MONTEVALLO, AL -- Seniors Precious Tucker and Shana Franks each scored 18 points to lead 17th-ranked Francis Marion University to a 91-68 road win over the University of Montevallo, Sunday afternoon (Jan. 31) in Peach Belt Conference women's basketball action.

FMU wins its seventh straight game to improve to 17-2 overall and 9-1 in the PBC.

Tucker connected on 6-of-12 shots, was 6-of-6 at the foul line, and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Franks came off the Patriot bench to hit on 7-of-13 field goal attempts. Junior Shannon Singleton-Bates scored 14 points to become the 26th Patriot to reach 1000 career points.

Senior Nicole Mealing added 12 points for Francis Marion, while junior point guard Robin Colbert scored six points, hauled down 11 rebounds, and handed out four assists.

Forward Carrie Parrott led Montevallo (10-9, 3-6) with 19 points.

Tucker scored the first two baskets of the game and FMU never trailed.  Leading 11-10, the Patriots scored 14 of the game's next 15 points to go up 25-11 with 8:35 left in the first half.  The final nine points of the run were three-pointers by Franks, Monica Mann, and Franks again.  Francis Marion led 38-24 at halftime.

A 7-0 spurt early in the second half extended the FMU lead to 51-30 with 16:04 remaining.  Montevallo cut the deficit to 56-39 before Francis Marion responded with an 11-0 run to take a commanding 67-39 advantage with 11:04 left.  Mealing tallied seven of the 11 points.  The FMU lead would dip under 20 points only once more during the contest.

Francis Marion outrebounded Montevallo 59-36 and led 23-8 in second-chance points.  FMU also led in points-off-turnovers 30-15.

The Patriots will conclude their three-game PBC road trip at UNC Pembroke on Wednesday with a 5:30 p.m. contest.

1-31-10 1:30 p.m. at Montevallo, AL (BankTrust Arena)
#17 FRANCIS MARION 91, UNIV. OF MONTEVALLO 68
FRANCIS MARION (#17  17-2, 9-1)
Franks 7-13 1-1 18; Tucker 6-12 6-6 18; Singleton-Bates 4-10 5-11 14; N.Mealing 5-11 0-0 12; Trice 2-5 3-6 7; Colbert 2-6 2-4 6; Coleman 1-2 3-4 5; Mann 2-2 0-1 5; C.Mealing 2-4 0-0 4; Downs 0-2 2-4 2; Dickerson 0-0 0-0 0; Imani 0-1 0-0 0; Fields 0-6 0-0 0; Bowens 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 31-76 22-37 91.
UNIV. OF MONTEVALLO (10-9, 3-6 PBC)
Parrott 6-10 7-9 19; Sanabria 4-6 2-3 10; Lewis 3-8 2-5 9; Jones 2-8 2-4 7; Cali 2-7 2-4 7; Young 1-6 4-5 6; Moore-Smith 1-6 3-4 5; Seigenthaler 1-2 2-2 4; Scott 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 20-55 25-38 68.
Halftime: Francis Marion 38 Montevallo 24
3-point goals--Francis Marion 7-21 (Franks 3-4; N.Mealing 2-7; Singleton-Bates 1-1; Mann 1-1; C.Mealing 0-2; Fields 0-4; Colbert 0-1; Trice 0-1), Montevallo 3-13 (Cali 1-2; Lewis 1-4; Jones 1-2; Moore-Smith 0-3; Seigenthaler 0-1; Young 0-1). Fouled out--Parrott; Sanabria. Rebounds--Francis Marion 59 (Colbert 11), Montevallo 36 (Cali 7). Assists--Francis Marion 17 (Colbert 4), Montevallo 8 (Lewis 4). Total fouls--Francis Marion 30, Montevallo 28. Technical fouls--Bowens. A-347

Shannon Singleton-Bates scores 1000th point