SALISBURY, N.C. – The 23^rd-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team never trailed in a 62-53 win over host Catawba in its first game of the Comfort Suites Classic at Goodman Gymnasium.

USC Aiken (3-1) finished the nine-point win shooting 43.4 percent (23-of-53) as a team. The Pacer defense held Catawba (2-2) to just 34.6 percent (18-of-52) from the floor as a team in the game.

The Pacers connected upon six of their 14 (42.9 percent) 3-point attempts in the contest. Catawba was able to only hit 25 percent (5-for-20) of their 3-point shot attempts.

Both teams shot well from the free throw line with USC Aiken hitting 71.4 percent (10-of-14) and Catawba knocking down 80 percent (12-for-15) of their attempts from the charity stripe.

Hannah DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack College) was the catalyst for the Pacer attack on Friday evening, finishing with a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. She also dished out a game-high tying five assists.

Kayla Harris (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) was just behind DeGraffinreed with 14 points. She also had six rebounds and four assists.

Daniela Tarailo (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) was the final Pacer in double figures. Tarailo just missed on a double-double in the game with 10 points and eight boards.

Catawba was led by Nisha Long, who scored a game-high 21 points. Dana Hicks was the only other Catawba player in double figures with 12 points.

The Pacers came out firing Friday, scoring the first 12 points of the game to take a 12-0 lead with 16:36 remaining in the first half of action. USC Aiken knocked down five of their first six shots with Brittany Hill (Mechanicsville, Va./Quinnipiac) scoring five of the first 12 points.

A few minutes later, Catawba had cut the Pacer advantage in the contest to eight at 21-13.

Catawba would not be able to get any closer in the first half with the Pacers closing the half on a 12-7 run to take a 13-point lead at intermission at 33-20.

USC Aiken finished the first half shooting 41.9 percent (13-for-31). The Pacer defense held Catawba to just 30.8 percent (8-for-26) shooting in the first stanza. The Pacers forced Catawba into 12 turnovers in the first half. USC Aiken turned the basketball over just five times in the first half.

By the first media time out of the second half, USC Aiken had doubled up Catawba in the second half, 8-4, to take a 17-point lead at 41-24 with 14:50 remaining in the game.

Catawba would be able to cut into the Pacer lead over the next seven minutes, pulling to within nine at 45-36 with 7:48 left on the game clock. USC Aiken snapped Catawba's 12-4 run a minute and a half later when Lindsay Sundberg (Mansfield, Conn./E.O. Smith) nailed a 3-pointer at the 6:17 mark to garner the Pacers a 48-36 lead. Shortly thereafter, Mia Antoine (Stone Mountain, Ga./Dominion Christian) then hit another trey to extend the USC Aiken lead to 15 at 51-36 with 5:37 to go in the contest.

Catawba from there would then go on an 11-2 run to cut the Pacer lead to six at 53-47 with a little over two minutes to play.

USC Aiken would respond to the Catawba run by going on a 5-0 spurt of their own that was punctuated by a Tarailo trey that earned USC Aiken at 58-47 lead with 1:37 left in the game.

Catawba would be able to cut the final deficit to single digits from there, but the Pacers held on for the 62-53 victory.

The Pacers will next close out their time in the Comfort Suites Classic by hitting the hardwood against Barton for the second time in less than a week. USC Aiken and Barton will face off against one another at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26.