HICKORY, N.C. - With five players in double figures and matching its highest free throw percentage of the season, Anderson University women's basketball clinched the season sweep of Lenoir-Rhyne with a 76-69 road victory Saturday afternoon at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.

The victory is AU's fourth straight win on the season, as the Trojans have posted a victory in their last three appearances at Shuford Gymnasium. In the all-time series, Anderson holds a four-game winning streak over its Tar Heel State rivals, as L-R's last triumph over AU was on Jan. 5, 2013. With the win, the Black and Gold moves to 11-3 overall and 8-2 within the conference, while Lenoir-Rhyne has now dropped three of its last four and moves to 5-9 on the year with a 4-6 mark in SAC play.

"This game was a great win for our program," Anderson head coach Jimmy Garrity said. "Lenoir-Rhyne is one of toughest places to play in the conference and I was really impressed with the toughness our players showed today to earn the road victory."

Sophomore guard Nakia Young paced the AU attack with a career-high 16 points, as her three 3-pointers on the day was one more trey than the entire Lenoir-Rhyne roster. Junior forward Jennifer Monroe tallied 13 points, as she has posted double figures in her last two trips to Hickory for her career. Juniors Jasmine Franklin and Madison Floyd were joined by sophomore Alexis Dillard with 10 points, as Franklin and senior Sierra Simpson led Anderson on boards with seven rebounds apiece.

Senior sharpshooter Lesley Woods connected on just one 3-pointer on the afternoon, bringing her with one trey of 200 for her collegiate career. With her next 3-pointer, she will become the third Trojan in program history to record 200 or more 3-pointers for a career.

"Offensively, we got contributions from everyone on the floor," Garrity said. "I think that shows up in the stat sheet having five players in double figures."

Lenoir-Rhyne's trio of Jazmine Charles, Morgan Cooper and Jenni Gust combined for 52 of the team's 69 points, as Charles poured in a game-high 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting. Despite the 24-point performance, Charles made one of L-R's two 3-pointers for the day, as the Bears shot 2-for-15 (13.3 percent) from behind the arc.

As the teams played to three tied through the first five minutes of the contest, it was the home side who would take the first convincing lead. With the score even at 9-9, the Bears scored seven straight points capped off by a 3-pointer from Jordan Hiatt for three of her five points on the day.

L-R would hold a lead until just before the eight-minute mark when Monroe scored on a lay-in which was part of a 10-0 run for the Trojans. Simpson followed the Monroe and capped off the run with a jumper to give Anderson a 21-18 lead with seven minutes remaining in the opening period.

Lenoir-Rhyne would regain the lead with 6:29 left when Gust buried a pair of free throws, as she pushed the score to 22-21. Sophomore guard Heather Jankowy gave the visitors the advantage back when she connected on her only 3-pointer of the game, as the Black and Gold would not trail for the remainder of the half.

After the Bears tied the score at 26-26 with 3:44 remaining, Anderson went on a 9-2 run to close the half, headlined by Woods' lone trey of the game. With the run, the Trojans led 35-28 at the break.

In the second half, Lenoir-Rhyne began to fight itself back into the game jumping out to an 8-1 run to open the final stanza, evening the score at 36-36. Despite the tie, Anderson would not give up its lead until just before the nine-minute mark when Charles drained a pair of free throws to give the Bears a one-point lead at 53-52. Despite facing its deficit since early on in the first half, Monroe made four straight free throws to put AU ahead, 56-53.

From that point, the teams played to four more deadlocks over the next five minutes, as the score was even at 67-67 with two minutes to play. Young broke the tie with a 3-pointer, giving the visitors a lead it would not relinquish. As the Trojans closed the first half with a perfect 5-for-5 performance from the free throw line, Anderson went 6-for-8 in the final two minutes to seal the victory. For the game, AU went 25-for-30 from the charity stripe and recorded its highest free throw percentage of the season when attempting more than six free throws for the game.

With a six-point lead with 46 seconds remaining, Floyd clinched the game making 3-of-4 from the line in the final seconds, propelling Anderson to its sixth road win of the season.

The Trojans return to the hardwood on Wednesday when they host Brevard. Tip-off from the Electric City is scheduled for 6 p.m.