FLORENCE, SC – On a night when four seniors were honored prior to their final home contest, juniors Kim Roach and Dee Gray combined for 32 points and 16 rebounds to lead Francis Marion University to a 73-70 victory over local rival UNC Pembroke, Wednesday night (Feb. 27) in Peach Belt Conference women's basketball action.

Francis Marion improves to 12-13 overall and 6-12 in the PBC.  The Patriots will look to end their season at .500 on Saturday when they play at Lander University in a 1:30 p.m. tip-off.

Roach came off the FMU bench to tally a season-high equaling 17 points and seven rebounds, while Gray added 15 points, nine rebounds, and four assists.  Roach hit her first seven shots from the floor.  Senior guard Kristen Dickerson chipped in 13 points.  Sophomore point guard Briana Robinson registered eight points and eight assists.

Sophomore forward Jazmine Kemp led UNCP (12-15, 6-12) with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists, while sophomore guard Kamille Horne came off the Braves' bench to score 20.

The opening 15 minutes were tightly contested with four ties and six lead changes. An 8-0 spurt gave the Patriots the lead for good at 21-17. Clinging to a 25-23 advantage, FMU outscored UNCP 19-7 over the final 4:34 of the half to carry a 44-30 lead into the locker room.   The Patriots onconnected on 8-of-10 field goal attempts during the run.

The Braves quickly closed the gap with a 16-5 run to open the second half.  However, each time UNCP trimmed the margin to three points the Patriots had an answer.

Two free throws by Gray upped the margin to nine points (63-54) with 6:26 left on the clock.  UNCP closed the gap to 63-59, but two foul shots by Roach and a jumper from Dickerson stretched the lead to eight points (67-59) with 2:26 remaining.

After UNCP again closed the margin to three in the final minute, Dickerson drained an 18-foot jumper from the right corner to put Francis Marion ahead 72-67 with 22.9 ticks left. Horne answered with a 25-foot three-pointer with 12.1 seconds remaining to draw the Braves to within 72-70.

Robinson made one of two free throws at :05.6 to extend the lead to three points, but UNCP rebounded the second-try miss and called timeout.  On the ensuing inbounds play, Kemp was whistled for an illegal screen giving the ball back to Francis Marion.  The Patriots inbounded the ball and ran out the clock.

Francis Marion shot 44.8 percent from the floor and was 9-of-15 at the foul line.  UNCP connected on 41,5 percent of their field goal attempts, including 7-of-21 three-point shots, and was 9-of-13 at the charity stripe.

However FMU committed only 13 turnovers, while forcing 19, and the Patriots led 24-13 in points off turnovers.

The Patriots swept the home-and-away season series from UNCP.