PBC Tournament - Francis Marion Advances to Semifinals
Aiken, SC - Francis Marion used a familiar strategy on Thursday
in the first Peach Belt Conference women’s quarterfinal game,
forcing multiple turnovers and converting those to points in a
80-61 win over North Georgia College & State University. The
Patriots (25-3) advance to Saturday’s semifinal round where
they will face the Armstrong Atlantic State - Lander winner.
The Patriots forced 18 first-half turnovers and scored 14 points
off of those, using a 14-2 run midway through the period to gain
control. Tied at nine, FMU got a Jennifer Dyer trey to start its
run at the 12:14 mark, and the forced four turnovers along the way,
the last coming on a Robin Colbert steal which lead to a Dominique
Powell layup to cap the run and make it 23-11 with 7:52 left. FMU
would extend the margin to as much as 17 points on four occasions,
the last providing the halftime margin of 41-24. Creshenda
Singletary scored the final points on layup with 23 seconds
left.
The Patriots continued the pressure in the second half, extending
their lead to 23 points in the first three and a half minutes of
play. North Georgia got as close as 55-41 after a Kari McCann
three-pointer with 11:46 left, but could get no closer.
In all, FMU forced 33 Saints turnovers in the game, scoring 25
points off those. The FMU reserves outscored those from NGC
36-14.
Singletary led the Patriots with 16 points off the bench, becoming
the 24th FMU player to surpass 1,000 points in a career. She
entered the game with 998 and earned membership in the lofty club
on her first made basket at the 16:30 mark of the first half.
Shannon Singleton-Bates added 13, while Jennifer Dyer chipped in 11
and Robin Colbert 10. Kevina Ransom dished out 12 assists and
collected six steals in the contest. Colbert lead the Patriots in
rebounding with six. FMU shot 47 percent overall, including 4-8
from three-point range in the second half.
Syretha Marble led NGCSU with 20 points - 12 of which came at the
free-throw line (12-16). Whitney Randolph added 13 points and six
rebounds. The Saints shot 52 percent in the second half to finish
at 39 percent overall, and lead in rebounding by a 34-31 count.
North Georgia ends its season at 9-20.
PBC Tournament Game Quotes - North Georgia vs. Francis
Marion
North Georgia head coach
Buffie Burson:
“We ran into a real good basketball team. Francis Marion was
ready to play. I thought we were, and we really wanted the
ballgame. But they played extra hard the whole time.”
“We really wanted to slow the tempo down offensively as much
as possible, but we were turning it over before we got to that
point. There was stretch in the first half where they got a couple
of steals in a row that led to baskets for them.”
“We’ve been a one-half team all season long. But we
haven’t had the work quit in our vocabulary.”
Francis Marion head
coach Heather Macy:
“Any time you get a win in the conference tournament is a
good win. We’re excited to advance to the
semifinals.”
“North Georgia is a very good team with two All-Conference
players. Our pressure bothered them, and we showed tremendous
effort.”
“We’re had a couple of off-shooting games, but today
we hit the shots we needed, and it stemmed from our defensive
effort.”