AUGUSTA, Ga. – Brianna Baham scored a career-best 28 points and pulled the UNC Pembroke women's basketball team to within a point on a 3-pointer with eight seconds left, but Augusta canned both free throw attempts at the other end of the court and held on to beat the Braves, 67-64, on Saturday inside Christenberry Fieldhouse.
 
It was the third loss in the last four outings for UNCP (14-7, 9-5 PBC) who fell into a second place tie with USC Aiken in the race for the Peach Belt Conference East Division title. The triumph snapped a two-game losing streak for the Jaguars (11-9, 6-8) who have now won seven-straight home games in the series with the Braves as well.
 
Baham shot 12-for-21 from the field, including a 4-of-6 mark from downtown, to turn in her second 20+-point game of the season. Jasmine Huntley added 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a trio of steals in the effort as well.
 
Kayla Lovett scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting to lead the Jaguars who connected on 92 percent (21-of-24) of their free throw attempts in the contest. Leading scorer Breonna O'Conner was held to a paltry 4-of-15 performance from the field, but she still finished with 14 points.
 
Augusta led by as many as 10 points after Joshlyn Belcher's 3-pointer with 35 seconds left to play in the third quarter, but the Black & Gold steadily chipped away at its deficit and eventually tied the score at 54 apiece on Avery Locklear's triple with 4:09 left to play. The Jaguars led 63-58 after a free throw by Lovett with 42 ticks left, but Baham's 3-pointer on the other end of the court put the game in doubt again.
 
The Braves led by as much as nine points in the opening period, but Augusta scored eight of the next nine points to pull even early in the second period, and then closed out the first half with a 13-2 run to take a six-point advantage into the locker rooms.
 
UNCP will close out a two-game road trip on Monday when they  head to Greenwood, S.C., to face PBC East-leading Lander (16-5, 9-3) in the front half of a 5:30 p.m. doubleheader at Horne Arena. The Braves edged Lander, 63-60, earlier this season in Pembroke.