AIKEN, SC - Top-seeded and 14th-ranked Francis Marion University used a familiar strategy on Thursday afternoon (March 5) in the first Peach Belt Conference women's quarterfinal game, forcing multiple turnovers and converting those into points in an 80-61 win over North Georgia College & State University.

The Patriots improve to 25-3 and advance to Saturday's semifinal round at 2 p.m., where they will face the Armstrong Atlantic State/Lander winner.

Senior forward Creshenda Singletary led the Patriots with 16 points off the bench.  The Johnsonville native hit on 7-of-9 shots and became the 24th FMU player to surpass 1,000 points in a career when she scored on a layup midway through the first half.

Sophomore All-PBC wing player Shannon Singleton-Bates added 13, while Jennifer Dyer chipped in 11 and Robin Colbert 10 points and a team-high six rebounds. All-PBC point guard Kevina Ransom scored nine points, dished out a season-high 12 assists, and collected six steals.

FMU shot 47 percent overall, including 6-of-17 from three-point range.

Senior forward Syretha Marble led NGCSU (9-20) with 20 points - 12 of which came at the free-throw line where she was 12-of-16.   Forward Whitney Randolph added 13 points and six rebounds. The Saints shot 39 percent from the floor, and held a 34-31 rebounding advantage.

Francis Marion forced 18 first-half turnovers and scored 14 points off of those, while nailing 51.7 percent of its shots from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.  FMU used a 14-2 run midway through the period to gain control.  Tied at nine, Dyer hit a three-pointer to start the run at the 12:14 mark, and then the Patriots forced four turnovers along the way, the last coming on a Colbert steal which led to a Dominique Powell layup to cap the run and made 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. 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.

A three-pointer by Eboni Fields, a jumper by Singletary, and two free throws by Danelle Downs helped FMU extend its advantage back to 23 points, 69-46 with 6:07 left.

In all, FMU forced 33 Saints turnovers in the game, scoring 25 points off those.  The FMU reserves outscored those from North Georgia 36-14.

"We played well," said Singletary.  "We came to the tournament as a 0-0 squad looking to gets its first win, and we accomplished that."  When asked about reaching the 1,000-point mark, she said, "It is nice to reach that, but I wasn't worried about it.  I just cut hard to get open today, and our offense came off our defense."

"Anytime you get a tournament win, you are excited to advance," said FMU second-year coach Heather Macy.  "Our offense stems from our defense.  I was pleased with our squad's response when North Georgia made its run in the second half.  We answered right back with a run of our own."
 

03-05-09 1 p.m. at Aiken, SC (Convocation Center)
PBC Tournament Quarterfinals: #14 FRANCIS MARION 80, NORTH GEORGIA 61

NORTH GEORGIA (9-20)
Marble, Syretha 4-14 12-16 20; Randolph, Whitney 4-7 5-8 13; Baker, Brooke
3-5 2-5 9; Stinson, Sarah 2-2 1-1 5; Stokes, Alyssa 2-4 1-2 5; Seeley,
Danielle 0-3 4-6 4; McCann, Kari 1-4 0-0 3; Brownlee, Stephanie 1-2 0-0 2;
Montgomery, Meredith 0-1 0-0 0; Kitchens, Lindsey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-43
25-38 61.
#14 FRANCIS MARION (25-3)
Singletary,Creshenda 7-9 2-2 16; Singleton-Bates, Sha 5-9 3-6 13; Dyer,
Jennifer 4-6 0-0 11; Colbert, Robin 3-6 3-4 10; Ransom, Kevina 2-7 5-6 9;
Powell, Dominique 4-8 0-0 8; Franks, Shana 2-8 1-2 6; Downs, Danelle 1-2 2-2
4; Fields, Eboni 1-6 0-0 3; Kiefer, Katherine 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-61 16-22 80.
Halftime: Francis Marion 41 North Georgia 24
3-point goals--North Georgia 2-9 (Baker, Brooke 1-2; McCann, Kari 1-3;
Stokes, Alyssa 0-1; Seeley, Danielle 0-2; Marble, Syretha 0-1), Francis
Marion 6-17 (Dyer, Jennifer 3-5; Fields, Eboni 1-4; Franks, Shana 1-2;
Colbert, Robin 1-2; Ransom, Kevina 0-1; Singleton-Bates, Sha 0-2;
Singletary,Creshenda 0-1). Fouled out--North Georgia-None, Francis
Marion-Singleton-Bates, Sha. Rebounds--North Georgia 34 (Randolph, Whitney
6), Francis Marion 30 (Colbert, Robin 6). Assists--North Georgia 8 (Baker,
Brooke 4), Francis Marion 19 (Ransom, Kevina 12). Total fouls--North Georgia
18, Francis Marion 30. Technical fouls--None. A-321

          Singletary