HARROGATE, Tenn. – After clawing their way back from a 14 point deficit to tie the game with 1:45 left, missed free throws came back to haunt the No. 8/9 Lady Railsplitters as they fell to Anderson 76-73 Wednesday evening.

The loss drops LMU to 23-3 on the season and 18-3 in the South Atlantic Conference. The loss along with a Wingate win at Catawba tonight means that Wingate and LMU are now tied atop the conference standings with one game left. LMU is at Catawba on Saturday and Wingate is at Anderson.

Josey Harding (Middletown, Ohio) led LMU with her eighth double-double of the season as she had 18 points and 18 rebounds. Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. It was her 13th double-double of the season and the 31st of her career. Karsen Sims (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) chipped in 12 points.

Anderson was led by freshman Alexy Mollenhauer's career-high 28 points.

The two teams were pretty evenly matched. AU out-shot LMU by a 37.7% (26-69)-to-34.3% (24-70) margin from the field. The main differences were AU's 8-21 (38.1%) performance from three-point range to LMU's 3-13 (23.1%); and the Trojans' 16-21 (76.2%) performance at the free throw line, where the Lady Railsplitters went 22-35 (62.9%). LMU did win the battle of the boards, 50-46, and had 20 second-chance points to eight by the Trojans.

Mollenhauer got things going for AU early as she was fouled on the first possession and hit both free throws. A Sims layup tied the game and the teams each traded a basket over the next couple of minutes. AU then went on a 6-2 run, only to see four quick points by Emily Griffith (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) tie it up at 10-10. Later in the period AU went on a 9-0 run to take a 23-13 lead with 2:55 remaining. The Lady Railsplitters then went on an 8-1 run of their own to cut the lead to 24-21 at the end of the first quarter.

Anderson would outscore LMU 22-11 in the second quarter. After Pittman cut it to 24-23 back to back Trojan treys put AU ahead by seven. A Dasia Maxwell (Knoxville, Tenn.) jumper cut the lead to five before AU rolled off an 8-0 run. LMU would cut the lead to nine before the Trojans hit free throws down the stretch to take a 46-32 lead into halftime.

The Lady Railsplitters have been a third quarter team all season, and tonight was no exception as they outscored AU 26-15 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 62-57. Seven points in the quarter by Pittman were a factor, as was the LMU defense holding the Trojans to only 31 percent shooting for the period while shooting 60 percent themselves.

Anderson would extend the lead to 66-60 with 5:41 remaining before LMU scored six straight points to tie the game 66-66 with 3:06 left. Thirty seconds later AU's Madison Badgett then hit a three-pointer off an inbounds pass to put the Trojans back in the lead. Harding was then fouled on the next possession and hit the first free throw. She missed the second, but Pittman rebounded the ball and scored to tie the game at 69-69 with 1:45 remaining.

On the next possession, Jasmine Franklin found Mollenhauer open and she drained the three pointer. Harding was fouled on the ensuing possession while grabbing an offensive rebound and hit one of the two free throws to make the score 72-70. Mollenhauer scored on the next possession and LMU coach Krystal Evans called timeout with 47.1 second left to advance the ball.

After inbounding the ball, Sims found Maxwell in the paint and Maxwell scored to cut the lead to 74-72 with 39 seconds left. While the shot was in the air, Harding was fouled while going for the rebound and went to the free throw line. She hit the first and missed the second, cutting the lead to 74-73 with 38 seconds remaining. AU ran the clock down to seven seconds and missed the layup with Harding grabbing the rebound. While going up the floor a teammate bumped into her and caused her to lose the ball, giving AU possession in their own end of the court. LMU was forced to foul, and Jasmine Franklin hit both to seal the 76-73 win for the Trojans.

LMU travels to Catawba for the regular season finale on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. Live stats, video and audio links can be found on www.lmurailsplitters.com.