AIKEN, S.C. – CBS College Sports came to town looking for a quality NCAA Division II game to share with the nation and they did not leave disappointed in 18th-ranked USC Aiken's narrow 66-60 loss to No. 5 Clayton State.

Kayla Harris matched her career high points total of 23 points, but the 18th-ranked USC Aiken women's basketball team fell just short, dropping their first game since the last week of November to the fifth-ranked Lakers of Clayton State.

The first conference loss of the season drops the Pacers to 15-3 overall and 7-1 in league action during the 2010-11 season. The Lakers remain perfect on the season improving to 15-0 overall and 4-0 in the PBC.

The game certainly lived up to the hype of a top-20 showdown as the lead changed hands seven times in the first period of play with neither team pulling away by more than the Pacers' five-point lead with 6:58 remaining in the opening half.

Harris (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) tallied 13 of her game-high 23 points in the first stanza alone going 6-for-10 from the field as the Pacers took a 32-29 lead into the intermission over the No. 5 Lakers.

The lead only changed hands three times in the second half as the teams remained close in the opening minutes of play, but the speed of play picked up drastically as the teams continued to put on a show for the 2,312 fans in attendance as well as the national television audience.

By the 4:18 mark, the Lakers had built up a game-high 11-point lead, but the feisty Pacers remained resilient chopping the lead down to just eight off a second-chance layup by Hannah DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack) a few seconds later.

With just over a minute remaining in regulation, the Pacers once again began to cut into the Lakers' lead as Harris sank two jumpers to pull USC Aiken back within six. She then hit two free throws after swiping ball away from Clayton State's Tanisha Woodard to make the game a two-possession game at 60-56.

However, the Lakers' Brittany Hall was able to hit four free throws in the waning seconds to secure the six-point victory and keep the Lakers' perfect season alive.

Harris was one of two Pacers to finish the top-20 showdown in double figures as DeGraffinreed tallied 10 points of her own to go along with seven rebounds.

USC Aiken floor general Nakia Pinkey (Orangeburg, S.C./Orangeburg-Wilkinson) just missed out on securing double-digit points as she recorded nine points of her own and Deandra Schirmer (Holton, Kan./Cloud County) collected a game-high 10 boards to help the Pacers out-rebound the Lakers 34-29.

Clayton State as a team shot 54.2 percent (26-48) from the floor as four Lakers collected double-digit points. Teshymia Tillman led Clayton State with 21 points while Hall, Latonda Bruce and Drameka Griggs all collected 13 points each.

The 18th-ranked Pacer women will be back in action on Monday, Jan. 17 as the Saints of North Georgia will march into town for a PBC women's and men's doubleheader. The Pacer women will get things started with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff with the Saints before the men take to the hardwood at approximately 7:30 p.m.

The night will be USC Aiken's second annual "Black Out – Fight for Sight Night" at the Convocation Center. The special evening will be held in honor of USC Aiken all-time leading women's basketball scorer Meredith Legg. To help raise funds and awareness for Melanoma Research, the USC Aiken athletic department is asking everyone to wear black to the doubleheader. Black is the official color of Melanoma cancer.

All proceeds on the evening will go towards Melanoma Research.

The special doubleheader will also be Uni-Health Post Acute Care and Carolina Musculoskeletal Institute (CMI) night at the Convocation Center.

Both games of the doubleheader will be able to be followed live on USC Aiken's official athletic website at www.PacerSports.com.