The American University women's basketball team became the first team in Patriot League history to finish with a perfect 14-0 conference record with a 58-54 come-from-behind victory Saturday afternoon at Lafayette in the regular season finale.

It was far from easy for American (22-6, 14-0 PL) to pick up its program-record 14th straight victory as the Eagles trailed by five points with under five minutes remaining. But AU closed the game on an 11-2 run to storm back and close out the perfect Patriot League regular season.

Lafayette (8-21, 2-12 PL) held a 27-26 halftime advantage and led the entire second half before AU's late charge. American's spurt began on a key Alexis Dobbs three-pointer -- her fifth of the afternoon -- off an Ebony Edwards feed to draw within two. After a Lafayette bucket, Lisa Strack took over with three consecutive buckets, the final of which came off a pass from Dobbs to give AU a 56-54 advantage with 1:26 to play.

Following a Leopards miss, Edwards grabbed the rebound for the Eagles. AU ran down the shot clock before Strack missed, although a loose ball foul on the rebound was whistled on Lafayette. American retained possession but eventually turned the basketball over on an inbounds play with just over 10 seconds remaining. The Leopards decided to not call a timeout and Melissa Downey's potential game-winning three-pointer was off the mark from the left wing with Dobbs collecting the key rebound for AU. In a 1-in-1 situation following a Lafayette foul with 3.2 seconds remaining, Dobbs knocked down both free throws to ice the game and give AU the four-point victory.

Dobbs led the way for American with 20 points on 6-of-14 from the field, including 5-of-10 from beyond-the-arc. She added four rebounds and a team-best four assists. Strack recorded 14 points, 10 of which came in the second half, along with a career-high 13 rebounds. Jen Dumiak, meanwhile, registered 13 points and a career-best 10 rebounds. This marked Strack's second-career double-double while it was the first for the freshman Dumiak.

For the game, American held a 44-32 rebounding advantage, which included 14 offensive boards in the second half. Lafayette outshot AU by a 37.0 percent to 34.5 percent margin, and the Leopards registered a 7-for-10 clip from beyond-the-arc. Individually, the Leopards were led by Emily Homan's 13-point, 12-rebound effort. Sarah McGorry also scored 12 while Linnel Macklin added 11 off the bench.

"It was the kind of hard-fought battle today that you expect when you play at Lafayette. They played a great game," remarked Head Coach Matt Corkery, who improves his career record to 85-37 and his conference mark to 46-10, both of which are the best all-time in terms of career percentage in Patriot League history. "Our ability to get on the offensive glass was huge in the second half. We were able to make some threes and get timely stops on defense down the stretch. It was a great way to wrap up the regular season."

With the win, AU becomes the third team in conference history to finish unblemished in league play, although the first to accomplish the feat in a 14-game regular season (which started in 2001-02). Holy Cross went 12-0 in both 1990-91 and 1996-97 when there were seven conference teams.

The triumph is American's 22nd of the season, which is tied for the second-most in program history. The 1997-98 squad set the program record for victories with a 23-7 record while the Eagles recorded 22 wins in each of the last two seasons.

Additionally, AU completes its regular season with a 12-1 record in games played away from Bender Arena, consisting of a 10-1 mark in true road contests and 2-0 record in neutral-site games. The 12 wins away from home match a program record, which was accomplished in both 1986-87 and 1987-88.

With the Eagles' 14-0 conference record, they set another conference record with the largest margin between first and second place teams in Patriot League history. AU is five games better than second-place Lehigh (9-5), which breaks the record of a four-game margin that was set by Holy Cross (12-0) over second-place Navy (8-4) in 1996-97.

With AU's third Patriot League regular season title in a row -- and fourth in the last five seasons -- the Eagles have earned the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament and homecourt advantage as long as they advance. American will host No. 8 Lafayette in the quarterfinals this Thursday, March 1 at 7 p.m. in Bender Arena. Tickets are on-sale now and can be purchased by clicking here.