Box Score JEFFERSON CITY, TN--Julie Szabo and Katie Mitchell teamed up for 43 points as the 20th ranked USC Aiken Lady Pacers (10-3) rallied from an eight-point second half deficit to post a tough 76-74 road win over Carson-Newman (4-7) on Saturday night at the Holt Fieldhouse.  It was the first ever meeting between the two schools and was USCA's first ever win in the state of Tennessee since joining the NCAA in 1990-91.    

The Lady Eagles' Monica Ashburn sank the first of two free throws with 12:56 to play to give Carson-Newman its biggest lead of the game at 54-46.  Following a 30-second timeout called by Lady Pacer head coach Mike Brandt, the Lady Pacers roared back with an 11-4 run capped by Mitchell's lay-up with 7:21 to play making it 61-60.  Mitchell was perfect from the field on the day, 7-of-7, and connected on 5-of-6 charity tosses for a career-high 19 points in 21 minutes off the bench.  

Stacie Dunn hit a lay-up with 4:27 on the clock to push the advantage back to five for Carson-Newman at 69-64.  Senior Jen Kennedy, however, converted back-to-back buckets in the paint off nice entry passes from Allison Nold and Szabo to trim the lead back to a single point.  Mitchell then capped the 6-0 run with a 4-footer in the paint to give USCA its first lead of the second half 70-69 with 3:13 left.  

Carson-Newman briefly regained the lead on a Dunn lay-up and an Andrea Fitzgerald free throw, but Mitchell drained two free throws with 2:10 to play to tie the game at 72-72 and then Jami Cornwell scored two of her 12 points at 1:46 to give the Lady Pacers the lead for good at 74-72.  

Szabo was on fire from outside connecting on 6-of-11 triples to finish with a game-high 24 points.  Now with 172 made three-pointers, she needs just one more to tie current graduate assistant coach Janell Gerk for second on USCA's all time list.  Nold added six points and a season-high 10 rebounds.   

Fitzgerald paced the Lady Eagles scoring 14 of her team-high 21 points in the first half as Carson-Newman held a slim 39-38 edge at the break.  The first half alone witnessed nine ties and 19 lead changes as no team led by more than three points.  

The Lady Pacers shot 51.7 percent from the field (30-of-58) including 35.0 percent from behind the arc (7-of-20).  USCA, uncharacteristically, struggled at the stripe hitting just 9-of-16 (56.3 percent).  On the evening, Carson-Newman attempted 29 free throws, but hit only 17 of them for 58.6 percent.  

???????USC Aiken finishes 3-1 on its tough four-game road swing and now returns home to face Claflin University on Tuesday, January 7 at 7:00 PM in a revenge game.  Claflin shocked the Lady Pacers 74-67 in overtime in Orangeburg, SC back on December 17.  USCA currently has a 17-game home court winning streak.  

SCORING:
#20 USC Aiken (76): Julie Szabo 24, Katie Mitchell 19, Jami Cornwell 12, Allison Nold 6, Jen Kennedy 6, Katie Gebhardt 3, Mindy Allee 2, Erica Larsen 2, Sarah Kendrick 2

Carson-Newman (74): Andrea Fitzgerald 21, Kedrin Madar 15, Stacie Dunn 14, Monica Ashburn 11, Nicole Avrett 6, Amanda Jackson 3, Tiffany Parker 2, Brandi Long 2