GREENWOOD, S.C. – The nationally 15^th-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team picked up a thrilling 65-62 Peach Belt Conference road victory over national No. 17 Lander on Wednesday evening at Horne Arena.

The Pacer win allows USC Aiken (18-3, 11-2 PBC) to move within a game of Peach Belt Conference East Division-leading Lander (17-4, 12-1 PBC), who suffered its first league loss of the year at the hands of the Pacers on Wednesday evening.

USC Aiken concluded the victory over Lander shooting a team game season-best 55.6 percent (25-for-45). The Pacers hit 70.6 percent (12-of-17) of their free throw attempts in the game.

USC Aiken, which held the Bearcats to 42.6 percent (23-for-54) shooting as a team in the game, finished the contest out-rebounding Lander, 39-24.

Kayla Harris (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) led four Pacers in double figures in the game with a game-high 21 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Harris shot 8-for-15 from the field in the Pacer win.

Hannah DeGraffinreed (Raleigh, N.C./Merrimack College) concluded USC Aiken's victory over the nationally-ranked Bearcats with 14 points and five rebounds.

Lindsay Sundberg (Mansfield, Conn./E.O. Smith) went 5-for-6 from the field en route to collecting 12 points for the Pacers, while Daniela Tarailo (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) ended her evening with 10 points.

Pacer point guard Brittany Hill (Mechanicsville, Va./Quinnipiac) ended her evening with seven assists, five rebounds and two steals.

Brittni Johnson was the leading scorer for Lander in its loss with 20 points.

Behind eight early points from Tarailo, USC Aiken entered the second media time out of the first half owning a four-point 18-14 lead with 9:03 to play in the half.

A little while later after a driving lay-up from Harris with 4:08 remaining in the first stanza, USC Aiken had extended its lead to nine points at 26-17. Almost a minute later, a DeGraffinreed lay-up in the paint had pushed the Pacer lead to double digits for the first time at 28-17.

USC Aiken would eventually hold Lander scoreless for the final 6:39 of the first half to enter the halftime break with a 17-point lead at 34-17.

The Pacers and Bearcats were tied at 12-all with 11:08 left in the first half, but USC Aiken closed the first half on a 22-5 run to take the 17-point lead into intermission.

The Pacers, who finished the first half shooting a scorching 58.3 percent (14-for-24) as a team, were led by Harris' 11 points in the first stanza.

USC Aiken held Lander to just 25 percent (7-for-28) shooting as a team in the first half.

The Pacers would push their lead to 18 points in the opening minutes of the second half, but Lander behind a 34-20 run over the first 14 and a half minutes of the second half had cut the Pacer lead to just three points at 54-51. A 3-pointer by Lander's Jasmine Judge shortly thereafter tied the game at 54-54 with 5:10 remaining in the contest.

USC Aiken then went on a 4-0 run to own a 58-54 lead with just over three minutes left in the game.

The score would be 64-62 in favor of the Pacers after Lander's Johnson hit a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining.

USC Aiken's Harris would then make one out of two free throws to give the Pacers a three-point lead with four seconds remaining. Johnson's long-range 3-point attempt for Lander would miss to leave the resilient Pacers with the three-point win.

USC Aiken women's basketball will next hold a special Play 4Kay game as part of the men's and women's basketball doubleheader against UNC Pembroke on Saturday, Feb. 11 at the Convocation Center.

Play 4Kay is a global, unified effort for a nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. The Kay Yow Cancer Fund, in partnership with the WBCA and The V Foundation, is the official Play 4Kay charity.

USC Aiken women's basketball is encouraging any survivors or family members of breast cancer survivors in the USC Aiken system to come to be honored during the women's basketball game that evening.

The action on Feb. 11 gets underway with the nationally 15th-ranked USC Aiken women hitting the court against the UNC Pembroke women at 5:30 p.m. Immediately following the women's game at approximately 7:30 p.m. the 20th-ranked Pacer men will battle the UNC Pembroke men.

For more information about Play 4Kay and the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, please visit the official website at: http://www.kayyow.com/page.aspx?pid=329