PBC Tournament - USC Aiken Upends Clayton State, Advances to Final

AIKEN, S.C. - Third-seeded USC Aiken started the second half on a 13-0 run over the first five and a half minutes - building on an eight-point halftime advantage to a 21-point lead, then held on for a 73-57 Peach Belt Conference women’s basketball semifinal victory over second-seeded Clayton State on Saturday afternoon in Aiken, S.C.

USC Aiken (22-10) now advances to face No. 5 seed Lander in the 2009 Peach Belt Conference Championship game at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, at the USC Aiken Convocation Center. Clayton State (23-6) will now await word of a possible at-large berth to the NCAA Championships, to be announced on Sunday evening.

The Lakers went 0-for-7 from the floor in the opening minutes of the second half, allowing USC Aiken to build the 21-point advantage, and Clayton State shot just 27.6 percent from the field after intermission, hitting only 8-of-29 shots from the floor.

A balanced scoring effort by the host Pacers saw four players reach double figures, led by Kendra Chandler’s 15 points and Morgan Johnson’s double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds. Megan Starnes chipped in 13 points and Meredith Legg added 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc.

Clayton State was led by Marie St. Fort’s 15 points and Dominique Jennings’ 13 points off the bench. Shanrika Hardeman added a game-high 15 rebounds, to go with eight points.

A back-and-forth first eleven minutes of the first half saw the higher-seeded Lakers take their last lead of the game on a Marie St. Fort four-point play with 9:22 left until halftime, putting Clayton State up, 21-20. USC Aiken’s Nakia Pinkney answered with a three-point basket to put the Pacers back in front, and the Pacers ended the second half on a 12-3 run to take a 38-30 lead into halftime.

The Pacers were nearly perfect in the first half, hitting 50 percent of their shots from the floor (14-of-28), including 4-of-5 three-pointers and 6-of-6 free throws. USC Aiken finished the game shooting 44 percent (24-of-54), but hit 7-of-13 shots from beyond the arc (53.8 percent) and hit 18-of-19 shots from the free throw line.

Boxscore

PBC Tournament Game Quotes – Game 14 – USC Aiken vs. Clayton State

Clayton State Head Coach Dennis Cox
“I don’t remember having a second half start like that all year long. We were disappointed in our defensive intensity. Even if we don’t come out and struggle scoring, we feel like we’re going to set a tone defensively. We just

“Its really hard to beat somebody of Aiken’s caliber three times unless you’re a lot better. And we’re not. Both games we played them were close games. Maybe we got a little bit complacent. I’ve been telling them that we were going to have to play better than we did the first two times because I watched them playing in the quarters and they are better than they were a week ago.”

USC Aiken Head Coach Mike Brandt
“Last year, I felt a lot of pressure because the tournament was at home and we had to play Lander, a good team, and I think we felt it. Its just a whole different atmosphere and a whole different feeling this year. It’s a lot more fun, let me tell you.”

“I don’t think we played well against them (Clayton) either time. It’s a tough defense to go against, but we weren’t really clicking as a unit. But I felt very confident that we would win this game. If we have to play them again, I think we can play better. If we’re playing like this, we can be the best team in the region.”

Challenges of facing Lander: “Depth, good athletes playing with confidence. The press, they keep coming after you.”

USC Aiken’s Megan Starnes
“The atmosphere is wonderful and we have a lot of supporters and with that it just brings us so much more energy.”

“The last 3-4 games we’ve put out a lot more effort and you can see that in our defense and offense. We always say ‘let’s play great defense’ and I thought we did that tonight. We’re making defensive stops.”

USC Aiken’s Meredith Legg
“I don’t think a lot of other teams in this tournament want it and we really want it, but we have to prove it.”