Box Score AIKEN, SC--USC Aiken (8-3) got career-tying nights from two players en route to a 74-57 non-conference win over Presbyterian College (4-7) on Saturday afternoon at "The Courthouse" in Aiken, S.C. The Lady Pacers have now won two-thirds of the match-ups in the 21-game series dating back to 1979 including nine of 10 at home. Sarah Kendrick and Lana Mandic tied career-highs with 20 and 15 points respectively. 

The Lady Pacers showed little rust in playing their first game since December 17 racing to a 9-0 lead with 17:51 on the clock on a Kendrick fast break lay-up. Cameron Cook got the Blue Hose on the board at 17:03 with a bucket in the paint, but PC would miss its next six shots from the field and went nearly six minutes without a field goal as USCA built an 18-3 advantage with 11:36 left until halftime. 

Bonnie Werner's lay-up at 11:19 broke the drought and Billie Haskins canned a triple one minute later to slice the lead to 19-8. But an 8-3 run pushed USCA back in front 27-11, the team's largest lead of the first half. 

After leading 29-14 with 5:22 remaining in the opening stanza, Werner fueled a Blue Hose comeback and a 14-6 run to trim the lead down to seven at intermission 35-28. Werner scored seven of her team-high 17 points over that five-minute span. She finished 6-of-15 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from the three-point line. 

In the second half, both teams opened cold, each going 1-of-10 from the field through the first seven minutes of play. Freshman guard Gezel Virella scored her only three points of the game on a big three-point play with 14:40 remaining to give USCA back a double-digit edge at 41-30. 

Presbyterian got back within six points at 46-40 with a 6-0 run sparked by four points from Haskins. The Blue Hose's leading scorer entering the game (20.4 ppg) finished 4-of-13 from the field for 15 points in 34 minutes. Mandic, however, showed her range with a trey from the top of the key to push it back to a 49-40 lead and start a 7-0 Lady Pacer run with 8:24 to play. 

Cook connected on a pair of charity tosses with 4:35 on the clock to again get PC within striking distance at 55-48, but a decisive 14-4 run capped by a pair of Kendrick free throws at 1:31 extended the USCA lead to its largest of the game at 69-52. Kendrick poured in eight of her 20 points over that span. She finished 5-of-8 from the field, 2-of-3 from downtown, and 8-of-10 at the stripe to go with six boards, two assists, and three steals in 32 minutes. 

Erica Larsen scored seven of her 11 points in the second half while Kasey Mills contributed all nine of her points in the opening stanza. Benazura Serbecic tied a career-high pulling down 11 rebounds off the bench as the Lady Pacers won for the first time this season when not out rebounding their opponent (35-33). 

Cook finished with eight points and five rebounds for PC while Dana Birnie was held to two points but grabbed nine boards. 

USC Aiken shot 44.2 percent from the field for the game (23-of-52), 50.0 percent from deep (4-of-8), and 82.8 percent from the stripe (24-of-29). Presbyterian connected on 34.7 percent from the field (17-of-49), 25.0 percent from beyond the arc (5-of-20), and 75.0 percent at the line (18-of-24). The Lady Pacers won both the points in the paint battle (30-12) as well as points off turnovers (24-11). 

USC Aiken returns to action on Wednesday, January 7 when they open up Peach Belt Conference play on the road at USC Spartanburg at 5:30 PM. Presbyterian returns home to Clinton to host Anderson College on Wednesday at 7:00 PM. 

SCORING:
Presbyterian (57): Bonnie Werner 17, Billie Haskins 15, Cameron Cook 8, Rebecca Wessinger 6, Lauren Yanik 5, Brittany Carroll 2, Dana Birnie 2, Wesley Campbell 1, Anna Sheppard 1

USC Aiken (74): Sarah Kendrick 20, Lana Mandic 15, Erica Larsen 11, Kasey Mills 9, Katie Mitchell 7, Benazura Serbecic 4, Katie Gebhardt 3, Gezel Virella 3, Haylee Reichert 2.
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