The American University women's basketball team closed the game on a 31-16 run to defeat Lafayette, 66-51, Saturday afternoon at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa. Stephanie Anya recorded a career-best 16 points along with nine rebounds to pace the Eagles, while Alexis Dobbs chipped in 13 -- all in the second half -- to help lead the late charge.

Nicole Ryan added 12 points for AU on 4-of-6 from three-point range. Her first three of the game -- which came at the 14:08 mark of the first half -- gave the senior 1,000 career points. She becomes the 14th AU women's basketball student-athlete to reach the milestone, joining teammate Liz Leer on the list.

American (15-6, 5-2 PL) got off to a good start with Anya leading the way in the early going with the Eagles' first six points. Ryan's historic three, followed by another Anya bucket and an Ashley Yencho trey pushed AU's advantage, 15-8, with 11:27 to play in the opening half.

The Eagles continued to apply the early pressure, as consecutive buckets by Ebony Edwards, Leer and Tori Halvorsen extended AU's margin to double digits, 21-10, midway through the period. Lafayette (9-13, 2-5 PL), however, responded with an 11-3 run of its own to trim its deficit to 24-21. The Leopards then scored the final five points of the half, knotting the score at 29 heading into intermission.

With the game tied 35-35 early in the second half, an Anya layup on a rebound-putback gave the Eagles the lead, one they would not relinquish the rest of the game. Dobbs followed with the next four points and then a Ryan trifecta quickly pushed the advantage back to nine, 44-35, with 13:45 to go.

Minutes later, back-to-back buckets by Dobbs, the latter a three, pushed AU's advantage to 14, 51-37, which capped a 16-2 Eagles' run. The Leopards put forth one final push, scoring eight of the game's next 10 points to trim AU's advantage to 53-45 at the 5:07 mark. But an Edwards layup extended the lead back to double digits and then a back-breaking three by Ryan put the game away just inside the two-minute mark. In total, AU scored 31 of the game's final 46 points over the last 16:42 to snap the 35-35 tie and come away with the 15-point victory.

The Eagles shot 42.9 percent in the second half compared to only 26.9 percent for the Leopards. AU was 8-of-19 (42.1 percent) from beyond-the-arc in the game, including an efficient 50 percent (4-8) over the final 20 minutes. The Eagles also held a 39-36 advantage on the glass, led by a game-high 10 rebounds by Leer.

"We really came out strong to begin the second half and set the tone for the rest of the game," commented Head Coach Matt Corkery. "We strung a lot of possessions together while getting defensive stops so that really helped us stretch the lead and get a cushion in the last few minutes. We were also much more aggressive on the boards in the second half, which is something we need to do to be successful."

Anya's 16-point, nine-rebound effort came on 7-of-13 from the floor. The 16 points set a new career-best and the nine boards were her second-most single-game rebounds, four shy of her personal-best of 13.

"Stephanie was very active, stepped up in the post and scored the ball for us," added Corkery. "We were looking for someone to step up and she did that."

Lafayette was led by LeKeisha Wright's 12 points although it took her 14 shot attempts. Elizabeth Virgin added 10 on 5-of-6 shooting for the Leopards.

The Eagles will be idle for the next week until they meet up against two-time defending champion Lehigh on Saturday, February 5. Tip time from Bender Arena is scheduled for 2 p.m. Numerous activities are planned for this game, including women's basketball's annual "Phil Bender," National Girls and Women in Sports Day postgame clinic and the fourth-annual Faculty and Staff Appreciation BBQ.