ORANGEBURG, S.C. - The Paine College women's basketball team came up short against the SIAC's eastern division leaders, the Lady Panthers of Claflin University, 63-53, Saturday afternoon at the Tullis Arena in Orangeburg, South Carolina,

With the loss the Lady Lions fall to 7-11 overall and 4-6 in the SIAC while CU improves to 16-6 and an SIAC record of 8-1.

Paine College took command of the game early and led 11-2 with 6:09 remaining in the first quarter but would see the lead dwindle as Claflin closed the period on a 12-3 run to tie the score at 14-14. The second period saw the Lady Lions regain their composure an regain the lead at by as much as four points at 21-17, but once again the Lady Panthers closed out the quarter strong and took a 27-23 at the half.

PC played a strong third quarter and were only down 40-39 at the end of the frame. CU turned it up a notch in the final period and led by as much as 12 points before running away with the 10 point victory.

Senior center Janisha Wilkerson finished with game-high's, 21 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. Tierra Boykin had seven point, five rebound effort. The Lady Lions shot 41.7 (20-of-48) percent from the field while only connected on 2-of-11 from behind the arc. Paine forced 19 Claflin turnovers and were only rebounded 32-30. The Lady Panthers shot 46.2 (24-of-52) percent from the field and got 39 points from their bench.

Claflin had four players in double figures and were led by Carnique Marks who finished with a team-high 12 points.

The Lady Lions return to action this Thursday, February 2, as they travel to Atlanta, Georgia to take on the the Lady Panthers of Clark Atlanta University at 6 p.m.