Box Score FLORENCE, SC – Junior guard Brittni Johnson came off
the bench to score a team-high 21 points, including 14 in the final
nine minutes, to rally second-ranked Lander University to an 86-81
win over upset-minded Francis Marion University, Wednesday evening
(Jan. 5) in Peach Belt Conference women's basketball action.
Francis Marion (7-4, 0-3) was trying for only it's second-ever
win over Top-2 opponent. The Patriots held a 10-point margin
early in the second half. Lander remains unbeaten at 14-0 and
improves to 4-0 in the PBC. FMU will play host to Augusta
State University on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Senior Shannon
Singleton-Bates paced FMU with 24 points, 17 of which came in
the opening half. Senior point guard Robin Colbert
scored a career-high 18 points, while registering nine rebounds and
seven assists. Both sophomore guard Courtney Mealing
and junior forward T.T. Belcher added
10 points apiece.
Singleton-Bates moved to within 29 points of 11th place on the
Patriot career scoring list with 1,438.
Fellow reserve guard Mukia Myrick followed Johnson for the Lady
Bearcats with 20 points and seven rebounds. Junior Ciara
Lyons contributed 16 points and senior 6-0 center Shannon McKever,
a Florence native, tallied 10 points, 11 rebounds, and six blocked
shots. In the process, she became Lander's all-time leader in
the latter category with 231 swats.
Singleton-Bates fueled a quick FMU start with a trio of
three-pointers as the Patriots raced to a 15-5 lead. Lander
responded with 12 straight points to go up 17-15. Francis
Marion closed the first half with a 9-2 spurt to carry a 40-33
advantage into the locker room at intermission.
Another three-pointer by Singleton-Bates to open the second
stanza pushed the margin to 10, at 43-33. Lander again
answered, this time with a 16-2 run that produced a 49-45 Lady
Bearcat advantage with 13:40 left.
After battling through five ties, FMU eased out to a 65-60 lead
with 6:46 remaining on a Colbert free throw. Lander regained the
lead for good when a three-pointer by Johnson at the 3:43 mark
snapped a 70-70 deadlock. Back-to-back layups by Johnson and
Myrick extended the lead to 77-70 with 2:02 left.
Layups by Monica Mann and
Colbert trimmed the margin back to 77-74, but Johnson drained her
third three-pointer to stretch the advantage to 80-74.
The Lady Bearcats connected on 31-of-58 field goals for 53.4
percent, including 6-of-17 three pointers, while Francis Marion
shot 44.7 percent, including 5-of-12 three-pointers. FMU
managed only 8-of-16 at the foul line, while Lander was
18-of-29.
1-5-11 5:30 pm at Florence, SC (Smith University
Center)
#2 LANDER UNIVERSITY 86, FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY 81
#2 LANDER UNIVERSITY (#2 14-0 , 4-0)
Johnson, Brittni 7-8 4-6 21; Myrick, Mukia 7-13 5-7 20; Lyons,
Ciara 7-12
2-4 16; McKever, Shannon 4-9 2-5 10; Robbins, Nardia 2-3 5-7 9;
Judge,
Jasmine 2-6 0-0 6; Butler, Tasheba 2-6 0-0 4; Small, Kaylyn 0-0
0-0 0;
Barnes, Keondra 0-0 0-0 0; Rasley, Rachelle 0-0 0-0 0; Webb,
Brianna 0-1 0-0
0. Totals 31-58 18-29 86.
FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY (7-4 , 0-3 PBC)
Singleton-Bates, Sha 9-14 2-3 24; Colbert, Robin 8-13 2-4 18;
Belcher, T.T.
4-5 2-4 10; Mealing, Courtney 4-15 1-2 10; Trice, Simone 4-12 0-0
8; Mann,
Monica 3-6 1-2 7; Jones, Hannah 2-7 0-0 4; Downs, Danelle 0-3 0-0
0;
Dickerson, Kristen 0-0 0-1 0; Christian, Brittany 0-1 0-0 0.
Totals 34-76
8-16 81.
Halftime: Francis Marion 40 Lander 33.
3-point goals--Lander University 6-17 (Johnson, Brittni 3-4;
Judge, Jasmine
2-6; Myrick, Mukia 1-5; Robbins, Nardia 0-1; Webb, Brianna 0-1),
Francis
Marion University 5-12 (Singleton-Bates, Sha 4-5; Mealing,
Courtney 1-7).
Fouled out--Lander University-None, Francis Marion
University-None.
Rebounds--Lander University 42 (McKever, Shannon 11), Francis
Marion
University 37 (Colbert, Robin 9). Assists--Lander University 14
(Lyons,
Ciara 3; Robbins, Nardia 3; McKever, Shannon 3), Francis Marion 18
(Colbert,
Robin 7). Total fouls--Lander 17, Francis Marion 20.
Technical fouls--None. A-298
