SALISBURY, NC--Ashley Cox scored 16 of her game-high 21 points in the second half to lead the Catawba College Lady Indians (3-3) past USC Aiken (4-2) 74-58 in women’s non-conference basketball on Tuesday night at Goodman Gym. The loss is the first for the Lady Pacers against a non-Division I opponent this season.

Trailing by eight at the half, 32-24, USC Aiken got a three-pointer from Haylee Reichert with 18:19 on the clock to slice the margin to five, but Aisha Stewart countered with a trey for Catawba just 19 seconds later to pull out by eight again. Cox drained two more triples, the last at 12:15 to give Catawba its largest lead of the game to that point 50-37.

Cox finished 5-of-12 from the field including 4-of-7 from deep and 7-of-8 at the stripe for 21 points and four rebounds. Stewart added 11 points and four rebounds while Danyel Locklear, the team’s leading scorer at 20.2 ppg, chipped in 11 points and seven boards.

A 5-0 run trimmed an 11-point Lady Indian advantage to six at 54-48 following an Erica Larsen three-pointer with 8:10 to play. It was Larsen’s only basket of the night as the Lady Pacers’ leading scorer (14.4 ppg), finished with eight points and one rebound.

But Cox drained her fourth triple of the night to stall out the USCA rally and nudge the lead back to nine at 57-48 with 5:24 to play. It would also mark the last field goal for Catawba until Stewart’s lay-up at the final horn. Over that stretch, however, Catawba, a 66.0 percent free throw shooting team, made 12-of-12 attempts to ice the game.

A three-point play by Kasey Mills with 2:27 to play got USCA within four at 62-58, but that was as close as the Lady Pacers could get. Mills finished with eight points.

Sarah Kendrick led the Lady Pacers with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Benazura Serbecic and Lana Mandic each added eight points, but combined for just five rebounds.

As a team, Catawba out rebounded USCA 38-25, the first opponent this season to accomplish that feat.

In the first half, USCA led 14-13 and then again at 17-14 following a three-point play from Kendrick with 8:42 left until halftime. Cox drained her first trey of the game at 7:45 to knot it up at 17-17. USCA would be out scored 15-7 the rest of the half and never lead again.

During an 11-0 run that broke the game open before the half, turning a 19-19 tie into a 30-19 Lady Indian lead, Isiaette Darden came off the bench to pour in five straight points. She finished with nine points and three steals in 12 minutes.

USC Aiken shot 39.6 percent from the field for the game (21-of-53) including 6-of-20 from deep (30.0 percent) and 10-of-14 at the line (71.4 percent). Catawba finished 25-of-51 from the field (49.0 percent) and 6-of-15 from downtown (40.0 percent).

USC Aiken returns to “The Courthouse” for five-straight home games starting this Friday, December 5 at 7:00 PM when the Lady Pacers host Mars Hill.

SCORING:
USC Aiken (58): Sarah Kendrick 11, Kasey Mills 8, Erica Larsen 8, Lana Mandic 8, Benazura Serbecic 8, Haylee Reichert 6, Beata Szabo 5, Katie Mitchell 2, Gezel Virella 2

Catawba (74): Ashley Cox 21, Aisha Stewart 11, Danyel Locklear 11, Isiaette Darden 9, Ingrid Easter 8, Tamekia Foster 6, Christina Carmon 3, Stephanie Valentine 3, Julie Kaufman 2.

Boxscore

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