Box Score COLUMBUS, Ga.--Cherwonna Walker hit a free throw with 3.9 remaining to give Columbus State (11-4, 4-0 PBC) a 61-60 win over USC Aiken (12-5, 2-1 PBC) on Saturday afternoon at the Lumpkin Center in Peach Belt Conference women's basketball action. More than a decade of frustration for USC Aiken versus Columbus State continues as the Lady Cougars won for the sixth-straight time and for the 20th in the last 22 meetings. The Lady Pacers have not won in Columbus since 1993. 

Trailing by seven with 8:54 to play, the Lady Pacers began their comeback. Nola Grant converted an inside feed from Mindy Allee and Kasey Mills canned a triple to pull USCA within two at 47-45 with 7:19 on the clock. Following one of two free throws by Tabasha Taylor, Allee took the Lady Pacers on her back scoring 10 of the team's next 11 points, eventually tying the game at 56-56 with 2:27 to play on a three-point play. 

Allee poured in a career-high 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting including 2-of-3 from deep and 4-of-5 at the line in 31 minutes. Her previous career-best was 13 points against St. Paul's College set in November 2003. Mills finished with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting while Grant scored all six of her points in the second half. 

Noelle Griffin drained a her seventh three-pointer of the afternoon with 2:00 remaining and then converted one of two charity tosses to seemingly give CSU the game as the Lady Cougars led 60-56 with 33 ticks left. 

Grant's lay-up followed by Katie Gebhardt's steal at midcourt with 20 seconds to play set up the game's final drama. Mills went to the line with the clock showing 11.1 ticks and calmly sank both free throws to tie the game at 60-60. 

Columbus State quickly moved the ball up the floor and went inside to Walker who was fouled. After missing the first free throw with 3.9 left, Walker, who had missed all five of her previous attempts in the game, converted the game winner. 

Allee got a tough shot off from 35 feet at the buzzer that sailed wide. It was the only shot she missed all game.

Griffin was an unbelievable 7-of-10 from deep for a game-high 22 points. As a team, Columbus State drilled a season-best 11-of-24 from downtown. Lucia Heston added 11 points on 4-of-16 shooting and Angelica Graham provided a second half lift off the bench for head coach Jay Sparks as she chipped in eight of her 10 points in the final stanza. 

Lana Mandic scored eight for USCA pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds to go with five of the team's 12 assists. Gebhardt chipped in six points and four boards. USC Aiken out rebounded the Lady Cougars 41-37 and shot 46.0 percent from the field. CSU shot just 32.8 percent from the field, but forced 25 turnovers. 

In the first half, CSU jumped out to a 7-3 edge until Benazura Serbecic's jumper gave USCA its first lead of the game 8-7 with 13:35 left until half. The lead changed hands seven more times until CSU opened up a 27-23 advantage on the strength of an 8-2 run on back-to-back treys by Griffin. Neither team would score over the final 3:13 of the half. 

USC Aiken will conclude its three-game road swing on Wednesday, January 19 when the Lady Pacers travel to Florence, S.C. to square off against North Division rival Francis Marion at 5:30 PM. 

Newspaper Box Score
USC Aiken vs Columbus State
01/15/05 1:00 PM at Columbus, GA...Lumpkin Center

COLUMBUS STATE 61, USC AIKEN 60

USC AIKEN (12-5, 2-1 PBC)
Allee, Mindy 6-7 4-5 18; Mills, Kasey 5-12 2-2 14; Mandic, Lana 3-11 1-2 8; Grant, Nola 3-7 0-0 6; Gebhardt, Katie 3-8 0-0 6; Speller, Eboni 2-3 0-1 4; Serbecic, Benazura 1-2 2-2 4; Szabo, Beata 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-50 9-12 60.

COLUMBUS STATE (11-4, 4-0 PBC)
Griffin, Noelle 7-11 1-2 22; Heston, Lucia 4-16 0-0 11; Graham, Angelica 5-8 0-0 10; Gibbs, Erin 1-7 2-4 4; Smith, Crystal 1-6 2-2 4; Taylor, Tabasha 1-8 2-6 4; Walker, Cherwonna 1-2 1-6 3; Sztern, Shailee 1-5 0-0 3; Parkman, Angie 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-64 8-20 61.

USC Aiken.......................... 23 37 - 60
Columbus State................ 27 34 - 61

3-point goals-USC Aiken 5-16 (Mills, Kasey 2-6; Allee, Mindy 2-3; Mandic, Lana 1-3; Speller, Eboni 0-1; Gebhardt, Katie 0-3), Columbus State 11-24 (Griffin, Noelle 7-10; Heston, Lucia 3-9; Sztern, Shailee 1-3; Gibbs, Erin 0-2). Fouled out--USC Aiken-Serbecic, Benazura, Columbus State-None. Rebounds-USC Aiken 41 (Mandic, Lana 10), Columbus State 37 (Gibbs, Erin 7). Assists-USC Aiken 12 (Mandic, Lana 5), Columbus State 11 (Gibbs, Erin 2; Smith, Crystal 2; Griffin, Noelle 2; Taylor, Tabasha 2). Total fouls-USC Aiken 17, Columbus State 13. A-801.