WASHINGTON – A late fourth-quarter rally fell short as the American University women's basketball team dropped a 71-70 decision to Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon.

Senior Michelle Holmes finished with a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds, along with a career-high five assists and five steals, to lead American. Meanwhile, junior Lauren Crisler and sophomore Emily Kinneston each posted career-high scoring marks, finishing with 18 and 16 points, respectively.

For the Demon Deacons, Kortni Simmons led four players in double figures, finishing with 18 points.

The Eagles entered the fourth period with a 62-48 deficit, but used an 11-2 run to cut the margin to five points with just under two and a half minutes to play.

Scoring seven points at the charity stripe in the final 63 seconds, the Demon Deacons extended their lead to 69-63 with 13 seconds to play, but Holmes scored a pair of back-to-back layups in less than a second to cut the margin to 69-67 with 4.8 seconds remaining.

Wake Forest (5-1) came back with a pair of free throws at the other end to push their lead back to four, but senior Ari Booth drained a three-pointer with 0.2 seconds left to get the Eagles within a single point. However, American did not have enough time to get the ball back, and the Demon Deacons escaped with the win.

"We've been fighting back every game that we've been in during the fourth quarter, so that's nothing new," said American head coach Megan Gebbia. "But when shots started to fall for us and we could hold them on the defensive end, it seems that we had the momentum."

"A lot of times this season when we were down, so we would seem to give up [late in the game]," said Holmes. "Today, everyone was still going and hitting shots. Getting stops on defense was what kept our offense going."

In the opening period, the Eagles held a 12-8 lead with four minutes remaining in the quarter, but Wake Forest went on a 9-2 run to pull ahead, taking a 21-18 advantage heading into the second period.

The Demon Deacons extended their lead in the second quarter, capitalizing on their advantage at the charity stripe. After heading into the locker room with a 41-31 lead, Wake Forest stretched the margin to 53-37 midway through the third period.

American (0-6) won the battle of the boards, outrebounding Wake Forest 37-33. The Eagles also dished out a season-high 20 assists, led by sophomore Maria Liddane with a career-high eight assists, and committed just 15 turnovers. Meanwhile, the Demon Deacons finished with 16 turnovers, including eight in the final stanza alone.

The biggest discrepancy for the Eagles again came at the foul line, where Wake Forest hit 24-of-39 attempts compared to 12-of-18 for American.

"I think this game gives our team confidence in themselves [going forward]," said Gebbia. "They needed that against a good team. We've played a lot of good teams up to this point. The games earlier in the season helped prepare us for this kind of game."

The Eagles are on the road for their next three contests, starting with a quick trip to Baltimore, Md., to face UMBC on Wednesday, Dec. 2.