BARBOURVILLE, Ky. - With two games remaining in the regular season, the stakes are as high as the could be for Union College. Locked in a three-way tie for first in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, the Lady Bulldogs will attempt to take a step closer toward their first-ever, outright regular-season championship Wednesday at Montreat (N.C.) College.

Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.

Union missed an opportunity to seize control of the top spot in the AAC when it dropped an 87-80 decision to visiting Covenant (Ga.) College. Instead of being a game up with two to play, the Lady Bulldogs are mired in a three-way tie for first with Milligan (Tenn.) College and King (Tenn.) as all three share 11-5 league marks.

Making things even more intesting is the fact that Tennessee Wesleyan College and Bryan (Tenn.) College are both a game back at 10-6 in conference play.

The Lady Bulldogs (19-9 overall) defeated Montreat (7-20 overall, 2-14 AAC) on Jan. 17 in a 60-49 defensive battle.

A large reason for the offensive futility was due to the 57 combined turnovers. Yet, neither team really took advantage of the other's miscues. Union only scored 26 points off of Montreat's 33 turnovers, while Montreat netted just 18 points off of Union's 24 turnovers.

Neither team could get much going in the first half with Union shooting 24.3 percent (9-of-37 shots) from the floor and Montreat hitting just 9-of-18 shots. Twenty-two turnovers hampered the Lady Cavaliers' offensive efforts, but Union didn't do a good job of taking advantage of the miscues as it only turned them in for 12 points.

After trailing for the first six minutes of the game, Union took its first lead when Kara Pile (Fairdale, Ky.) drained a 3-pointer to make it 11-9 with 13:42 left. Back-to-back treys by Susanna Todd (Eubank, Ky.) and Ashley Lunsford (Orlando, Ky.) capped a 17-6 rally as the Lady Bulldogs built a 25-15 cushion at the 5:41 mark.

However, Montreat battled back, closing the half on an 11-4 to cut the margin to 29-26 at the break. Union went scoreless for the final 4:02 of the half.

Union came out better offensively in the second half, using a 19-8 stretch to open up a 14-point cushion (48-34) with 12:36 to play. Montreat scrapped back and cut the margin to 50-42 after a Janel Cox putback with 6:29 remaining.

Todd nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Lady Bulldogs back up 14 with 4:51 remaining, but seven straight points by the Lady Cavaliers make it 56-49 at the 2:04 mark. Union hit 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch to seal the 60-49 victory.

Brooke Smith (Pineville, Ky.) led all scorers with 20 points, marking the 11th time this season she has scored 20 or more in a game. Todd added 12 points with Blankenship chipping in 11.

For Montreat, Chazaree Wright had 17 points and eight rebounds, while Whitney Mace added 10 points.

Wright leads Montreat in scoring (16.5), rebounding (8.7) and steals (2.15).

For Union, Smith leads the team and ranks sixth in the nation in scoring with 20.8 points per game.

For a statistical breakdown of the teams, click here.