With five minutes left in the game, Selma University trailed by five points, a frustrating reality for a Bulldogs team that had led its opponent Pensacola Christian College nearly the entire game.

Five minutes later, Selma was celebrating a 10-point victory.

Yamaya Leonard made seven straight points down the stretch to lift the Selma University Bulldogs (4-13) past the Pensacola Christian Eagles 62-52 Friday at Selma. Tatyana Griffin, Rebecca Payne and Leonard outscored the entire Eagles team by themselves, with Griffin leading the way with 26 points.

“I’m just overwhelmed with all of them right now because they didn’t give up,” said Bulldogs head coach Erica Heard.

Leonard gave Selma a comfortable lead early when she knocked down a 3-pointer with 6:40 left in the first quarter to give put the Bulldogs ahead 11-5.

With the first quarter winding down, Griffin drove down the baseline through traffic for one of her many layups on the night to give Selma a 20-12 advantage.

Pensacola caught up early in the second quarter to cut the Selma lead to 22-19, but Leonard responded with a long two-point shot to give the Bulldogs a five-point lead.

The Eagles kept fighting to take a lead in the second quarter, but Payne dominated near the net to make sure that didn’t happen. Leading by just one point, Payne muscled her way in for a layup to extend the lead.

With 42 seconds left in the first half, Payne pulled down an offensive rebound and finished with a putback to give the Bulldogs a 30-25 lead.

In the third quarter, Qa’Shandanique Livingston hit a mid-range jumper to give the Bulldogs a seven-point lead and then Payne found Griffin for a layup to give Selma an eight-point lead.

The cushion wasn’t enough, as the Bulldogs found themselves suddenly trailing by five with five minutes to play. A minute later, Leonard had made a two-point shot, hit two foul shots and drained a corner 3-pointer while the rest of the players on the court remained scoreless. Leonard brought the Bulldogs back to a 52-50 lead.

“[Leonard] was in a shell the first half, but she broke out of it and pushed herself hard,” Heard said. “Every single day I tell her you’ve just got to continue to shoot. Her shot is there so now she started feeling it and coming into her own and I’m just so proud of her.”

Teaira Quicksey broke away for a fastbreak layup to take a 56-52 lead as the Bulldogs escaped the Eagles’ late comeback attempt.

“I’m just so glad that tonight, that they continued to push on and did what they had to do to get this win for us,�� Heard said.