WASHINGTON – Holding off a late rally, the American University women's basketball team earned a 52-48 victory over Manhattan on Sunday evening at Bender Arena.

Junior Lauren Crisler finished with 12 points and a career-high nine rebounds to lead the Eagles to their second straight win, while senior Michelle Holmes pitched in nine points and 13 rebounds.

Amani Tatum led Manhattan (5-6) with 18 points, while Kayla Grimme added eight points and eight rebounds.

The Eagles (2-8) started out hot, going on an 8-0 run to open the game that included six straight points from Crisler. However, the Jaspers came back with eight straight points to tie the game with 2:29 left in the first period. Meanwhile, Crisler scored the next three points to give American an 11-9 advantage after one period.

The score was tied twice more in the second period, with Manhattan knotting the score at 18-18 with a three-pointer by Irizarry. However, Maria Liddane responded with a trey of her own to spark a 7-2 AU run to close out the quarter, as the Eagles went into the locker room with a 25-20 advantage.

Both teams shot poorly in the third period, but American was able to increase its advantage by hitting 9-of-10 foul shots. The Eagles led by as many as nine points before going into the final stanza with a 38-30 lead.

The Jaspers, who shot over 53 percent from the field in the fourth quarter, came battling back, eventually cutting their deficit to 44-42 with under four minutes to play. However, the Eagles continued to make shots at the charity stripe, including a pair of free throws by Liddane in the final 10 seconds, to hold on for the win.

"The way we've won [these past two games] is with our defense, and they've been close games," said American head coach Megan Gebbia. "It's nice to be able to pull out some close wins.

"It was the first game for us where we really went to the line multiple times, and it really saved us."

The Eagles were able to capitalize on their free throw attempts, converting 27-of-34 for the game and 21-of-26 in the second half alone.

American, which held a 46-34 advantage on the boards, never trailed against Manhattan despite scoring just three field goals in the second half and committing 25 turnovers in the game.

"Our turnovers are a product of not being sure where to pass the ball and not knowing where the next pass is going," said Gebbia. "Manhattan applied pretty good pressure, and we need to learn how to handle the pressure better.

"Once we get our turnovers down, we're going to see us win by double digits. But until we do that, we're going to keep people in games."

The Eagles have a quick turnaround before their next game, as they visit Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Dec. 22, to close out their non-conference slate.