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PEMBROKE – The visiting USC Aiken Pacers knocked down 19 of their 25 foul shots and used a buzzer beater to seize the 49-48 Peach Belt Conference victory over the UNC Pembroke women's basketball team on Wednesday evening inside the English E. Jones Center.

The loss snapped UNCP's (3-9, 1-4 PBC) two-game winning streak, while USC Aiken (8-6, 4-1) extended its winning streak to three games.

Forwards Mary Robinson and Kierra Haney posted a team-high 10 points each, while Jazmine Kemp tallied nine points in her 35 minutes on the court with a game-high seven assists and three steals. Haney clinched nine rebounds with five of those coming from the offensive boards as the Braves snatched 12 offensive rebounds for 10 second-chance points.

Using 19-of-51 shooting from the field, the Braves finished the game shooting 37.3 percent the floor including four treys with Robinson claiming two. USC Aiken's 20 turnovers allowed UNCP to drain an additional 20 points in the contest despite only going 6-for-13 from the charity stripe. 

"I thought we didn't play very well offensively, but I thought our defensive effort was very good," said UNCP head coach John Haskins. "I thought we missed some key free throws down the stretch and when we needed a big rebound or a big lose ball we weren't able to come up with it. They are a hard team to play against and very physical. I thought our physical effort was good, I just didn't think our offensive execution was very good."

The Black and Gold tied up the score for the last time with 3:11 remaining in the game on a foul shot from Katelyn Mitchell and senior Kamille Horne's layup with 45 seconds put the Braves up by one point, however a hurried pass inside the paint from Stephanie Ball to Mackenzie Reese for a last-second tipin for the one-point victory.

The Braves capitalized on an 8-0 run after the Pacers put points on the board first and used a strong defense to hold USC Aiken to just five points after the first 10 minutes of action and only five field goals in the opening stanza. At the 5:55 mark in the first half, a jumper by Kemp allowed UNCP to take a 7-point lead which the pacers were unable to overcome as the Braves out-paced USC Aiken to carry a six-point lead into the half. 

A pair of free throws from Emry Tsitouris tied up the score at 29-29, but the Braves continued the fight and again took the lead by six in the second half. A scoring drought for both teams for more than three minutes kept the score at 35-31, but Amaura Brandt's three-pointer and Ball's foul shots handed USC Aiken its first lead since the opening points of the game with seven minutes left to play.

Tsitouris finished the game with 17 points and eight rebounds as she was 5-for-8 from the field and 7-for-8 from the foul line, while Brandt and Ball added nine and eight points, respectively, for the Pacers.

UNCP will embark on a three-game road trip beginning with Montevallo (1-11, 0-5) on Saturday afternoon for a league doubleheader with tipoff set for 2:30 p.m. inside the Trustmark Arena.