PEMBROKE, N.C. – Mackenzie Reese's basket at the buzzer provided the University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team a 49-48 victory at UNC Pembroke Wednesday evening.

The Pacers improve to 8-6 overall, including a 4-1 mark against Peach Belt Conference competition. The win also marked the team's first road league game of the season.

Emry Tsitouris poured in a game-high 17 points on five-of-eight shooting from the floor. She also canned seven-of-eight shots from the foul line. Tsitouris pulled down a team-best eight rebounds. Amaura Brandt accounted for nine points and six rebounds while Stephanie Ball and Kate Duff hit for eight and seven points, respectively. Reese totaled five assists and five rebounds in the win.

Reese missed both of her field goal attempts in the first half, but capitalized with her lone basket of the game as time expired. With a defender in her face, Reese managed to get off a shot from inside the lane. The ball trickled around the rim before falling through as the horn sounded. Stephanie Ball was credited with an assist on the play.

USC Aiken found itself trailing 25-19 at halftime, but the squad came out strong defensively, not allowing the home team to widen the lead. As neither team scored for the first 2:38 of the second stanza, Tsitouris buried a pair of free throws, slicing the Pacers' deficit to four at 25-21. Kassy Johannsen canned an inside shot a minute later, bringing the team within a pair at 25-23.

UNC Pembroke countered with four straight points, but head coach Mike Brandt's team netted six straight, tying the contest at 29. During the run, Tsitouris scored four points and Ball had a steal and lay-up.

The Braves managed to go on a 6-0 spurt, but USC Aiken trimmed it to four at the 11:24 mark. However, neither team scored for the next 3:25. Brandt ended the scoring drought by drilling a deep three-point shot with 7:59 to play. Ball hit a pair of free throws for a 36-35 lead with 7:09 to go. Tsitouris then took a pass from Carly Gilreath and converted it for a three-point edge.

With the score tied at 43, Ball made a pair of charity tosses with 2:57 left. Kate Duff then stole the ball on the Braves' next possession and went the length of the court for the lay-up and four-point advantage. However, UNC Pembroke scored the next five points for a 48-47 lead with just 45 seconds to play.

USC Aiken missed two shots before being forced to foul the Braves. After a pair of missed free throws, Reese grabbed the defensive board. Ball eventually found Reese for the game-winning score.

For the game, USC Aiken connected on just 13-of-41 shots from the floor (31.7 percent), including a four-of-21 effort from downtown (19 percent). However, the squad managed to connect on 19-of-25 charity tosses (76 percent).

The Pacers return to action Saturday when they play at Flagler. Game time is set for 1:30 p.m.