MORROW, Ga. – The nationally eighth-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team had its historic 2010-11 season come to a close in an 85-68 loss to No. 6 Lander in an NCAA Division II Southeast Regional semifinal at the Athletics & Fitness Center.

USC Aiken (27-6) closes out one of the best seasons in school history with a school-record 27 victories. The Pacers had acquired the first NCAA Tournament victory in USC Aiken women's basketball history one day prior with a 69-66 win over regional No. 6 Tusculum.

The second seed in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional, Lander (29-3) advances to the championship game of the regional where they will face the winner of the regional No. 1 Clayton State and regional No. 5 Barton game at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 14.

The third seed in the Southeast Regional, USC Aiken opened its semifinal game against Lander by rushing out to a nine-point 15-6 lead with exactly 14 minutes remaining.

USC Aiken would hold the lead for the next six and half minutes before Lander knotted the game at 18-18 with 7:28 left to play in the first half.

From there, Lander would close the first half on a 19-10 run to own a 37-28 lead at intermission.

The Bearcats came out of the halftime break hitting on all cylinders with Lander owning a 22-point 56-34 lead with 11:56 remaining.

Despite the deficit, USC Aiken would not back down with the Pacers going on a 24-13 run over the next almost nine minutes to sit behind just 11 at 69-58 with 3:03 left in the game.

Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Pacers would be able to get with Lander eventually outscoring USC Aiken 48-40 in the second stanza to pick up the 17-point semifinal win.

USC Aiken shot 37.7 percent (20 for 53) from the field in the loss to Lander. The Bearcats hit upon 45.2 percent (28 for 62) of their shot attempts in their victory.

The Pacers ended Saturday's loss with three players ending their efforts in double figures.

Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Year Kayla Harris (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) led the way for USC Aiken with 15 points and eight rebounds.

All-Conference performer Hannah DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack) added 14 points of her own. She was a perfect 8 for 8 from the free throw line.

Senior guard Nakia Pinkney (Orangeburg, S.C./Orangeburg-Wilkinson) ended her impressive Pacer career by scoring 14 points.

Fellow senior guard Triahna Harris (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) added eight points, four assists and four steals.

Senior Pacer forward Deandra Schirmer (Holton, Kan./Cloud County CC) closed out her two years as a Pacer with six points and four rebounds.

In total, 10 different Pacers scored in the contest.

Lander was led in its win by Ciara Lyons and Shannon McKever. Both had a game-high 24 points.