Box Score AIKEN, SC--For the second time in less than 24 hours, USC Aiken (4-1) had a balanced attack with 12 of 13 players scoring in rolling past Newberry College (2-4) 77-44 in the final game of the Honda Cars of Aiken Classic on Saturday afternoon at "The Courthouse" in Aiken, S.C. In the day's first game, Augusta State (4-1) defeated Saint Paul's (0-5) 68-54.
USC Aiken built a quick 7-2 lead with 17:23 remaining in the first half on a trey by
Kasey Mills. She scored 13 of her team-high 15 points in the opening stanza.
After starting 3-of-7 from the field, however, the Lady Pacers connected on only two of their next 15 shots (13.3 percent) as Newberry claimed its only lead of the game at 10:03 on Shirolyn Johnson's bucket making it 14-13.
Katie Mitchell canned a 10-footer 15 seconds later to give USCA back the lead for good at 15-14.
With the Lady Indians still hanging around down just three with 5:41 on the clock,
Sarah Kendrick and
Haylee Reichert nailed back-to-back triples to push out to a 31-24 advantage with 5:07 left until halftime. Kendrick finished with nine points while Reichert added eight points and four assists. As a team, USCA was 6-of-18 from downtown (33.3 percent).
The Lady Pacers held Newberry without a field goal and just a pair of free throws over the final 4:50 of the first half to turn a 31-26 lead into a 40-28 halftime margin.
Laura Banda drained a jumper one minute into the second half to draw the Lady Indians back within 10. Following the shot by Banda, however, the USC Aiken defense held Newberry to 3-of-24 from the field (12.5 percent) over the final 19 minutes.
A 25-5 run over the next nine minutes pushed the Lady Pacer bulge to 65-35 with 8:57 to play. Mitchell scored eight of her 12 points during the span.
USC Aiken forced Newberry into 24 turnovers and out rebounded the Lady Indians 50-34. As a team, the Lady Pacers were 31-of-75 from the field (41.3 percent) and 9-of-12 at the stripe (75.0 percent).
Kelsey Maloney added eight points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes for Newberry.
Benazura Serbecic grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds including six on the offensive glass.
Erica Larsen added nine points and two assists in 18 minutes.
USC Aiken defeated Newberry for the fifth-straight time and leads the all-time series with the Lady Indians 27-9. The Lady Pacers also remain undefeated against non-Division I opponents at 4-0.
USC Aiken will next play at Catawba College on Tuesday, December 2 in Salisbury, N.C. at 6:00 PM.
SCORING:
Newberry (44): Laura Banda 15, Kelsey Maloney 8, Tanya Deese 5, Lauren Wrightson 4, Katie Plunkett 4, Elizabeth Green 2, Shirolyn Johnson 2, Tasha Farmer 2, Ashley Nelson 2
USC Aiken (77): Kasey Mills 15,
Katie Mitchell 12,
Erica Larsen 9,
Sarah Kendrick 9,
Haylee Reichert 8,
Lana Mandic 6,
Gezel Virella 5,
Beata Szabo 4,
Shannon Coyle 3,
Benazura Serbecic 2,
Amy Ransom 2,
Mindy Allee 2.
HONDA Cars of Aiken Classic
All-Tournament Team
LaQuanda Rouse, Saint Pauls
Laura Banda, Newberry
Shundra Johnson, Augusta State
Ernesia Wideman, Augusta State
Benazura Serbecic, USC Aiken
Mindy Allee, USC Aiken
Erica Larsen, USC Aiken
MVP: Erica Larsen, USC Aiken
