USC Aiken Moves Into Top 10 For Second Time in School History

USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll (Week 16)

LILBURN, Ga. – The University of South Carolina Aiken women’s basketball team moved into the top 10 for just the second time in school history on Tuesday with the Pacers ranked eighth in the latest USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll.

The ranking of eighth is now the highest ranking for USC Aiken's women's basketball program since reaching a program-best seventh in the Dec. 2 poll of the 2008-09 season. USC Aiken was ranked 12th in last week’s poll.

USC Aiken is one of three Peach Belt Conference teams ranked in the top 10 nationally with Clayton State presently second. Lander is sixth.

The nationally eighth-ranked Pacers are the third seed in the upcoming NCAA Division II Southeast Regional.

The third-seeded Pacers will be playing sixth-seeded Tusculum at 1 p.m. at the Athletics and Fitness Center on the campus of regional host Clayton State.

Tickets for the game are $8 for general admission. Students will be admitted to the contest for $3.

The winner of USC Aiken-Tusculum will advance to the semifinals of the regional to square off against the winner of the second-seeded Lander-seventh-seeded Wingate contest. Lander and Wingate will play at 3 p.m. on Friday.

It will be the second meeting between USC Aiken and Tusculum this season.

The Pacers picked up a 61-48 victory early in the 2010-11 season against then national No. 3 Tusculum in Greenwood, S.C. at the Lady Bearcat D-2 Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 14.

USC Aiken will be making its fourth appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament overall. The Pacers have now made the field in 2002, 2005, 2009 and 2011. The Pacers are still searching for their first ever victory in the NCAA Tournament.

USC Aiken begins the 2011 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional owning a school-record 26-5 mark in the 2010-11 season. The Pacers have won 21 of their last 24 games.

The Pacers had a 10-game winning streak snapped in Sunday's Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship game loss to Georgia College.

USC Aiken has now been ranked in the last 11 USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll of the 2010-11 regular season.

The Pacers were ranked 25th in the final poll of the 2010 calendar year. They were ranked in a tie for 22nd in the first poll of the 2011 portion of the 2010-11 season. USC Aiken was ranked 18th eight weeks ago before moving up to 17th seven weeks ago. Six weeks ago, the Pacers were ranked 18th before moving up to 16th five weeks ago. The Pacers were 15th in the next two polls before moving up to 14th two weeks ago.

The ranking of 25th in the Dec. 14 poll of this season was the first for the USC Aiken women's basketball team since the Feb. 3, 2009 poll. The Pacers were ranked in the first ten polls of the 2008-09 season.

USC Aiken has been in the top 25 for at least one week in three of the last four seasons.

Prior to being ranked in the 2007-08 preseason poll, USC Aiken had last appeared in a national poll on Dec. 12, 2002 when they were 20th. The Pacers dropped out the following week, ending a string of 16 straight polls appeared in at the time dating back to 2001.