#17 Patriot Women survive quarterfinal test, 75-64

Senior forward Nicole Mealing scored a team-high 17 points and 17th-ranked and second-seeded Francis Marion University closed the game on a 14-4 run to defeat third-seeded USC Aiken 75-64, Tuesday evening (March 2) in the quarterfinals of the Peach Belt Conference Women's Basketball Tournament.

Francis Marion improves to 25-3 and advanced to the PBC Tournament semifinals in Aiken where the Patriots will meet Georgia College & State University, the top-seed from the West Division, at 3 p.m. on Saturday.  GCSU edged Georgia Southwestern State University 60-59 in overtime in one of the other quarterfinal contests held on Tuesday.

Mealing connected on 6-of-8 field goal attempts and 4-of-4 free throws, while also grabbing a team-high six rebounds.  Senior guard Shana Franks came off the FMU bench and chipped in 14 points, including an 8-of-8 night at the charity stripe.

Junior forward Shannon Singleton-Bates scored 13 points to move past former Patriot greats Amanda Sheheen (1985-89) and Christy Thomas (1998-2002) and into 22nd place on the Patriot career scoring list with 1,156 points.   Senior center Precious Tucker added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Sophomore forward Hannah DeGraffinreed led USCA (15-13) with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while junior Deandra Schirmer scored 12 points and senior forward Catherine Cain tallied 11 points and seven rebounds.

Francis Marion bolted to an early 14-3 advantage following a Mealing layup only 5:06 into the contest.  When point guard Robin Colbert scored on a layup with 11:31 left in the half, the Patriots were up 18-8.  However, the high-scoring Patriots would go 6:02 without a field goal as the Pacers slowly crept to within 19-17. 

A layup by Franks later pushed the FMU advantage to 31-24, but USCA finished the first stanza with an 8-2 spurt to draw to within 33-32 at intermission.  Francis Marion shot only 42.9 percent in the opening half and did not make a three-pointer.

A layup by Cain to open the second half gave USCA its first lead of the game.  The lead would see-saw back-and-forth over the next 13 minutes and with seven minutes remaining the score was knotted at 58-58.

A free throw by Eboni Fields and a layup by Tucker gave Francis Marion the lead for good, but an inside hoop by Schirmer trimmed the margin to 61-60 with 6:21 left.  A layup by DeGraffinreed kept the Pacers within 65-62 with 3:25 on the clock.  Singleton-Bates then nailed a three-point from in front of the FMU bench, Tucker hit 1-of-2 free throws, and Singleton-Bates scored on a fast-break layup to extend the margin to 71-62 with two minutes left.  USCA missed eight of its final nine field goal attempts over the last three minutes.

Although attempting a season-low 51 field goal attempts, FMU hit on 49 percent, including 56.5 percent (13-of-23) over the final 20 minutes.  Over the past three contests, Francis Marion is shooting a combined 59-of-94 (62.8%) after halftime.

The Patriots made 23-of-33 free throws and forced 28 USCA turnovers.

Francis Marion advances to the tournament semifinals for the third straight season and for the fourth time in the past five years.

Peach Belt Conference Women's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinal Game
3-2-10 7 pm at Florence, SC (Smith University Center)
#17 FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY 75, USC AIKEN 64
USC AIKEN (15-13)
DeGraffinreed, Hann. 7-10 4-7 18; Schirmer, Deandra 4-5 4-4 12; Cain,
Catherine 3-10 4-4 11; Chandler, Kendra 2-5 3-5 7; Sundberg, Lindsay 1-6 2-2
5; Pinkney, Nakia 1-9 1-2 4; Harris, Triahna 1-7 2-4 4; Crapps, Cameron 1-1
0-0 3; Norman, Marrisa 0-1 0-0 0; Tarailo, Daniela 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-55
20-28 64.
FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY (#17  25-3)
Mealing, Nicole 6-8 4-4 17; Franks, Shana 3-8 8-8 14; Singleton-Bates, Sha
5-8 2-3 13; Tucker, Precious 5-7 2-4 12; Colbert, Robin 3-7 1-4 7; Bowens,
Tiahana 2-4 2-2 6; Fields, Eboni 0-7 3-4 3; Trice, Simone 1-1 0-0 2;
Mealing, Courtney 0-0 1-2 1; Coleman, Dawn 0-0 0-0 0; Downs, Danelle 0-1 0-2
0; Mann, Monica 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-51 23-33 75.
Halftime: Francis marion 33 USC Aiken 32
3-point goals--USC Aiken 4-16 (Pinkney, Nakia 1-4; Sundberg, Lindsay 1-6;
Crapps, Cameron 1-1; Cain, Catherine 1-2; Norman, Marrisa 0-1; Harris,
Triahna 0-2), Francis Marion University 2-9 (Mealing, Nicole 1-2;
Singleton-Bates, Sha 1-1; Colbert, Robin 0-1; Fields, Eboni 0-5). Fouled
out--USC Aiken-Chandler, Kendra, Francis Marion University-None.
Rebounds--USC Aiken 42 (DeGraffinreed, Hann. 13), Francis Marion University
31 (Mealing, Nicole 6). Assists--USC Aiken 12 (Harris, Triahna 4), Francis
Marion University 15 (Tucker, Precious 5). Total fouls--USC Aiken 21,
Francis Marion University 26. Technical fouls--None. A-470

        Nicole Mealing                  Shannon Singleton-Bate