Jefferson City, Tenn. ? The Lenoir-Rhyne University Women?s Basketball Team (13-4, 6-1) knocked off No. 8 Carson-Newman College (16-1, 6-1), 78-67, Saturday evening in a key South Atlantic Conference showdown at Holt Fieldhouse.? The Bears moved into a first-place tie with the Lady Eagles, who lost their first game of the season.

Senior guard Jami Safrit (Hickory, N.C.) led the Bears with 18 points while sophomore guard Cameron Sealey (Gastonia, N.C.) and freshman forward Precious Elkins (Conyers, Ga.) added 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Zoriah Williams (Calera, Ala.) paced the Eagles with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds while Shari Buford (Hampton, Ga.) added a double-double (13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds) but it wasn?t enough as the Bears won their third straight game.

L-R led at halftime by a 43-40 score and would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.?

After the Eagles cut the margin to 58-56 on a lay-up by Courdne Miles (Burlington, N.C.) with 9:42 left, the Bears pushed the lead back to seven (63-56) on a three-pointer by Sealey at the 8:49 mark of the second half and Carson-Newman would get no closer than four points the rest of the way.

Lenoir-Rhyne limited Carson-Newman to just 39 percent shooting for the game (26-of-67) including 10 percent (one-of-10) from behind the three-point line.

Lenoir-Rhyne remains on the road Wednesday when it travels to Wingate, N.C., to face Wingate in a South Atlantic Conference contest beginning at 6 p.m.? Carson-Newman remains at home to take on Catawba on Wednesday at 6 p.m., as well.