SALISBURY, N.C. – The nationally 23^rd-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team downed No. 29 Barton for the second time in less than a week in a 68-62 win in USC Aiken's final game of the Comfort Suites Classic at Goodman Gymnasium on the campus of Catawba.

The Pacers have now won three in a row.

USC Aiken (4-1) last bested Barton, 64-52, on Sunday, Nov. 20. The game was part of Lander's Lady Bearcat Tip-Off Classic at Horne Arena in Greenwood, S.C.

The Pacers finished the win over Barton on Saturday, Nov. 26 shooting 54.2 percent (26-for-48) as a team. Barton (2-2) shot 39.7 percent (25-for-63) as a team in its loss.

USC Aiken hit upon 35.7 (5-for-14) of its shots from beyond the arc. The Pacer defense allowed Barton to hit just 15.4 percent (2-of-13) of their 3-point attempts.

USC Aiken was strong from the free throw line, shooting 84.6 percent (11-for-13). Barton hit just 58.8 percent (10-for-17) of their free throw attempts in the game.

Kayla Harris led the Pacers in their win, scoring a game-high 19 points. She shot 60 percent from the floor. Harris was 7-for-8 from the free throw line in the game. She also had seven rebounds and two assists.

Hannah DeGraffinreed was the only other Pacer in double figures with 15 points. DeGraffinreed was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field in the game. She also had a game-high six assists and four rebounds.

Nine Pacers scored in total in the game.

Nyesha Willie led four Barton players in double figures with 15 points.

Barton scored the first two points of the game, but USC Aiken owned a 12-point lead just over five minutes into the game at 18-6 after a DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack College) fast break lay-up with 14:13 remaining in the first half. DeGraffinreed's lay-up off a steal was part of an early Pacer surge that saw USC Aiken knock down seven of its first nine shots (77.8 percent).

USC Aiken from there would go on a 17-9 run to push its lead to 20 points at 35-15 with 3:09 left in the first stanza.

Barton would score six of the final eight points in the first half, but USC Aiken's Mia Antoine (Stone Mountain, Ga./Dominion Christian) would nail a jumper at the final buzzer of the first half to send the game into intermission with the Pacers owning a 16-point 37-21 lead.

USC Aiken concluded the first half shooting a scorching 66.7 percent (16-for-24) as a team. The Pacer defense held Barton to just 34.8 percent (8-of-23) shooting in the first half.

Harris led all players in the first half with 10 points. She hit four of her six field goal attempts in the first half.

The Pacers opened the second half on a 9-4 run to take a 21-point lead at 46-25 after a Daniela Tarailo (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) 3-pointer with 17:18 left in the game.

Barton would mount a charge from there, outscoring the Pacers 37-26 through the first 19 minutes of the second half to pull within five at 63-58 with 1:26 left in the game. Harris (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) hit a jumper in the paint 30 seconds later to give the Pacers a seven-point lead at 65-58 with under a minute remaining.

USC Aiken's lead had been whittled down to four a little while later at 66-62 with 15 seconds left in the contest. Harris then hit two free throws to preserve the six-point 68-62 Pacer win.

The Pacers will next begin the month of December by facing off against Limestone for the second consecutive year. The Pacers will host the Saints at the Convocation Center at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1. USC Aiken owns an 18-7 all-time series advantage over Limestone after last year's win over the Saints in Gaffney, S.C.