Box Score AIKEN, S.C.--USC Aiken (8-2) bolted to a 36-20 halftime lead but had to hold off a furious second-half rally to knock off previous undefeated Catawba College (5-1) 69-63 in women's non-conference basketball on Wednesday night at "The Courthouse".
Nola Grant led four Lady Pacers in double figures with 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds as USCA won its sixth-straight game.
The Lady Pacers improved to 26-2 in non-conference home games over the past five seasons and picked up just their second win in five all-time meetings with Catawba.
Despite shooting 56.0 percent from the field for the game, a dismal 11-of-28 (39.3 percent) performance at the charity stripe allowed the Lady Indians to hang around.
After trailing early 2-0, the Lady Pacers connected on seven of their first 10 shots to pull in front 14-4. Catawba opened cold missing eight of its first nine and shooting only 21.9 percent in the opening stanza (7-of-32).
Lana Mandic converted a lay-up at 9:14 to put the Lady Pacers ahead 22-8. USCA scored 20 of its first 22 points in the paint. Mandic finished with 11 points and a career-best 12 rebounds.
Catawba opened on fire in the second half draining 7-of-8 shots from the field to slice the 36-20 halftime margin down to six at 42-36 on Kendall Prescott's jumper. After a scoreless first half for Ingrid Easter, the 5-8 sophomore guard drilled two triples in scoring eight of the Lady Indians' first 12 points. She finished with 10 points in 18 minutes.
Benazura Serbecic had an offensive put back of a missed
Katie Gebhardt three-pointer followed by a pair of three throws as USCA went back up by a dozen 48-36. Serbecic finished with 15 points and nine rebounds while Gebhardt added nine points and five boards in 30 minutes off the bench.
Catawba, however, countered with a 6-0 run of its own to trail by six with 11:55 remaining. Over the next three minutes, Catawba pulled within a single possession at 52-49 with 8:46 to play on an Ashley Cox three-pointer. It was as close as the Lady Indians had been since it was 4-2.
Still leading by just three with 6:28 on the clock, back-to-back offensive put backs by Mandic allowed USCA to open up a 60-53 lead with 5:07 to play. A jumper by Christina Carmon and a bucket in the paint from Tamekia Foster again cut the margin to three at 63-60 with 1:54 remaining.
The Lady Pacers converted just enough at the free throw line down the stretch connecting on 4-of-8 in the final 94 seconds to hang on for the 69-63 victory.
Kasey Mills was the fourth Lady Pacer in double figures as she had 11. Point guard
Mindy Allee did not score but dished out a game-high six assists. Grant connected on 8-of-10 from the floor in scoring her game-high 17 points. She also had two of the Lady Pacers' four blocked shots.
As a team, USCA shot a sizzling 63.2 percent in the second half (12-of-19), but were 8-of-22 at the line (36.4 percent). They also out rebounded Catawba 45-31, but committed nine more turnovers than the Lady Indians.
Cox led Catawba with 14 points on 5-of-21 shooting. Danielle Scearce added seven points and six boards in 17 minutes off the bench.
USC Aiken will host West Virginia Tech on Friday, December 3 at 7:00 PM in the team's final home game of the 2004 calendar year.
Newspaper Box Score
Catawba vs USC Aiken
12/01/04 5:30 PM at Aiken, S.C. (The Courthouse)
USC AIKEN 69, CATAWBA 63
CATAWBA (5-1)
Cox, Ashley 5-21 2-3 14; Easter, Ingrid 4-6 0-0 10; Foster, Tamekia 4-11 1-2 9; Scearce, Danielle 2-5 3-4 7; Darden, Isiaette 2-7 0-0 5; Monroe, Selia 1-3 2-2 4; Volpicelli, Jenny 1-3 2-2 4; Davis, Hannah 2-4 0-0 4; Carmon, Christina 1-4 0-0 2; Prescott, Kendall 1-3 0-0 2; Tackett, Erica 1-1 0-0 2; Colombo, Gia 0-0 0-0 0; Valentine, Stephanie 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-68 10-13 63.
USC AIKEN (8-2)
Grant, Nola 8-10 1-2 17; Serbecic, Benazura 5-9 5-12 15; Mandic, Lana 5-8 1-4 11; Mills, Kasey 5-11 0-3 11; Gebhardt, Katie 3-7 3-4 9; Speller, Eboni 1-1 0-0 3; Szabo, Beata 1-1 1-2 3; Allee, Mindy 0-3 0-1 0. Totals 28-50 11-28 69.
Catawba....................... 20 43 - 63
USC Aiken................... 36 33 - 69
3-point goals-Catawba 5-15 (Easter, Ingrid 2-4; Cox, Ashley 2-8; Darden, Isiaette 1-3), USC Aiken 2-11 (Speller, Eboni 1-1; Mills, Kasey 1-5; Mandic, Lana 0-1; Gebhardt, Katie 0-2; Allee, Mindy 0-2). Fouled out--Catawba-None, USC Aiken-None. Rebounds-Catawba 31 (Scearce, Danielle 6), USC Aiken 45 (Grant, Nola 13). Assists-Catawba 18 (Cox, Ashley 5), USC Aiken 16 (Allee, Mindy 6). Total fouls-Catawba 23, USC Aiken 16. A-1184.
