Box Score Marissa Mandeldove had a season-high 32 points to lead the Clark Atlanta University Lady Panthers to their third straight win, 76-55 over Claflin University Monday night in L.S. Epps Gymnasium.

Mandeldove hit 8-of-14 field goals and 16-of-18 free throws as the Lady Panthers stretched their lead in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's East Division.  Clark Atlanta, 12-7 overall, is first with a 10-2 record while Claflin drops to 8-3 in second place.  Claflin is 12-8 this season.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game," said CAU head coach Yolanda Moore.  "We expected it to be close from start to finish.  Things just kind of went our way in terms of scoring.  Marissa, she was in another world in that first half and just kind of took the team on her shoulders, and she was able to get to the basket and get some things going inside.  And we had people on the outside knocking shots down."

Mandeldove had eight of CAU's 21 first-quarter points as the Lady Panthers took an early eight-point lead.  Clark Atlanta extended that lead to twenty points – 42-22 – by halftime.  CAU hit 51 percent of their shots in the half and only allowed Claflin to hit six field goals.

In the second half, the lead grew to as many as 26 points after Reyana Miller's jumper with 4:44 remaining game the Lady Panthers a 70-44 lead. 

CAU forced 22 turnovers, resulting in 26 points, while hitting 47 percent of their shots.

Mandeldove had seven assists, three steals and two rebounds to go with her 32 points.   Lauren Turner had another double-double outing, scoring 16 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

"I'm just proud of the way those two finally showed the senior leadership that we've been desperately needing all year," Moore said.

"We shot the ball better tonight than we've shot in the last four or five games," she said.  "I that that was the difference and it gave us more confidence on defense.  I'd have to say I'm really pleased. We were able to do pretty much everything we wanted to do in terms of execution on defense. We were very well prepared for what they wanted to do offensively. So, we were able kind of able to take them out of it. I'm just proud of our girls because we finally played hard for an entire game."

The Lady Panthers are off until Monday, Jan. 29 when they visit Paine College.  It's the first of three games on the road as they also go to Benedict on Feb. 3 and Claflin on Feb. 5.  The Lady Panthers return to L.S. Epps Gymnasium on Wednesday, Feb. 14 when they host Miles College at 6 p.m.