AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team overcame a slow start with a strong defensive effort en route to a 76-70 victory over Francis Marion Wednesday evening in Peach Belt Conference play.

The Pacers improve to 8-7 overall, including a 4-2 mark in league play. The Patriots fall to 7-8 overall and 2-4 against conference competition.

Kwajelin Farrar led head coach Mark Miller's team with a career-high 25 points to go along with 14 rebounds for a double-double. Rachelle Aupont added 12 points along with six rebounds.

Jasmine Coach posted eight points and five boards while Melyk Taouil tallied eight markers and three assists.

Emily Waters chipped in seven points and eight rebounds to go along with a career-best four assists. Carly Gilreath paced the team with six assists while adding six boards from her guard position.

USC Aiken fell behind 15-2 just 4:41 into the contest, but slowly battled back to make it a 21-19 game at the end of the first quarter. The Pacers outscored the visitors 7-2 over the final 49 seconds of the period. During the run, Melyk Taouil registered a steal and a lay-up. She was fouled on the play and converted the old-fashioned three-point play. Gilreath buried a three-ball off a pass from Celine Vega with 20 ticks on the clock before Jasmine Carter netted a free throw just before the end of the frame.

Farrar's bucket at the 6:53 mark gave USC Aiken its first lead of the game at 26-24. The squads traded the lead until Farrar's jumper provided the home team a 33-31 advantage. Waters added to the lead with an inside bucket at the 2:40 mark. Aupont followed it up off a pass from Gilreath for a deep three-ball and a 38-31 lead heading into intermission.

Miller's team pushed the margin to 10 at 43-33 after Waters hit a charity toss with 7:03 to go in the third. The Pacers pushed the advantage to 14 on Waters' lay-up, but the Patriots cut into the lead before taking a 55-53 advantage. Carter quickly countered with a shot from distance and Gilreath's jumper with 12 seconds left in the quarter made it 58-55.

Taouil's three-pointer off a pass from Waters made it a 73-63 contest with 2:21 to go. From that point on, Miller's team held at least a five-point edge before closing it out for the six-point victory.

For the game, USC Aiken canned 26-of-68 from the floor (44.8 percent), including seven-of-13 from downtown (53.8 percent). The squad connected on 17-of-25 from the charity stripe.

Miller's team held a 27-13 advantage in bench points and outscored the visitors 32-28 in the paint.  

The Pacers return to action Saturday when they host Georgia Southwestern at 5:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.