Held to no field goals in the first half, and two on the night senior Amber Holt showed that it's not the number of made shots but the timing.
"Amber Holt struggled a little bit shooting, but she has always been the type of player who wants to take the big shot and she proved it again tonight," said Lenoir-Rhyne head coach Todd Starkey said.
Holt sank a 3-pointer from the left wing with 1.4 seconds remaining in the game, lifting No. 20 Lenoir-Rhyne to a 59-57 win over USC Aiken in women's basketball at Shuford Gymnasium on Tuesday in the home opener.
"I didn't know what was going to happen when I let it go," said Holt. "I was just like please go in. I don't even think I thought about it going in. I just stepped back and shot it."
The best way to describe the Bears' victory is survival.
The Bears (3-1), the preseason pick to win the South Atlantic Conference, opened the game hitting on all cylinders building a 16-point lead with 6:57 remaining in the first half on a 3-pointer by LaCourtney Rann.
Lenoir-Rhyne hit 11 of their first 15 shots and looked to be in cruise control.
"It was as I expected," said USC Aiken head coach Mike Brandt. "They are a great team and with it being the first home game, I figured they would come out hotter than a pistol and get a lead. I told our team ahead of time that they are going to come out and hit some shots and get up on you. But weather the storm for a little bit and keep on fighting and clawing back throughout the whole game."
That proved to be the case as the Pacers outscored the Bears 11-2 over the final 6:57 of the first half to narrow the difference to 31-24 at halftime.
Lenoir-Rhyne was 0-for-7 from the field during that stretch, and scored its only two points from the free-throw line with 1:12 remaining by Meredith Webster.
The Bears struggles continued in the second half hitting 10-of-26 from the floor while USC Aiken was 11-of-21.
The Bears biggest lead in the second half was 10 points on two occasions, the last being at the 15:41 mark on a 3-pointer by Brittany Mitch.
USC Aiken (3-1) kept the difference in single digits the remainder of the game and took its first lead of the night with 6:04 remaining on a 3-pointer by Lindsay Sunberg.
"USC Aiken deserves a lot of credit," said Starkey. "They played and battled the whole way through. They hit some unbelievably tough shots. We survived a great shooting half (second) by them. I am proud of the way our girls fought down the stretch and didn't give up. It would have been easy for them to fold up after giving up that lead but they fought all the way to the end to get the win."
Lenoir-Rhyne was playing its second straight game without starter Jamie Safrit.
Safrit, a former Fred T. Foard standout, injured her ankle in the second game against Columbus State.
"We are uncertain on the timing of her return, but she is starting to recover well," said Starkey.
The Bears open SAC play Dec. 2 at home against Catawba at 6 p.m.
"We have learned in the first four games that we are going to get everyone's best shot," said Starkey. "Everybody is gunning for us this year because of our success last year so we have to be prepared every night. We can't have a down or off night. We are going to come back after break and be focused to play a tough Catawba team."
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