Box Score AIKEN, SC--USC Aiken (7-2) blew open a 10-9 game with 15:00 left in the first half to romp over the visiting Allen University Lady Yellow Jackets (0-11) 90-33 on Tuesday night in the nightcap of the ConocoPhillips Christmas Classic sponsored by United Energy Distributors. In the first game of the evening at "The Courthouse", Augusta State (5-1) held off a furious Fort Valley State (5-2) rally to win 76-72. 

USC Aiken's 57-point win surpassing the previous mark of 54 points set on Nov. 22, 1993 in a 96-42 win over Newberry College. 

The Lady Pacers opened the contest with a 10-5 lead on Erica Larsen's jumper at 16:52, but back-to-back buckets by Allen's Tiffani Briacoe and Lucinda Stukes sliced the margin to a single point. Larsen tied Lana Mandic for game high honors with 15 points in just 17 minutes of action. She was 5-of-9 from the field including a perfect 3-of-3 from the three-point line. Briacoe and Stukes combined for seven points for Allen. 

An 18-0 run over the ensuing five minutes ballooned the lead to 28-9 capped by a three-point play by Benazura Serbecic at 10:03 of the first half. It was the only points of the game the 6-1 starting center would score, but she pulled down eight boards in 13 minutes. During the run, freshman point guard Gezel Virella canned her first trey of her collegiate career. She finished 2-of-4 from deep for eight points, five rebounds, and four assists in 22 minutes. 

All 12 players on the USCA bench played at least 14 minutes with no starter seeing more than Larsen's 17 minutes on the floor. Each player tallied at least three points on the night. 

Following a Michelle Robinson bucket at 9:58, the Lady Pacers reeled off nine more points to extend the lead to 37-11 with 6:34 remaining on a Kasey Mills' fast break lay-up. 

Larsen hit back-to-back triples in the closing three minutes as USCA ended the half on a 10-0 run to take a commanding 51-17 lead at the break. 

The second half saw much of the same with the Lady Pacers dominating play. USCA claimed a 50-point lead for the first time at the 10:40 mark on a pair of Katie Mitchell free throws to make it 72-22. Katie Gebhardt and Mandic both scored points in the paint in the final 36 seconds to give USCA its largest lead of the game at the final horn 90-33. 

USCA shot 50.0 percent from the field for the game (31-of-62), 50.0 percent from downtown (6-of-12), and 73.3 percent at the charity stripe (22-of-30). The Lady Pacers held Allen to 28.6 percent shooting for the game (12-of-42), forced 38 turnovers, and out rebounds the Lady Yellow Jackets 41-27. 

Shephany Rutherford and Katara Myers led Allen with eight points each. 

The ConocoPhillips Christmas Classic sponsored by United Energy Distributors continues tomorrow with Augusta State taking on Allen at 5:30 PM and USC Aiken hosting Fort Valley State at 7:30 PM. 

SCORING:
Allen (33): Shephany Rutherford 9, Katara Myers 9, Lucinda Stukes 7, Shauna Barefield 2, Tiffani Briacoe 2, Sherita Young 2, Michelle Robinson 2

USC Aiken (90): Erica Larsen 15, Lana Mandic 15, Kasey Mills 12, Gezel Virella 8, Haylee Reichert 8, Sarah Kendrick 6, Katie Gebhardt 6, Katie Mitchell 5, Shannon Coyle 4, Amy Ransom 4, Beata Szabo 4, Benazura Serbecic 3.