RADFORD, Va. - Despite holding the Radford Highlanders without a field goal for the final four minutes of the game, the Charleston Southern women's basketball team dropped a 73-66 contest to the Highlanders on Monday evening at the Dedmon Center in Radford, Virginia.

The Bucs (14-10, 7-6 Big South) dropped their second straight contest, falling to the Big South's top-ranked Liberty Flames, 77-69, in double overtime on Saturday. The loss puts Charleston Southern in fifth-place in the conference with five regular season games to play.

Lakeitha Alston put up a team-high 27 points, breaking Rachelle Coward's five-game streak of leading the Bucs in scoring. Alston was an impressive six-for-six at the free throw line and knocked down 10-for-13 field goals on the night. She played an entire 40 minutes, grabbing three steals and five boards as well.

Coward added 17 points, two assists and two steals. Anicia Dotson pulled down a team-high seven boards and chipped in six points as well. In her second game back from injury, Kiki Rutledge put up eight points and three steals.

The Buccaneers had a solid shooting night, going 23-of-57 for 40.2 percent. They were also 42.9 percent from downtown, making nine of 21 shots. Though out-scored in the paint, 32-22, the Bucs once again took great advantage of turnovers by scoring 28 points off of 22 Radford miscues.

Charleston Southern also had a strong night at the charity stripe, connecting on 11-of-13 attempts.

Da'Nar Erwin-Spencer paced the Highlanders with 23 points while Ashley Buckhannon added 16. Ayana Avery put up 10 on the night while Victoria Hamilton led the rebounding effort, picking up nine of the Highlander's 32 boards.

The Bucs started the game with a trio of treys from Rutledge, Dotson and Shannon Sanders to shoot out to a 15-10 lead six and a half minutes in. However, the Highlanders whittled the lead down to one before tying things up on a free-throw by Buckhannon. Radford never looked back from there, going on an 11-3 run to take an eight-point advantage with eight minutes to go in the half.

The Bucs would cut the deficit three on a layup by Alston but went the final five minutes without a field goal. A 9-2 streak by the Highlanders pushed their advantage into double digits as they closed out the half with a 37-27 lead.

Though the Buccaneers would out-score the Highlanders, 39-36, in the second half, it wasn't enough to push them ahead. Coward cut the lead to six early in the second but Radford was able to put together a 17-6 run to go up by 14 midway through the half.

CSU would put together a mini-run of its own to trim the lead to six but was forced to foul late. Radford made six-of-eight freebies in the final minute.

The Buccaneers will head home and regroup for Saturday's contest vs. High Point. The squad will host the Panthers in a 2 p.m. tip at the Buc Dome in a special PinkZone match up.