HARROGATE, Tenn. – It was a tough battle for 39 minutes and 59 seconds, but the No. 4/5 Lady Railsplitters ended up just short as Amber Neely's shot fell in with less than a second left to give Wingate the 71-69 win and LMU their first loss of the season.

LMU moves to 20-1 on the season and 15-1 in the South Atlantic Conference. They still hold the top spot in the SAC standings and have a two game lead over Wingate. The team is ranked fifth in the WBCA/USA Today Coaches' Poll and fourh in the D2SIDA National Media Poll.

Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) led the way for LMU with her twelfth double-double of the season as she had 17 points and 15 rebounds. Josey Harding (Middletown, Ohio) had her sixth double-double this year with her 15 point and 10 rebound performance. Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) had 14 points while Karsen Sims (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) scored 12 points.

Wingate was led by Danasia Witherspoon's 20 points.

For the contest, LMU shot 49.9 percent (24-of-56) from the field, 31.6 percent (6-of-19) from three point range and 83.3 percent (15-of-18) from the free throw line. They out-rebounded WU 37-25 and had 12 second chance points to two by the Bulldogs.

After giving up the first points of the game, LMU rolled out to a 12-6 lead midway through the first quarter. They would push that lead out to 21-8 before a pair of Bulldog free throws cut it to 21-10 at the end of the period.

The Bulldogs would come out on a 10-2 run to open the second quarter by taking advantage of LMU turnovers. A Pittman jumper would put the lead back to seven, but after trading baskets for next several minutes WU would score the last four points to cut the score to 33-30 at the half.

WU came out of the locker room and had a 7-0 run to take a four point lead with 7:23 remaining. LMU would take a 45-44 lead on a basket by Sims before the Bulldogs would reclaim the lead and pull out to a late six point lead. Pittman then hit a free throw with one second left in the third to cut the WU lead to 53-48 after three quarters.

Wingate would pull the lead back out to seven early in the fourth quarter. LMU methodically chipped away at it, eventually tying the game at 67-67 with 1:37 left. The Lady Railsplitters then made a huge defensive stop but on the next possession turned the ball over and fouled. WU then hit both free throws to take the two point lead. On the next possession Witherspoon fouled Coker, who hit both to tie the game again at 69-69 with 18 seconds remaining. Neely then took the inbounds pass, worked the clock down to less than three seconds, came off a screen and threw up a shot that rolled in and gave WU the upset victory.

LMU will host Tusculum in South Atlantic Conference action Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. Live stats, video and audio links can be found at www.lmurailsplitters.com.