FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Fairmont State's Lady Falcons used big second halves from post players Katie Nunan and Amanda Ruffner to break open a close game with Fayetteville State University in the fourth quarter on Saturday afternoon en route to a 78-63 victory on the final day of the CIAA-MEC Challenge at the Felton J. Capel Arena on the campus of Fayetteville State.

Nunan, a senior center and transfer from Akron University, led FSU with 23 points on a 10-of-13 shooting performance from the field, while Ruffner, a junior forward, added 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor.

"It was a close game and Amanda and I were just taking what they were giving us," Nunan said. "We were determined that we were going to keep going to the rim until they stopped it."

Fairmont State led 35-29 at the half, but in the third quarter the Broncos outscored the Falcons, 21-17, to close the gap to two at 52-50. FSU, however, controlled the final 10 minutes outscoring the host school 26-13 to improve to 2-0 on the year.

"Both Katie and Amanda really started attacking the rim in the second half and at the same time that happened we just started playing harder on defense and then everything just snowballed," FSU coach Steve McDonald said. "We're just extremely pleased with our team. We're seven hours from home and I can't say enough about all of the hospitality of Fayetteville State and the people down here hosting this challenge, but we played in a tough environment. There were a lot of fans and they were extremely loud, but our kids responded very well. We're very happy to be 2-0 right now."

Fairmont shot 57.7 percent (30-of-52) from the field in the win, including a 17-of-26 performance (65.4 percent) in the final 20 minutes. The Lady Falcons also had 17 assists on their 30 field goals and only turned the ball over 12 times.

FSU got 10 points, six assists and three steals from junior point guard Makenzie White, nine points and eight rebounds from junior guard Deidra Combs and nine points from junior guard Emily Puskarich.

Fayetteville State shot 48.8 percent (28-of-58) from the field and out-rebounded Fairmont, 33-26. The Broncos, however, turned the ball over 16 times and only got to the foul line eight times in the contest compared to FSU's 21 trips to the charity stripe.

Doreen Richardson led the Broncos with 19 points and six rebounds. Fayetteville State also got 14 points and five rebounds from Bria Robinson and nine points and a game-high 12 assists from Shamiaya Battle.

Fairmont State will open up its 2015-16 home schedule Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. when its hosts Alderson Broaddus University at Joe Retton Arena.