The American University women's basketball team held as much as a 13-point lead, but had to hang on late to earn a 49-46 victory over San Jose State Saturday evening in the Cal Poly Thanksgiving Invitational in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

American (5-2) controlled play for much of the 40 minutes, but a late San Jose State (0-5) rally gave the Spartans a 46-43 advantage with 2:06 to play in the game. A key rebound and putback layup by Stephanie Anya got the Eagles back within one and then a pair of Lisa Strack free throws propelled AU back in front, 47-46 with 35 seconds remaining. After a missed SJSU jumper and an Alexis Dobbs rebound, Strack knocked down two more free throws with five seconds remaining. Trailing 49-46, SJSU's Sara Plavljanin had a last-second three for the tie, but it was off the mark.

Dobbs, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, led the Eagles in scoring for the third straight game as she registered 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, which included three made three-pointers. Anya chipped in 10 points on 5-of-10 from the field along with five boards.

After allowing the opening bucket of the contest, AU scored the next seven and eventually took a 12-5 advantage on a Ti'Asia McGeorge three. Dobbs added a triple to extend the lead to double digits, 17-7 with 4:43 to play in the opening half. During this stretch, American held SJSU to only one field goal over a 12:27 stretch in the half. After back-to-back charges taken by Strack, Dobbs knocked down her third three of the half at the 1:19 mark and the Eagles took a 22-11 advantage into intermission.

At the start of the second half, SJSU trimmed its deficit to five, 28-23, but AU responded with seven unanswered points to push it back to 35-23 at the 13:10 mark. After a pair of free throws from Strack midway through the half, a 16-4 spurt pushed the Spartans into the lead, setting up the Eagles' late comeback as they scored the game's final six points.

The Eagles forced 28 San Jose State turnovers and took early control of the game by holding the Spartans to a 19.2 shooting percentage in the first half. SJSU raised their field goal efficiency to 32.1 percent for the game, nearly identical to the Eagles' 32.7 percent.

Brittany Johnson led SJSU with 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting and was key to the Spartans' comeback effort. She added six rebounds although she committed nine turnovers.

The Eagles, winners of four in a row, will return to Washington to face Maryland-Eastern Shore on Wednesday, November 30. Tip time from Bender Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m., and as with all non-conference home games, the contest will be carried live on Eagles Vision TV.