ANDERSON, S.C. – No. 23 Anderson University used a 31-9 run during a 10-minute span in the second half to build a 14-point lead then held on for an 80-72 victory over Coker in a women’s CVAC game Thursday night at the Abney Center.

Anderson, 15-2 overall and 9-1 in the CVAC, trailed the last-place Cobras 34-31 at the half and fell behind by eight – 39-31 – in the opening minute of the second half.

But behind senior Deidra Langston, who scored a season-high 37 points, the Lady Trojans took the lead at the 15:57 mark and never trailed again.

Langston’s previous high this season was 31 points against Claflin on Dec. 16.

Langston, a native of Gainesville, Ga., scored 13 of her points during Anderson’s decisive run. She was 10-for-23 from the field and 17-for-18 from the free throw line. Her 17 made free throws is a single-game school record. The previous record was 14 by Latrice Thomas against District of Columbia on Jan. 9, 2006.

The Cobras, 3-14 and 1-9, made one more run at the Lady Trojans. A 10-2 run by Coker sliced the Anderson lead to 74-70 with 1:27 remaining. But that’s as close as the Cobras could get to pulling off the upset.

Anderson, ranked No. 2 in the first East Region poll of the season, was 29-for-31 from the free throw line and outscored the Cobras by 18 points at the charity stripe.

Following Langston for Anderson was Keana Boyd with a season-high 20 points.

Coker was led by India Elliot with 21 points and Lotta Aaltonen with 11 points.

Coker won the boards, 39-35. Langston and Coker’s Rebecca Kolbeck both finished the game with 11 rebounds.

The Cobras made seven 3-point goals. Elliot and Aaltonen made three treys apiece.

Coker shot 44 percent from the field, while Anderson finished at 38 percent after shooting 47 percent in the second half.

Anderson forced 21 Coker turnovers. Thomas had five of Anderson’s 12 steals.