MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The nationally 15^th-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team held off a strong second half charge from Montevallo to claim a 52-47 road victory over the Falcons in Peach Belt Conference women's basketball action at BankTrust Arena.

USC Aiken (16-2, 9-1 PBC) has now won 15 of its last 16 games. In its last seven wins the Pacers have held their foes to under 50 points.

The Pacer win on Thursday came in USC Aiken's first meeting against Montevallo with former Pacer assistant Cindy Hilbrich in charge of the Falcons. USC Aiken head coach Mike Brandt and the Pacers are now 5-0 all-time against Montevallo (7-10, 2-6 PBC) after Thursday's victory.

USC Aiken's Daniela Tarailo (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) led all players in the game with 17 points. She picked up 12 of her 17 points in the first half. Tarailo also had seven rebounds in the contest with six of her seven caroms coming on the offensive glass.

Hannah DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack College) was the only other Pacer in double figures. The senior forward concluded her evening with 11 points and nine rebounds. She also had three assists and three steals.

Brittany Hill (Mechanicsville, Va./Quinnipiac) ended the Pacer win over Montevallo with nine points, seven assists and five rebounds.

Two Montevallo players finished their evening in double figures with Teanna Boxley leading the way with 13 points.

USC Aiken ended its win over Montevallo shooting 32.8 percent (21-for-64) as a team. Montevallo shot 40.4 percent (19-for-47) as a team in its loss to USC Aiken.

USC Aiken opened the game by rushing out to a 9-2 lead over the first six and a half minutes. The Pacers would eventually go ahead by as many as 11 in the first half.

The two teams would enter intermission with USC Aiken owning a 31-23 advantage.

The second half began with USC Aiken pulling ahead by 11 once again just under eight minutes into the second stanza at 38-27.

Montevallo would then proceed to go on a 12-3 run to pull within two at 41-39 with 7:58 remaining in the game.

Just a little while later, Montevallo with 6:27 remaining in the game had secured its first lead of the game at 45-44.

The Pacers would then go on a 5-0 run over the next five minutes to own a 49-45 lead with 1:17 to go in the contest.

The score was 50-47 in USC Aiken's favor with 29 seconds left in the game.

Montevallo turned the basketball over on its next offensive possession. Tarailo took advantage, racing down the court for a fast break lay-up to set the final score at 52-47 in USC Aiken's favor.

USC Aiken will next close out its week with a top 15 road showdown with defending national champion and current national No. 2 Clayton State at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28.