MORROW, Ga. - Aarika Judge scored 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds Sunday afternoon to lead the Lander women's basketball team to a 68-59 non-conference victory over Benedict College at the Heritage Bank Holiday Classic hosted by Clayton State University.

Lander improves to 4-5 overall, while Benedict drops to 3-9.

Judge, who earlier this month tied Lander's single-game scoring record of 41 points, connected on 9-of-18 field goals, including 6-of-11 threes and 5-of-6 foul shots. Emili Russ added nine points and eight rebounds, while Briana Wade had nine points and five rebounds, and Precious Elkins eight points and 13 rebounds.

London Richardson led Benedict with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Monique Weathers added nine points.

Lander connected on 24-of-59 floor shots (40.7 percent), including 8-of-22 threes (36.4 percent) and 12-of-15 free throws (80 percent).

Benedict made 24-of-79 field goals (30.4 percent), including 5-of-28 threes (17.9 percent) and 6-of-10 foul shots (60 percent).

After Lander forced a 38-38 tie on a pair of Judge free throws with 16:11 left in the game, the Lady Bearcats outscored Benedict, 19-6, over the next six minutes to claim a 57-44 advantage with 10:19 left.

Benedict was able to trim the Lander lead to single digits on three more occasions, but Russ's three-point play with 2:50 remaining gave Lander a 64-53 advantage. The Lady Bearcats maintained a double-figure lead the remainder of the game until Benedict's Dreu Wilkins scored the game's final bucket.

After a slow start by both teams, Benedict was able to snap a 5-5 tie and go up 10-5 on an Ashley Thompson three and a field goal by Richardson at the 12:15 mark. Lander cut the lead to 14-11 on a Judge jumper, then the Tigers stretched their advantage to 18-11 on a pair of Richardson free throws at 7:54.

The Lady Bearcats went on a 14-2 scoring spree to take a 25-20 lead at 3:58 on a Judge three pointer. Benedict rallied to tie the score at 27-all on a pair of Kaiya Elliott free throws with 1:27 remaining in the half, but the Bearcats came back to go up 31-27 at halftime on Elkins' layup and two free throws.