Box Score AIKEN, SC--The USC Aiken Lady Pacers (6-2) used a 20-6 run over the final 12 minutes of the first half to power their way to a 61-46 non-conference win over Carson-Newman (3-4) in women's basketball action Saturday night at "The Courthouse" in Aiken, S.C. Kasey Mills led all scorers with 16 points as USCA improved to 2-0 all-time versus the Lady Eagles and is 3-1 versus the South Atlantic Conference this season. 

Carson-Newman's Kedrin Madar connected on a pair of free throws at 12:36 of the first half to draw the Lady Eagles within one at 13-12. Mills scored a second chance bucket for the Lady Pacers on the ensuing possession to ignite the 20-6 run. Katie Gebhardt capped the run with 1:31 left in the opening stanza with a three-pointer. Seven players scored for USCA over the 20-point span with all of them scoring between two and four points. 

Mills was 6-of-11 from the field including 1-of-2 from deep and 3-of-3 at the stripe for a game-high 16 points. She added four assists and three steals in just 15 minutes off the bench. Katie Mitchell also added 10 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes as head coach Mike Brandt's bench contributed 41 of the team's 61 points. 

Andrea Fitzgerald, the Lady Eagles leading scorer at 18.0 ppg, missed her first six shots from the field and finished 3-of-19 for the game. She still led Carson-Newman in scoring with nine points in 25 minutes before fouling out. Head coach Dean Walsh was playing with a shortened bench with three players out with the flu including second leading scorer Stacie Dunn (13.3 ppg). 

Trailing 35-20 at the break, Amanda Jackson hit a three-pointer to open the second half to trim the margin back to 35-23. Carson-Newman's leading three-point shooter finished 1-of-5 for three points. 

USCA then went on an 11-3 run sparked by a Mills' trey and finished by three consecutive buckets from Mitchell to make it 46-26 with 14:50 remaining. 

Madar hit back-to-back lay-ups to close the gap to 46-30, but that was as close as Carson-Newman would get until the closing seconds. Beata Szabo's put-back basket at 7:10 gave USCA its largest lead of the game 54-33. 

Tiffany Parker scored five points for Carson-Newman while pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds in 38 minutes of play. Madar finished with eight points while Amy Cate added eight points and four rebounds. 

The Lady Pacers had 11 of their 12 players score. USCA shot 40.3 percent for the game (25-of-62) including 26.7 percent from downtown (4-of-15) and 87.5 percent at the stripe (7-of-8). USCA also out rebounded the Lady Eagles 51-36. 

Carson-Newman shot 27.1 percent from the field (16-of-59), 23.8 percent from long range (5-of-21), and were just 9-of-18 at the charity stripe for 50.0 percent. 

USC Aiken returns to action on Tuesday, December 16 when they host the ConocoPhillips Christmas Classic sponsored by United Energy Distributors. The Lady Pacers will play Allen University at 7:30 PM. Carson-Newman will play at Lincoln Memorial on December 20 at 5:30 PM. 

SCORING:
Carson-Newman (46): Andrea Fitzgerald 9, Amy Cate 8, Kedrin Madar 8, Salem Shaffer 7, Tiffany Parker 5, Amanda Jackson 3, Chanda Parker 3, Gretchen Geyer 3

USC Aiken (61): Kasey Mills 16, Katie Mitchell 10, Sarah Kendrick 7, Lana Mandic 6, Haylee Reichert 5, Beata Szabo 4, Benazura Serbecic 4, Katie Gebhardt 3, Amy Ransom 2, Gezel Virella 2, Shannon Coyle 2.