Tuesday March 2, 2010

FLORENCE, S.C. – USC Aiken’s Hannah DeGraffinreed scored 18 points and brought down 13 rebounds, but it was not enough in the end as the East third-seeded Pacers fell 75-64 to second-seeded Francis Marion in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Marvin Vanover Peach Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Championship at the Smith University Center on the campus of Francis Marion.

USC Aiken concludes its 2009-10 season with a record of 15-13. The 17th-ranked Patriots improve to 25-3 on the year.

With the win, Francis Marion moves on to the Peach Belt Conference Tournament semifinals where they will square off against West No. 1 Georgia College & State at the USC Aiken Convocation Center on Saturday, March 6. The Bobcats needed overtime to defeat Georgia Southwestern, 60-59, in their quarterfinal on Tuesday evening.

Francis Marion opened the game by scoring 12 of the first 15 points in the contest to own a 12-3 lead with just over 15 minutes remaining in the first stanza. The early spurt by the Patriots forced USC Aiken head coach Mike Brandt to take a 30-second time out to try and get things going in the Pacers’ direction.

The Pacers had cut the lead down by three points almost five minutes later as Francis Marion was clinging to a six-point 18-12 lead with 9:49 left in the first half of play.

USC Aiken would go on a 5-0 run from there to cut the lead to one at 18-17, but a 5-0 run by Francis Marion over the next few minutes would keep the Patriots ahead by six at 23-17 with four and a half minutes left until intermission.

The Pacers would close the first half on a 15-10 run to sit behind just one at 33-32.

Catherine Cain (Dayton, Ohio/Ohio University) garnered the Pacers their first lead of the game on the Pacers’ opening offensive possession of the second half. Cain’s driving bucket acquired a one-point 34-33 advantage for the Pacers.

Francis Marion would go ahead by as many as five over the next 10 minutes, but the pesky Pacers would not go away and eventually took the lead back themselves at 56-54 with under nine and a half minutes left in the contest.