Subject: Patriot women fall at the buzzer

Savannah, Ga. (Jan. 16, 2014) – Armstrong Atlantic State's Tyler Carlson hit a contested three-pointer with no time remaining on the clock to knock off Francis Marion 74-72 Thursday night in Peach Belt Conference women's basketball action.   

The Patriots fall to 9-4 on the season and 4-3 in PBC play. FMU is set to open a three-game homestand Saturday afternoon against the University of Montevallo. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m., inside the Smith University Center.

Sophomore guard Camille Dash led the Patriots with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists. Junior guard Briana Robinson finished with 12 points and three assists, while senior forward Dee Gray also chipped in 12 points, and added five rebounds.

Armstrong (9-4, 4-3) was led by Amber Howell who scored a game-high 20 points to go with six rebounds. Carlson finished with 12 points and four assists, while Mauri Wells had a game-high seven rebounds.

The Patriots opened the game on a 15-5 run, and held a 10 point advantage seven minutes into the contest. FMU kept up the defensive pressure, and held its largest lead of the game at 24-11 with 8:18 to play in the first half. However, the Pirates would finish the half on a 28-12 run to take a 39-36 halftime lead.

After the break, FMU tied up the game at 44-44 off a Dash three-pointer with 16:31 to play. Neither team was able to hold more than a two-point advantage for the next eight minutes, and saw the game tied once again with 8:29 remaining, this time at 54-54.

The Patriots were finally able to put some distance between themselves and the Pirates with a 18-11 run that increased the lead to 72-65 with 4:29 to play. However, Armstrong would fight back once more, and used a 6-0 run to cut the FMU lead to 72-71 with 1:54 on the clock.

Neither squad was able to come away with points in the next two possessions, which forced a quick Patriot timeout. Out of the break, Robinson controlled the ball and ran time off the clock, but missed a tough midrange jumper that gave the ball back to the Pirates. FMU played solid defense, and forced a tough three-point attempt from Wells that resulted in a rebound from Gray, who then turned the ball back over to Armstrong.

The Pirates had another attempt to win the game with a jumper from Bryonna Davis with 19 seconds to play, but the shot went off the front iron. FMU tried to rebound the ball but was unable to hang on, as it went out of bounds giving AASU one more chance with 17 seconds to go. The Pirates held for the last shot, and Carlson was able to hit the tough three-pointer that gave Armstrong the dramatic two-point victory.

Francis Marion outshot Armstrong 50.9% to 39.1% from the field, and 54.5% to 21.1% from three-point range. The Patriots also out-rebounded the Pirates 39-37, but committed 19 turnovers compared to 10 for Armstrong.

1-16-14 5:30 PM at Savannah, GA
ARMSTRONG 74, FRANCIS MARION 72
FRANCIS MARION (9-4 , 4-3 PBC)
Camille Dash 6-8 1-2 15; Dee Gray 4-9 4-7 12; Briana Robinson 5-14 2-5 12;
Erin Pinkett 3-3 0-0 9; Kim Roach 4-6 0-0 8; Lauren Woods 3-4 0-0 7; Alexia
Bell 3-7 0-0 6; Cy'erra Mills 0-3 2-2 2; Alaysia Watts 0-0 1-2 1; Chelsea
Dukes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-55 10-18 72.
ARMSTRONG
Howell,Amber 9-11 2-3 20; Carlson,Tyler 5-16 0-0 12; Barta,Brigitta 5-7 0-0
10; Davis,Bryonna 4-14 0-0 9; Wells,Mauri 1-4 5-8 7; Bognar,Hanna 1-6 4-4 6;
Hayward,Dee 1-4 4-4 6; Mitchell,Morgan 1-2 1-2 4; Coney,Stephenie 0-3 0-0 0;
Johnson,Amber 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-69 16-21 74.
Halftime: Armstrong 39 Francis Marion 36
3-point goals--Francis Marion 6-11 (Erin Pinkett 3-3; Camille Dash 2-3;
Lauren Woods 1-1; Cy'erra Mills 0-2; Briana Robinson 0-1; Dee Gray 0-1),
Armstrong 4-19 (Carlson,Tyler 2-8; Davis,Bryonna 1-5; Mitchell,Morgan 1-2;
Hayward,Dee 0-2; Coney,Stephenie 0-1; Wells,Mauri 0-1). Fouled out--Francis
Marion-None, Armstrong-None. Rebounds--Francis Marion 39 (Kim Roach 5; Dee
Gray 5; Cy'erra Mills 5; Camille Dash 5), Armstrong 37 (Bognar,Hanna 7;
Wells,Mauri 7). Assists--Francis Marion 11 (Camille Dash 5), Armstrong 17
(Mitchell,Morgan 5). Total fouls--Francis Marion 21, Armstrong 22. Technical
fouls--None. A-256