FLORENCE, SC - Sisters Nicole and Courtney Mealing came off the Francis Marion University bench and combined for 31 points, including all 11 in a decisive second-half run, as the 18th-ranked Patriots bested Georgia Southwestern State University 87-74, Saturday afternoon (Jan. 16) in Peach Belt Conference women's basketball action.

Francis Marion (13-2, 5-1) remains in second place in the PBC's East Division while also improving to 9-0 at home this season.  The Patriots quickly return to the court on Sunday hosting Columbus State University in a 1:30 p.m. contest.

Senior Nicole Mealing scored a team-high 16 points, on 6-of-10 shooting, while freshman Courtney Mealing tallied a career-high equaling 15 points.  Junior point guard Robin Colbert added 14 points and five assists, while junior forward Shannon Singleton-Bates chipped in 10 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

Center Whitley Wiltz and guard Terra Branch paced four Hurricanes (7-7, 2-2) in double figures with 16 and 14 points respectively.

The two teams combined to miss 20 of the game's first 25 field goal attempts and the Hurricanes led 8-6 after the opening seven minutes.  Trailing 16-15, Francis Marion outscored Georgia Southwestern 22-10 over the final 8:12 of the first half to lead 37-26 at intermission.

A layup by Shana Franks upped the Patriot advantage to 15 points (41-26) early in the second stanza.  The Hurricanes gradually chipped away at the margin and finally cut the lead to one point (43-42) following a three-point play by Jonneshia Pineda with 14:40 left.  The Mealings then combined to score the game's next 11 points (Courtney 6, Nicole 5) as the Patriots surged ahead 54-42.  Georgia Southwestern would get no closer than nine points the remainder of the game.

Francis Marion forced 43 Hurricane turnovers that resulted in 33 points, while remaining unbeaten (8-0) in the all-time series.