JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Aaliyah Lawrence scored a career-high 21 points, but first-place Edward Waters University was able to take a 56-55 victory in a SIAC women's basketball game on Monday night.
 
The game was close the entire second half, with neither team holding more than a four-point lead. Benedict had a 33-29 lead with 5:14 remaining in the third quarter for their largest lead in the second half. Edward Waters had a 56-52 lead after hitting a pair of free throws with five seconds left in the game for their largest lead of the second half. Lawrence hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the final score to a single point.
 
Lawrence hit a layup with 50 seconds remaining to tie the game at 52. Edward Waters missed a shot on their end of the court, but grabbed the offensive rebound and the Lady Tigers fouled. EWU sank both free throws with 21 seconds left to make it 54-52.
 
Benedict missed a 3-pointer with seven seconds left, and Edward Waters grabbed the rebound, and hit two more free throws after Benedict committed a foul to make it 56-52.
 
Edward Waters led the entire first half, and had as much as an eight-point lead, before Benedict cut the lead to 23-21 at the half. Benedict took its first lead of the game on a jumper by Lawrence with 7:53 left in the third quarter.
 
Alaysia Nash added 14 points for the Lady Tigers, who fell to 7-7 overall and 7-7 in the SIAC. Edward Waters moves to 13-5 overall and 11-3 in the SIAC.
 
The Lady Tigers return to action at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, when they host Central State in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.