Box Score AIKEN, SC--Senior point guard Jami Cornwell picked an excellent time to score her first points of the game with 2:14 to play as the #17 USC Aiken Lady Pacers (4-1) surged back from a 13-point second half deficit to stave off a feisty Lenoir-Rhyne Bears team (0-2) 80-75 in the Four Seasons Tip-Off Classic on Saturday afternoon at "The Courthouse".  The win extended the Lady Pacers school record home court winning streak to 15 games.

Trailing 52-39 with 16:43 to play in the second half, senior Jen Kennedy hit a lay-up in the paint and drew the foul.  She converted the free throw to cut the margin to 10 at 52-42.  Following a missed shot by the Lady Bears' Shea Blacknell, Kennedy grabbed the defensive rebound and outletted it to junior Erica Larsen for the three-pointer making it 52-45 and forcing LRC head coach Karen Barefoot to take a timeout.  

After the Lady Bears pushed the bulge back into double digits at 58-47 with 13:06 on the clock, the Lady Pacers made a crucial run. Julie Szabo hit one of her five three-pointers and then Mindy Allee, a 5-3 freshman, got an offensive rebound and putback bucket at 10:06 to tie the game at 58-58 and cap an 11-0 run.  It was the first time USCA had led or tied the game since the 7:22 mark of the first half.  

Twice the Lady Bears reclaimed a six-point advantage, the last coming at 4:17 with the score 70-64.  But Kennedy and Szabo hit back-to-back three-pointers to trim the margin to a deuce with 3:10 to play.  Following a missed shot by Amber Hanks, Cornwell pulled down the rebound.  On the ensuing possession, solid defense forced USCA to work their offense, and the shot clock.  With four seconds left to shoot, Cornwell drove to the hoop, converted the lay-up and drew the foul.  Her free throw with 2:14 to play gave USCA its first second half lead at 73-72.  

Cornwell finished with five points, five assists, and four rebounds.  As a team, the Lady Pacers hit 23-of-25 shots from the line for 92.0 percent.  

Maya Grady, who finished with 19 points and six rebounds, connected on a pair of charity tosses as the Lady Bears seesawed back into the lead at 74-73 with 1:52 on the clock.  Grady was 12-of-12 at the stripe and the team was 19-of-22 (86.4 percent).  

With the game tied at 75-75 with 1:15 to play, Szabo canned a triple as the crowd erupted and the Lady Pacers took the lead for good 78-75. Cornwell hit a basket with 7.4 seconds remaining to seal the win.  

???????Szabo scored a game-high 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting including 5-of-7 from downtown.  She added four assists, three rebounds, and two steals in 35 minutes in collecting All-Tournament Most Valuable Player honors.  

Kennedy turned in a career-best 18 points on 5-of-10 from the field, 1-of-1 from deep, and a perfect 7-of-7 from the stripe.  Katie Mitchell had another big night off the Lady Pacer bench with 13 points in 19 minutes.  Sarah Kendrick added 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and four steals while Erica Larsenwas 2-of-3 from downtown for 10 points.  

In the first half, after USCA had its biggest lead of the half at 25-21, Lenoir-Rhyne stormed back.  Three consecutive three-pointers, two by Lanica Williamssandwiched a triple by Sally Logan as the Lady
Bears grabbed a six-point lead at 31-25 and extended it to 11 at the half.  After scoring 14 points in the first-half, Williams failed to score in the final 20 minutes.

Hanks also had a big first half with 12 points, but had just six in the second half.  Blacknell's 14 points made her the fourth Lady Bear in double figures.  

USC Aiken shot 39.3 percent from the field (24-of-61) and 36.0 percent from deep (9-of-25).  Lenoir-Rhyne connected on 46.2 percent of its shots (24-of-52) and 34.8 percent from behind the arc (8-of-23).  

In the first game of the day, Augusta State finished play in the Four Seasons Tip-Off Classic with a hard fought 61-54 win over Voorhees.  Arijana Sijercicagain led the Lady Jags with a double double, 15 points and 13 rebounds.  Shundra Johnson added 11 points as both earned All-Tournament honors.  The other members of the All-Tournament team included Grady (Lenoir-Rhyne), Sabrina Sherwood (Voorhees), Kennedy (USC Aiken), and Szabo (USC Aiken), the MVP.  

???????USC Aiken will travel to Mars Hill, NC to face the 22nd ranked Lady Lions on Tuesday, November 26 at 6:00 PM.  Last year, Mars Hill was the lone non-conference team to defeat the Lady Pacers in the regular season, 60-53 in Aiken.  

SCORING:
Lenoir-Rhyne (75): Maya Grady 19, Amber Hanks 18, Shea Blacknell 14, Lanica Williams 14, Kim Small 5, Sally Logan 3, Sandi Hyatt 2

#17 USC Aiken (80): Julie Szabo 21, Jen Kennedy 18, Katie Mitchell 13, Sarah Kendrick 11, Erica Larsen 10, Jami Cornwell 5, Mindy Allee 2