ANDERSON, S.C. - The 15th-ranked Anderson women's basketball team opened a two-game South Atlantic Conference road swing by scoring eight unanswered points in the final minute to overcome a five point deficit and escape with a 57-54 win over Lenoir-Rhyne, Saturday afternoon at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.

Anderson (10-1, 8-0 SAC) remained undefeated in conference action with its 24th straight regular-season victory, while Lenoir-Rhyne fell to 3-9 overall and 2-6 in league play with its fourth loss in five outings.

Junior guard Nakia Young led all scorers with 14 points, including six of Anderson's final eight points, while scoring the tying and go-ahead points on a traditional three-point play with 19 seconds left in the game. Senior guard Madison Floyd added 13 points, with senior forward Jennifer Monroe tallying nine points and six rebounds before fouling out with 6:29 left. Despite being hampered with foul trouble, junior forward Alexis Dillard shared team-high rebounding honors with six.

Morgan Cooper led the Lenoir-Rhyne attack with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Jasmine Stafford added nine points. Brooke Robinson chipped in eight points and nine boards for the Bears.

The Trojans overcame Lenoir-Rhyne's 43-38 rebounding advantage by forcing 18 turnovers and outshot the Bears, 38 percent to 31.7 percent.

With the teams combining for just seven field goals in the opening quarter, AU claimed an early lead and held a 13-10 advantage following the opening 10 minutes of action. The Trojans equaled their largest lead to that point, at 16-12, on a 3-pointer from Madison Floyd at the 8:56 mark of the second quarter, but Lenoir-Rhyne chipped away and knotted the score at 18 apiece on a traditional three-point play from Stafford. But the Trojans answered with a 7-2 surge, as Young fueled the outburst with five points and the Black and Gold held a 29-27 lead at intermission.

Anderson scored the first nine points of the second half and claimed its largest lead of the game, at 38-27, with just more than seven minutes left in the third quarter. But the Bears answered by erupting on a 23-4 run over the next 10 minutes en route to staking a 50-42 lead with just 7:02 left in the contest.

But Monroe dropped in a pair of free throws at the 5:08 mark to spark a 13-4 outburst that included the final eight points of the contest. With the Trojans trailing 54-49 inside the final minute, Young sank a 3-pointer and following a turnover by the Bears, the junior from Taylors, S.C., drove the right side of the lane and drew a foul as the ball dropped through the basket to even the score at 54-54 with 19 seconds on the clock. Her ensuing free throw gave AU the lead and Floyd followed with her second steal of the afternoon.

With L-R forced to foul, Floyd stepped to the line and drained a pair of free throws to set the final score, as the Bears' Cooper misfired on a potential tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Anderson will get back on the hardwood Wednesday, when the Trojans visit Lincoln Memorial for a 6 p.m. tip-off.