-best three assists. Freshman Amanda Parris added 10 points on the strength of 5-of-6 from the stripe. Bauzaite contributed nine points and freshman guard Lauren Beeson chipped in eight points, connecting on 8-of-10 from the line. Anderson visits Belmont Abbey in the second contest of the Trojans' season-high four-game road swing on Thursday when AU squares off against the Crusaders at 5:30 p.m. in the Wheeler Center. Box Score