Box Score AIKEN, SC--USC Aiken (3-1) got a career-high 13 points from sophomore point guard
Mindy Allee to lead six players in double figures as the Lady Pacers routed the Saint Paul's College Lady Tigers (0-5) 93-45 in women's non-conference basketball action at "The Courthouse" on Friday night. In the first game of the night, Augusta State (3-1) knocked off Newberry College (2-3) 72-55. Both games were part of the Honda Cars of Aiken Classic.
The Lady Pacers opened strong from the start racing to a 21-5 lead following a jumper by
Lana Mandic at 11:00. USCA connected on five of their first eight shots from the field and finished 35-of-68 for the game (51.5 percent). The Lady Pacers also heated up from three-point land finishing 8-of-19 for 42.1 percent. USCA dished out a school record 31 assists, breaking the old mark of 29 set in a win over Voorhees on December 15, 2001.
Saint Paul's made a charge at the 7:35 mark of the first half starting with a three-pointer from Quisannah Noel. The triple sparked a 7-0 run and trimmed the Lady Pacers lead back to 10 at 26-16 with 5:45 remaining. Noel finished 6-of-25 from the field including 5-of-17 from deep for a game-high 19 points. Teammate LaQuanda Rouse added 14 points and nine rebounds.
USC Aiken closed the half on a 17-4 run to claim a 43-20 advantage at the break. Senior
Erica Larsen, the team's leading scorer at 17.0 ppg, poured in eight of her 12 points in the first stanza. She chipped in four rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and one steal in 21 minutes.
Mandic scored nine of her 11 points and grabbed six of her seven boards in the opening period.
Saint Paul's shot a chilly 27.6 percent in the first half on 8-of-29 shooting.
After committing just four first half turnovers, USCA finished with a season-low 10 and generated 31 points off 19 Lady Tiger miscues.
Three straight buckets by
Sarah Kendrick,
Benazura Serbecic, and
Haylee Reichert allowed USCA to open the second half on an 8-0 run to take a 50-20 lead with 18:13 to play. Kendrick and Serbecic each finished with 10 points while Reichert had the one second half bucket.
Saint Paul's would not keep it under 30 points the rest of the way as USCA built as much as a 50-point lead with 1:34 to play on an Allee steal and lay-up. Every player on the Lady Pacers' bench played between 10 and 21 minutes with 12 of 13 players scoring in the game.
Junior
Katie Gebhardt posted her first double figure scoring game with a career-high 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. Freshman
Amy Ransom added six points and three rebounds in 12 minutes.
USC Aiken out rebounded Saint Paul's 49-31 for the game.
In tomorrow's final day of the Honda Cars of Aiken Classic, USC Aiken will host Newberry in a 3:00 PM tip-off. At 1:00 PM, Augusta State will square off against Saint Paul's.
SCORING:
Saint Paul's (45): Quisannah Noel 19, LaQuanda Rouse 14, Azizi O'Bryant 6, Keiona Johnson 3, Tyanka Lee 2, Jessica Eley 1
USC Aiken (93):
Mindy Allee 13,
Erica Larsen 12,
Katie Gebhardt 12,
Lana Mandic 11,
Benazura Serbecic 10,
Sarah Kendrick 10,
Amy Ransom 6,
Beata Szabo 6,
Kasey Mills 4,
Katie Mitchell 4,
Shannon Coyle 3,
Haylee Reichert 2.