CHARLESTON, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team made a profound statement on Monday evening with a 81-48 victory over College of Charleston at Carolina First Arena.

USC Aiken's emphatic victory over College of Charleston on Monday evening was the Pacers second ever over the NCAA Division I institution.

The victory leaves the Pacers having won four of their last six outings against NCAA Division I opposition. USC Aiken is now 4-4 against NCAA Division I foes under head coach Mike Brandt.

The Pacers improve to 4-1 on the 2010-11 season with the victory over the Cougars, while College of Charleston drops below .500 on the year at 2-3.

USC Aiken led from almost start-to-finish on Monday evening.

After College of Charleston scored the opening bucket to take an early 2-0 lead, USC Aiken responded by going on a 13-2 run over the next three and a half minutes to own a 13-4 lead. The nine-point lead in the early going for the Pacers was buoyed by three Nakia Pinkney (Orangeburg, S.C./Orangeburg-Wilkinson) three-pointers.

Just over three minutes later the Pacer advantage was in double digits at 19-8 after two Deandra Schirmer (Holton, Kan./Cloud Community College) free throws.

The Cougars would whittle down the Pacer lead to 26-22 at one point, but a 7-0 Pacer run that concluded with a Triahna Harris (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) fast break lay-up earned USC Aiken a 11-point 33-22 lead once again with under 6:30 remaining in the first half of action.

The Pacer lead was 39-24 with under 45 seconds remaining in the first half after back-to-back Hannah DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack) and Daniela Tarailo (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) lay-ups. College of Charleston would knock down a three-pointer in the waning seconds of the first to leave the Pacers ahead by 12 at 39-27 entering intermission.

USC Aiken concluded the first half shooting 55.2 percent (16-for-29) as a team. The Pacers shot 44.2 percent (4-of-9) from beyond the arc in the first half.

The Pacers kept things rolling in the inaugural minutes of the second stanza and by the 15:48 mark of the second half the Pacers had extended their lead to 20 at 47-27. Lindsay Sundberg (Mansfield, Conn./E.O. Smith) garnered the Pacers the 20-point lead by knocking down her second three-pointer of the game. USC Aiken's advantage was 24 points at 51-27 just a little while later after a Sundberg driving lay-up.

USC Aiken's advantage had moved to 29 points at 63-34 a few minutes later after a Tarailo three-pointer from the right corner.

The Pacers had pushed their lead past 30 points by the final minute of the contest at 79-48. Mia Antoine (Stone Mountain, Ga./Dominion Christian) would connect on a driving lay-up with 10 seconds remaining to garner USC Aiken the 81-48 victory.

USC Aiken finished the game having scorched the nets all night long to the tune of a 55.4 percent (31-for-56) shooting performance as a team. The Pacers shot 50 percent (9-for-18) from beyond the arc.

In turn, the Pacer defense held the NCAA Division I Cougars to just 37.7 percent (20-for-53) shooting from the field as a team. The Cougars hit upon just 27.8 percent (5-for-18) of their three-point attempts.

Four Pacers finished in double figures on Monday with Pinkney leading the way with 18 points. Pinkney was 5-for-7 from the field, hitting four three-pointers. She also had three assists.

DeGraffinreed and Tarailo both had 14 in the victory for the Pacers. DeGraffinreed dished out a career-high six assists in the game.

Sundberg was the final Pacer in double figures with 11. She was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc in the game.

Harris dished out five assists in the game to move to within just six assists of third all-time in school history in total assists. Harris also had a career-high five steals.

College of Charleston only had one player in double digits with Alyssa Frye netting 11 in the loss for CofC.

USC Aiken will now close out its week with two games at the West Florida Thanksgiving Classic in Pensacola, Fla. The Pacers will begin the tournament by tangling with Goldey-Beacom at 3 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 26. One day later, USC Aiken will close out its time in the event with a 3 p.m. contest against Henderson State on Saturday, Nov. 27.

Both of USC Aiken's contests in the West Florida Thanksgiving Classic will be covered via live stats through the efforts of the West Florida Sports Information Department.