WISE,Va. - The University of Charleston survived overtime Saturday afternoon at the Prior Center to come away with a 80-75 win over the University of Virginia College at Wise.

LeAnne Ross scored a career-high 25 points to pace the Golden Eagles in the scoring column. Ross is just 16 points shy of 1,000 after taking her total to 984 points the big game.  Nichole Perry chipped in 14 points with 11 of those coming from the charity stripe on a tough shooting day for the senior.  Monet Saunders added 13 points and 7 rebounds and knocked down two crucial free throws in the final minute of regulation to force overtime.

The Cavaliers' (5-11, 4-6) Blair Harding led all scorers with 28 points but was just 6-for-25 from the field.  Eleven of her 28 points came from free throws.

Charleston trailed by as many as 10 in first half but rallied over the final seven minutes to draw within two going into halftime, 31-33.  Using the momentum gained at the end of the first half, UC went on a 17-3 run out of the break to grab a 48-36 lead just five minutes after half.  Charleston's lead grew to as many as 15 after one of Ross' five three pointers that gave the Golden Eagles a 56-41 cushion with just over 11 minutes to go.

The Cavaliers seemed to have lost control of game but slowly started to whittle the Charleston lead down.  Wise responded with big run of their own, scoring 25 of the next 31 points to take a 66-62 lead over the Golden Eagles with 3:48 to play.  UC's defense came up big limiting the Cavaliers to only one point the final four minutes which gave Charleston a chance to tie up the game.  A three-point play by Saunders cut the lead to one, 66-65, then after Wise knocked down one of two free throws Saunders was fouled with :36 seconds remaining.  Saunders calmly knocked them both down to tie the game at 67-67.  Each team had a possession in the final :30 seconds but came up empty to force overtime.

UC quickly jumped out to a seven-point lead after four Perry free throws and a Ross three to start overtime.  Wise would get as close as four but couldn't overcome the early deficit as Charleston escaped with a 80-75 win. 

UC (12-4, 7-3) makes the short trip to Institute Thursday to take on West Virginia State University with tip set for 5:30 p.m.