Box Score MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga.--The USC Aiken Lady Pacers (11-6, 3-3 PBC) shot 59.6 percent from the field, claimed a 15-point halftime lead, and weathered a furious Lady Bobcat rally in upsetting 15th ranked Georgia College and State University (14-3, 3-3 PBC) 80-77 on Saturday night at the Centennial Center. It is the Lady Pacers first win over a ranked team since knocking off #23 Mars Hill 67-53 on November 26, 2002. 

USC Aiken opened by hitting six of its first nine shots from the field to sprint to a 13-0 lead at the 15:58 mark on a bucket by Lana Mandic. The 6-2 junior hit all six of her shots from the field to finish with 13 points.

GC&SU failed on its first seven attempts from the floor before back-to-back triples by Breanne Haggard and Alicia Ransom, quickly got the Lady Bobcats back in it. Rachel Jackson's jumper at 13:38 capped the run and sliced the margin to 13-8. Ransom finished with the game's only double double scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 boards. Haggard added 11 points on 3-of-5 from the three-point line. 

Following a pair of Renea Phelps free throws to make it 21-15 with 10:27 to play in the opening stanza, USCA reeled off a 16-5 run keyed by five points from Erica Larsen. Mandic's fast break lay-up with 2:32 remaining pushed the bulge to 37-20. Larsen connected on her first six shots and finished 7-of-11 from the field for a team-high 17 points to go with five rebounds and two blocks in 29 minutes. 

Haggard forced a turnover with 9.9 seconds to play and converted a bucket to set the halftime margin at 42-27. GC&SU, ranked second in the latest NCAA South Atlantic region poll, entered the game as the top pressure defensive team in the conference with a +10.9 turnover margin. They won the turnover battle 23-13, but were out rebounded 41-31. 

Benazura Serbecic hit a jumper in the paint at 18:07 of the second half to give USCA its largest lead of the game 50-31. Serbecic finished with seven points and seven rebounds.

Still trailing 58-43 at the 13:00 mark, the Lady Bobcats began a rally that closed the gap and made the final eight minutes exciting for the 456 people at the Centennial Center. GC&SU rattled off a 12-3 run capped by Ransom triple at 8:27 to cut it to a six-point game 61-55. Ransom scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half. 

But freshman guard Gezel Virella stemmed the tide with a clutch three-pointer on the ensuing Lady Pacer possession to push it back to a nine-point lead. Antionette Long's jumper at 4:35 reduced the USCA lead to 70-67, the closest GC&SU had gotten since it was 2-0. After each team traded turnovers, however, Virella stepped up again with another trey to make it 73-67 with 3:27 left. It would be the last field goal of the game for USCA. Long led GC&SU with a game-high 19 points.

Virella, just 2-of-11 from downtown coming in and averaging 1.3 ppg, had her break out game with a career-best 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting. 

The Lady Pacers sank 7-of-8 free throws in the final 56 seconds to ice the game. Following a turnover with just over two seconds to play, however, Latia Love came up with the basketball, dribbled twice, and launched a 65-footer that rimmed out as the buzzer sounded. 

USCA's last win over a ranked Peach Belt Conference opponent came on January 6, 2001 at home versus 12th ranked Kennesaw State 68-57. The Lady Pacers now trail Lander and Augusta State by one game in the North Division standings. 

USC Aiken travels to Pembroke, N.C. to face UNC Pembroke on Wednesday, January 28 at 5:30 PM. The Lady Pacers downed the Lady Braves 78-53 in Aiken on January 14. 

SCORING:
USC Aiken (80): Erica Larsen 17, Lana Mandic 13, Sarah Kendrick 12, Gezel Virella 10, Haylee Reichert 8, Benazura Serbecic 7, Kasey Mills 7, Katie Mitchell 6

#15 Georgia College & State (77): Antionette Long 19, Alicia Ransom 14, Breane Haggard 11, Kirsti Jones 9, Latia Love 8, Larkin Cleaveland 4, Rachel Jackson 4, Adrienne Tucker 3, Amanda Lomax 3, Renea Phelps 2.
Boxscore