Lisa Strack recorded a game-high 17 points while Alexis Dobbs and Jen Dumiak each added 10 as the American University women's basketball team escaped Worcester, Mass., with a 61-58 victory Saturday afternoon. The win pushes the Eagles to 3-0 in Patriot League play for the third straight season as they improve to 7-1 this year away from Bender Arena.

"The high tempo style of both teams made for an exciting game," Head Coach Matt Corkery said. "We did a nice job of handling pressure and executing in the final 10 minutes. We made some big plays. The Hart Center is a tough place to play so this is a quality win early in the conference season."

American (11-6, 3-0 PL) opened up as much as a 10-point first-half lead, 17-7, after a rebound and putback layup by Strack at the 11:19 mark. Moments later, back-to-back Ti'Asia McGeorge threes helped the Eagles maintain a nine-point advantage, although Holy Cross (9-8, 1-2 PL) responded with a 12-2 run to jump ahead, 26-25, late in the half. A Strack jumper and then an Alexis Dobbs three-pointer propelled AU back into the lead, 30-26, at halftime.

After a three by the Crusaders to begin the second period to cut AU's lead to one, Strack fired back with a three of her own as the Eagles never trailed in the half. Holy Cross got its deficit down to two at 33-31 but a Sarah Kiely bucket in the paint pushed the lead back to four. AU maintained an advantage between three and eight points in the first 10 minutes of the half.

Holy Cross attempted to forge a late rally, cutting AU's margin to five points on six different occasions in the final eight minutes of the game. In the final minutes, a key Ebony Edwards jumper off a kick-out from Dobbs pushed American's lead back to seven, 61-54, with 1:43 to go. After a Crusaders' bucket with 33 seconds to play, the Eagles ran off some clock but missed three front-ends of one-and-ones after collecting offensive rebounds after the first two. Holy Cross had a game-tying opportunity on the final possession but failed to get off a three-pointer as American held on for the hard-fought victory.

Strack's 17-point output came on 6-of-11 from the field, including a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond-the-arc. Dobbs was 4-of-8 shooting and added five assists while Dumiak was 5-of-10 from the floor. Geleisa George led AU on the glass with six rebounds and registered a game-best three steals.

AU shot 44.1 percent from the field in the contest, including a 50-percent clip in the second half. The Eagles were 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from deep and recorded 13 steals as they have now defeated the Crusaders in six straight meetings. Holy Cross, meanwhile, shot 40.4 percent and held a 43-29 rebounding advantage in the defeat.

The Eagles will look to make it 4-0 in Patriot League play when they host defending champion Navy on Wednesday, January 18 in a rematch of last year's title game. Game time from Bender Arena is 7 p.m. and tickets can be purchased by clicking here. Live video will be available on Patriot League All*Access.