Junior Lisa Strack registered a career-high 20 points and Liz Leer added 15 to pace the American University women's basketball team to a 60-49 victory over Charleston Southern Sunday afternoon in the World Vision Classic in Lubbock, Texas.

American (3-4) began strong from the opening tip, as the Eagles utilized a 15-0 run over a six-plus minute span in the first half to take a 22-7 lead. AU knocked down four three-pointers during the stretch, two of which came from Strack. Moments later, Strack hit another trifecta to extend the Eagles' advantage to 16, 25-9, with 8:01 to play in the first half.

The Eagles pushed their lead to a game-high 19 points -- 31-12 with 3:58 to go in the half -- following a mini 6-0 run. Stephanie Anya, Alexis Dobbs and Tori Halvorsen each recorded a bucket during the stretch.

Charleston Southern (3-4), however, controlled play over the next five-plus minutes, putting together a 15-0 spurt. The Buccaneers began the run with the final seven points of the first half, and came out of halftime with the opening eight of the second period to cut its deficit to 31-27 with 18:16 to play.

But the Eagles responded with a 9-0 run of their own, which came off an Anya free throw, a Strack bucket, a transition layup by Ashley Yencho, a jumper by Halvorsen, and a Leer layup. American would eventually open up a 15-point margin, 44-29, with 10:47 remaining.

Charleston Southern continued to fight and after three consecutive three-pointers, trimmed the Eagles' advantage to six, 44-38, with 9:12 to play.

With the momentum in Charleston Southern's favor, the Eagles went inside to Leer, who took over the game with three straight buckets from close range. Following Leer's run, the Eagles maintained a 50-38 advantage at the 7:19 mark.

Down the stretch, the Eagles held at least a nine-point advantage for the remainder of the game en route to the victory. Strack closed with eight points in the final 6:12, including a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line, to set the final margin at 60-49 in favor of the Eagles.

"We took the floor with a renewed energy and focus today, which was good to see," commented Head Coach Matt Corkery. "We made a lot of hustle plays and were much better on the defensive end of the floor. We also shared the ball well and executed on offense. It was the game we were hoping to play to wrap up the tournament."

Strack's 20 points, which came on 6-12 from the floor, set a new career-high. She was 3-4 from beyond-the-arc, and also registered six rebounds, three assists, three steals and a career-high-matching two blocked shots.

Leer added 15 points, nine rebounds, five blocks and four assists for the Eagles, as she narrowly missed recording her fourth double-double of the season. The senior was named to the World Vision Classic All-Tournament Team after averaging 11.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots per game over the weekend.

Off the bench, Anya registered a career-best eight points and grabbed five rebounds, while Yencho scored seven points and set a new career-mark with five boards. Dobbs also grabbed a career-best seven rebounds from a guard position.

Charleston Southern was led by Kelsey Wasmer's 18 points, which came on 7-14 shooting. She was 4-8 from three-point range.

AU held the Buccaneers to 27.0 percent shooting in the game, and outrebounded CSU by a 47-36 margin. The Eagles shot a 38.9 percent clip from the field, including 45.5 percent in the second half.

Additionally, American's nine blocked shots as a team goes down as tied for the second most in a single-game in program history. The all-time mark was set on March 9, 2001 when the Eagles registered 10 against James Madison.

After beginning the season with their first seven games away from home, the Eagles will play their home-opener on Thursday, December 2 against George Mason. Tip-time from Bender Arena is set for 7 p.m. Fans that cannot attend the game can watch all the action live on Eagles Vision TV, part of AUeagles.com.