AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball team dropped a 61-50 contest to Belmont Abbey in the home opener Tuesday evening.

The Pacers are now 1-4 on the season.

Head coach Mark Miller's team was led by Annalise Malone's team-high 11 points. She added six rebounds and three assists in 26 minutes of work. Hailey Unger posted 10 points and four boards while Jaya Nelson contributed nine points and a team-best four steals.

Kelsie Woodard added eight points and two steals while Marta Rivera chipped in seven points off the bench.

Unger hit a jumper to knot the contest at 2-2. Trailing 5-2, Paris Webster netted a shot, pulling the team within one at 5-4 but the Crusaders netted the next four points for a 9-4 edge heading into the second quarter.

Trailing 17-4, Rivera canned a pair of free throws with 6:38 to go in the half. Down by 11, Rhiannon Saller took a pass from Unger and converted an inside bucket to cut the deficit to nine, 18-9. BAC managed to take a 39-14 lead into halftime.

Down by 25 in the early going of the third period, Miller's team slowly whittled into the deficit. A jumper from Woodard made it a 45-27 game off an assist from Malone. A pair of charity tosses from Nelson cut the margin to 18 before BAC made one-of-two charity tosses for a 46-29 advantage going into the fourth stanza.

Trailing 50-33, Malone found Woodard for a lay-up. After a steal by Nelson, Malone took the pass and drilled a jumper with 6:17 to go. Unger's three-point bucket off a pass from Nelson pulled the home team within 10, 50-40, with 4:55 to play.

The Crusaders managed to extend their margin to 17, but Miller's team continued to battle. The team cut it to 11 in the waning seconds with a pair of charity tosses from Unger, for the final score.

For the game, USC Aiken hit 17-of-43 from the floor (39.5 percent). The team corralled 29 rebounds. On 17 field goals, the squad dished out 12 assists. Miller's team had 28 points in the paint and converted 21 turnovers into 13 points.

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