Box Score FLORENCE, S.C. – The 18th-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team battled to a hard fought 74-66 overtime Peach Belt Conference victory over Francis Marion on Wednesday evening at the Smith University Center.
The victory is the 10th straight for the nationally-ranked Pacers, who are now 15-2 on the 2010-11 season. USC Aiken is still perfect in league action after the victory at 7-0.
Francis Marion with the loss to USC Aiken on Wednesday evening is now 8-5 (1-4 PBC).
Neither team could really get anything going in the first half, but Francis Marion was able to hold a seven-point advantage at 29-22 with under two minutes remaining in the first half.
A Kayla Harris (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) three-pointer pulled the Pacers back within four at 29-25, but Francis Marion was able to notch a lay-up just before half to leave them ahead by six at 31-25 at intermission.
USC Aiken shot 29 percent from the field in the first half. Francis Marion finished the first stanza shooting 54 percent from the field as a team.
Through strong inside play in the opening minutes of the second half, Hannah DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack) and USC Aiken opened the second half on a 13-6 run to take a 38-37 lead in the contest with 14:05 remaining in the second half. DeGraffinreed knocked down two free throws to cap off the opening surge and give the Pacers the one-point lead.
The USC Aiken advantage would not last long as Francis Marion would go on a 9-0 run over the next four minutes to own a 46-38 lead with just ten minutes left in the final half of action. Harris squelched the Patriot run with two free throws.
Francis Marion would go up by as many as ten at 50-40, but USC Aiken would use another run of their own to pull back within four. USC Aiken's 8-2 run left the Pacers within distance with under five minutes left at 52-48.
The Patriot advantage was just one a little while later at 54-53 after USC Aiken's Daniela Tarailo (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) knocked down a tough driving lay-up with a little over two minutes left. The two teams would trade baskets back and forth over the next minute with Francis Marion clinging to a three-point 58-55 lead with 1:24 left in the second half.
Francis Marion would still own a three-point advantage at 60-57 with 39 seconds left after both teams traded baskets.
On USC Aiken's next offensive possession after a Harris three-point attempt just rattled out, DeGraffinreed scooped up the rebound and made a lay-up where she was fouled in the act. DeGraffinreed made it a three-point play by knocking down the ensuing free throw to tie it at 60-60 with 19 seconds on the game clock.
USC Aiken thwarted Francis Marion's chances of getting a good look in the final seconds by stealing the basketball and placing the basketball out of bounds with one second on the clock. Francis Marion would have a last ditch effort in regulation, but their long last second shot could not connect, sending the game into overtime.
After the two teams stayed close in the opening couple of minutes of overtime, USC Aiken took over in the extra period to secure its 10th straight win.
Harris pulled the Pacers ahead by five at 71-66 in the extra frame via a three-pointer and two free throws.
USC Aiken would hit three more free throws in the final seconds to emerge with the eight-point 74-66 win.
DeGraffinreed was the top scorer for the Pacers in the victory over Francis Marion with a game-high tying 22 points. She was 8-for-9 from the free throw line in the game. She just missed on a double-double as she ended her night with nine rebounds.
DeGrafinreed plucked a career-best four steals in the contest.
Four Pacers recorded double digits in total with Kayla Harris not far behind DeGraffinreed with 21 points. Harris was a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe.
With DeGraffinreed and Harris netting 20 or more it marked the first time since the 2009 NCAA Division II Tournament game against Francis Marion on March 13, 2009 that two Pacers had scored 20 or more in the same game. Kendra Chandler (27) and Megan Starnes (20) accomplished the feat in the tournament contest with Francis Marion.
Nakia Pinkney (Orangeburg, S.C./Orangeburg-Wilkinson) had 14 points in the game for the Pacers, while Deandra Schirmer (Holton, Kan./Cloud County CC) ended her day with 10 total points.
Francis Marion was led in the loss to USC Aiken by Shannon Singleton-Bates, who tied DeGraffinreed for top honors with 22 points.
USC Aiken only shot 37.5 percent as a team to Francis Marion's 52.7 percent as a team. Nevertheless, USC Aiken took advantage of a 37.5 percent free throw shooting performance from Francis Marion to go along with 29 Francis Marion turnovers.
The eyes of the women's college basketball nation will be upon the Convocation Center this weekend with the 18th-ranked USC Aiken women playing host to a nationally-televised top 20 showdown with No. 5 Clayton State at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 15.
The USC Aiken athletic department wants to "Pack the House" for USC Aiken's nationally-televised contest with Clayton State.
The noon tip-off on Saturday, Jan. 15 from the Convocation Center is part of Division II and CBS College Sports teaming up to televise a total of 10 men's and women's 2011 Division II basketball games of the week.
In addition to appearing on CBS College Sports, the game also will available through NCAA Productions syndication affiliates and will be videostreamed concurrently on NCAA.com.
CBS College Sports Network is the original 24-hour cable network dedicated to capturing the passion of college sports. CBS College Sports is available throughout the nation in 94 million homes.
The CBS College Sports network is carried on Channel 613 by Directv and Channel 152 by Dish Network. To learn more about CBS College Sports network, please visit http://www.cbscollegesports.com/.
The official website of CBS College Sports has a special channel finder tab on the top right side that tells you if CBS College Sports is carried by the cable or satellite provider in your area. It also includes a schedule tab at the top that allows you to see the schedule of the events on CBS College Sports: http://www.cbscollegesports.com/schedule/.
The nationally-televised game is part of a Peach Belt Conference men's and women's basketball doubleheader at the Convocation Center with the Pacer men scheduled to take on Clayton State immediately following the women's game at approximately 2:30 p.m.
To help accomplish the goal of "Packing the House" and having the Convocation Center completely sold out, the USC Aiken athletic department is pre-selling 2,500 tickets to the game. Tickets are being sold for a special discount rate of just $2.
The men's game unfortunately will not be televised and to follow the action live for the men's game one must be in attendance for both the men's and the women's games on Saturday, Jan. 15. Live stats will be available for the men's game, but a webcast will not due to the NCAA agreement with CBS.
For tickets to the nationally-televised game, please come by the USC Aiken athletic department from 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday of this week. You can also call the USC Aiken athletic department at (803) 641-3486.
