WINGATE, N.C. - After securing the top seed in next week's South Atlantic Conference Tournament more than a week ago, the Anderson women's basketball team wrapped up the 2016 regular season with a 73-62 setback to Wingate, Saturday afternoon at Cuddy Arena.

Despite the loss, Anderson (20-5, 18-4 SAC) enters next week's SAC tournament as the No.1 seed and will host eighth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne in a quarterfinal contest Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Abney Athletic Center. The Trojans swept the season series with Lenoir-Rhyne, including a 61-44 victory over the Bears a week ago in the Electric City. Wingate improved to 18-8 overall and 15-7 in the league.

Senior forward Jennifer Monroe led all scorers with 20 points and shared game-high rebounding honors with seven caroms. Junior guard Heather Jankowy added 14 points and dished out a team-high five assists, with senior guard Madison Floyd netting 12 points. Junior forward Alexis Dillard tallied six points and pulled down seven rebounds.

The Bulldogs out-rebounded AU, 39-33, and turned 20 Trojan miscues into 17 points, with the contest featuring nine ties and nine lead changes, including four exchanges in the opening 6:40 of the first quarter. Neither team was able to build more than a two-point lead until the Bulldogs snapped a 12-12 score with seven unanswered points inside the final two minutes of the quarter.

But Monroe scored the first seven points of the second period to knot the contest for the fifth time of the afternoon and matched a Wingate jumper with a pair of free throws to even the score at 21 apiece with 7:15 left before halftime. The Bulldogs rebuilt a five-point cushion before Monroe, Jankowy and Floyd fueled a 14-6 run by the Black and Gold to give the Trojans a 35-32 edge at the half.

Anderson edged out to a 43-36 advantage with 7:25 left on the clock in the third quarter and still led by seven with more than five minutes remaining in the frame, but the Bulldogs chipped away and claimed a 51-47 lead before the teams headed to the final quarter even at 51-51.

Wingate posted the first seven points of the fourth quarter and never looked back, as the Bulldogs built their largest lead of the contest, at 69-55, with 2:05 left.