GREENWOOD, S.C. –The University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team registered an impressive  13-point 61-48 victory over current nationally third-ranked and South Atlantic Conference preseason favorite Tusculum in the Pacers' final game of the Lander Lady Bearcat DII Tip-Off Classic on Sunday afternoon at Horne Arena.

The 13-point win over the defending NCAA Division II Southeast Regional champions and the 2010 NCAA Division II Elite Eight participants improved the Pacers to a perfect 2-0 on the year. Tusculum is now 0-2 on the season after falling in its first game of the Lady Bearcat DII Tip-Off Classic to host and current nationally fourth-ranked Lander one day earlier.

USC Aiken entered the halftime break with a 16-point advantage at 35-19. The Pacer duo of Kayla Harris (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) and Daniela Tarailo (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) obtained 26 of USC Aiken's 35 points in the first stanza with each posting 13 points in the first half of play.

Harris was 6-of-8 from the floor in the first half, while Tarailo obtained nine of her 13 points in the first half from beyond the arc.

Tusculum collected the first points of the contest, but USC Aiken would proceed to go on a 9-0 run to hold a 9-2 lead. A few minutes later the Pacer advantage would move to double digits with the Pacers eventually pulling ahead by as many as 18 points on a couple of different occasions in the latter moments of the first half.

The Pacers concluded the first half shooting 43.3 percent (13-for-30) as a team. In turn, the Pacer defense stifled Tusculum into a 29.4 percent (5-of-17) shooting performance as a team in the first half.

The third-ranked Pioneers of Tusculum College placed themselves back into the game with a strong start to the second half, going on a 25-14 run to cut the Pacer lead to just five points at 49-44 with 6:41 remaining in regulation. A little bit under three minutes later, USC Aiken's lead in the game had dissolved to just three points at 49-46 after a Jasmine Parker jumper with 4:10 left on the game clock.

A quick 5-0 spurt buoyed by a Hannah DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack) three-point play over the next minute helped USC Aiken to squelch Tusculum's advances and move the Pacers back ahead by eight at 54-46 with under three minutes left.

The Pacers would eventually end up closing out the final 6:41 of the game on a 12-4 run to earn the 13-point win.

Harris led all scorers in the game with 18 points. Tarailo would finish the victory with 15 total points. Tarailo also had eight rebounds, while Harris had two steals.

The duo were the only two Pacers in double figures, but USC Aiken ended the game with 10 different players recording at least a point.

Tusculum had two players in double figures with Parker leading the way with 15 points. Linda Aughburns was the final Pioneer in double figures with 12.

The Pacers concluded Sunday's victory shooting 40.7 percent (22-for-54) as a team. Tusculum improved in the second half, but the Pacer defense still held the Pioneers to under 40 percent shooting as a team in the game at 37.8 percent (14-for-37).

In addition to holding the Pioneers to just 37.8 percent shooting as a team, USC Aiken's defense held preseason DII National Player of the Year Jasmine Gunn of Tusculum to just seven points. She had five turnovers

USC Aiken will next travel to Milledgeville, Ga. to face off against Georgia College at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17. Despite being conference rivals, the contest will be considered a non-conference encounter.

USC Aiken's game with Georgia College will be able to be followed live via a audio webcast provided by Georgia College. The link for the audio broadcast will be available on USC Aiken's official athletic website at www.PacerSports.com.