AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team opened up its 2010-11 Peach Belt Conference schedule in dramatic fashion on Wednesday evening at the Convocation Center, erasing an eight-point halftime deficit to pick up a two-point 66-64 victory over 25th-ranked Francis Marion.

The victory was special in that it marked the 400th win of head coach Mike Brandt's career. The ninth-year head coach of the Pacers is now 400-230 in 21 seasons as a head coach. Brandt is 147-101 overall as the head mentor of the USC Aiken women's basketball program.

The victory over the 25th-ranked Patriots is USC Aiken's second victory over a ranked team in the 2010-11 season. The Pacers also bested third-ranked Tusculum on Nov. 14. USC Aiken has now won 10 of its last 19 games against ranked foes. USC Aiken is 13-17 against ranked opposition under Brandt.

USC Aiken is now 7-2 (1-0 PBC) overall on the 2010-11 season. The Patriots suffered their first loss of the year on Wednesday to fall to 3-1 (0-1 PBC).

Francis Marion led by as many as 15 points in the first stanza, but USC Aiken whittled down their advantage to eight at intermission at 37-29.

Francis Marion still owned a 10-point advantage at 55-45 with 11 minutes left in the game, but a 16-6 run over the next eight minutes saw the Pacers pull even in the game at 61-61.

Shannon Singleton-Bates garnered the Patriots a three-point lead at 64-61 with a three-point play with 1:13 to play.

From there the contest turned into the Hannah DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack) show for USC Aiken. Held scoreless for the entire game up to the last minute, DeGraffinreed scored the first of five consecutive points to help secure the two-point win.

After DeGraffinreed posted a lay-up with 54 seconds left to pull the Pacers to within one at 64-63, USC Aiken was able to corral a missed Singleton-Bates jumper to have a chance to take the lead on the next offensive possession. DeGraffinreed was once again up to the task, connecting on another lay-up to place the Pacers ahead at 65-64 with 22 seconds left in the game.

A Francis Marion turnover then forced the Patriots to foul DeGraffinreed, who then hit one of two free throws to set the score at 66-64 with seven seconds left. Francis Marion would be unable to even get a shot off from there to allow USC Aiken to emerge with its first PBC win of the year.

Two Pacers finished in double figures with Deandra Schirmer (Holton, Kan./Cloud County) and Daniela Tarailo (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) both notching double-digit totals. Schirmer finished with a team-best 15 points and seven rebounds, while Tarailo added 14 points and five boards.

As a team, USC Aiken finished Wednesday's win shooting 43.3 percent (26-for-60). Francis Marion shot 41.4 percent (24-for-58) as a team in its loss to the Pacers.

USC Aiken will next travel to St. Augustine, Fla. for a Peach Belt Conference game with Flagler at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4. The game will be able to be followed live on USC Aiken's official athletic website at www.PacerSports.com.