AIKEN, S.C. – Despite a double-double effort from senior Mackenzie Reese, the University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team was unable to record a win, falling to GRU Augusta 57-53 Saturday evening.

The Pacers are now 15-10 overall and 11-5 against league foes. The Jaguars improve to 7-16 on the year, including a 6-10 record in the PBC.

Reese paved the way for head coach Mike Brandt's team with a 14-point, 10-rebound performance. She led USC Aiken in both categories. Kassy Johannsen netted 10 points while Amaura Brandt contributed nine markers. Emry Tsitouris went for six points while snagging 10 boards.

The Pacers connected on 18-of-54 shots from the floor (33.3 percent), but hit seven-of-18 from downtown (38.9 percent). The squad also buried 10-of-13 free throws (76.9 percent) for the game.

Brandt's team out-rebounded the visitors 41-37, but committed 16 turnovers to 10 by the Jaguars. USC Aiken registered a 21-6 advantage in bench points thanks in part to Johannsen's 10 and Kate Duff's six. Duff also contributed a game-high six assists.

The Pacers jumped out to a 7-0 lead thanks in part to a three-pointer by Carly Gilreath and back-to-back lay-ups from Johannsen and Reese. However, GRU Augusta took a 14-11 lead with 7:24 to play in the opening half. 

USC Aiken battled right back and regained the lead when Tiffany Addison drove to the foul line and buried a floater as time wound down off the shot clock for a 17-16 margin. Trailing 21-19, Brandt found Johannsen for a basket with four seconds left in the stanza, sending both teams to the locker room with 21 points.

The Pacers took a 28-25 lead off a Tsitouris lay-up at the 17:46 mark only to see the Jaguars pull ahead 30-28. 

In a back-and-forth affair in the final period, Stephanie Ball's three-point bucket put USC Aiken back on top, 31-30. Duff hit a pair of charity tosses for a 33-30 lead.  A few minutes later, the Pacers trailed 40-38, but once again Duff found herself at the foul line and calmly connected on both. 

The teams traded three-point baskets before the Jaguars netted four straight. However, Tsitouris was fouled on the way to the basket and made both free throws before Reese took a pass from Brandt and connected on a three-pointer. 

After a basket by GRU Augusta, Tsitouris hit both free throws for a 50-49 advantage. However, the visitors would score eight straight points over a 2:03 span for a seven-point lead with just 17 ticks on the clock.

The Pacers return to action Wednesday when they host North Georgia at 5:30 p.m.