Alexis Dobbs scored a career-best 16 points and Liz Leer chipped in 13 in a hard-fought 64-60 victory over George Washington Saturday afternoon in Bender Arena. In addition, Stephanie Anya scored a career-high nine points, and Lisa Strack recorded 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Eagles as they won their fourth consecutive game.

American (6-4) got off to a hot start to begin the contest as the Eagles scored the first eight points, holding George Washington (5-6) off the scoreboard until the 14:13 mark of the first half. A Nicole Ryan three-pointer off a Strack feed extended AU's advantage to nine, 11-2, as the Eagles controlled the action early on.

Midway through the half once the Colonials cut American's lead to 17-16, the Eagles responded with a 13-2 run to increase the margin to 30-18 with under four minutes to play in the period. Leer registered six points during the span on three straight made jumpers, and Anya and Dobbs also scored buckets. American soon extended its advantage to a game-high 13, 33-20, and the Eagles took a 38-27 lead into halftime.

The Colonials, however, turned the tide to begin the second period as they started the half on a 14-3 run to tie the score at 41 with 14:30 to go. But a Dobbs layup silenced the GW spurt, and four minutes later, a high-arching three from Ashley Yencho pushed AU's advantage back to seven, 52-45.

But George Washington refused to go away quietly, eventually cutting American's margin back to 55-54 with under four minutes remaining. The Eagles struck back thanks to a strong drive by Yencho, resulting in a three-point play with just over three minutes left. Moments later, AU regained a five-point lead, 59-54, on a free throw by Leer before back-to-back GW buckets trimmed American's advantage to one, 59-58, with 30 seconds to play.

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After a timeout, American was unable to inbound the basketball, resulting in a five-second violation. The Colonials took possession, looking for their first lead of the game, but as Sara Mostafa went up for the shot, AU's Anya rotated over and made the play of the game with a crucial blocked shot. Dobbs controlled the rebound for the Eagles and knocked down a pair of free throws on the other end of the floor to push the lead back to three, 61-58, with 27 seconds to go.

George Washington still had a chance to tie in the final seconds but Dobbs came away with a steal and converted two more free throws. GW's Brooke Wilson recorded a bucket with three seconds left, but Leer's made free throw iced the game, giving American the 64-60 triumph.

"I think this was a big win in the fact that we were off for two weeks [leading up to the George Washington game] and we didn't know for sure what we would look like and how we would start. That's a long time in the middle of the season and we got our momentum going back again," commented Head Coach Matt Corkery. "I think GW is a quality opponent and we can gain a lot of confidence from that."

The Eagles shot a red-hot 61.5 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes to aid their 11-point halftime lead, and ended up shooting 44.9 percent for the game. AU outrebounded the Colonials by a 39-31 margin, and held GW to a 27.8 percent clip from beyond-the-arc.

Dobbs led the way with her 16 points on 5-11 shooting from the field. This marked the second straight game in which she has set a new career-best in scoring after her 14-point performance against Youngstown State on December 4. She also added eight rebounds and three steals against the Colonials, both of which set new career-marks as well.

Leer was also in double figures for the Eagles with 13 on 5-10 FG, while Ryan had nine on three-made trifectas. Anya's nine points eclipsed her previous career-best of eight, and her output came on a productive 4-of-6 shooting. Strack finished with only five points, but made her impact felt in other ways -- including a career-high 10 rebounds and seven assists.

George Washington was led by three double-figure scorers, most notably 14 points by Ivy Abiona on 7-10 shooting. Brooke Wilson chipped in 13 off the bench while Tara Booker scored 11 for the Colonials.

The win was the fourth straight for American as the Eagles run their home record to a perfect 3-0 this season. Beginning with a victory over Lafayette on February 2, 2008, American is now 30-5 in its last 35 games in Bender Arena.

The Eagles will look to continue their strong home play when they host Troy on Wednesday, December 22 in their final non-conference home game. Tip time is set for 7 p.m., and for fans that cannot make it to Bender Arena, the game will be broadcast live on Eagles Vision TV, part of AUeagles.com.