RALEIGH, NC – The backcourt trio of Victoria Dye, Camille Dash, and TeTe Flowers combined for 45 points and 25th-ranked Francis Marion University forced 26 Shaw University turnovers as the Patriots remained unbeaten with a 72-63 road win, Saturday afternoon (Dec. 5) in women's college basketball action.

Francis Marion ups its record to 7-0 and avenges a 25-point home loss to the Lady Bears last season in Florence.  FMU will play host to the University of Mount Olive on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the squad's last contest before final exams begin.

First-year head coach Jeri Porter's squad held Shaw (6-2) to nearly 19 points below its 82.4 points per game season average and snapped the Lady Bears' six-game winning streak.

Dye tallied a season-high 22 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-6 from behind the three-point arc, and 7-of-8 at the free throw line.  Dash scored 12 points and Flowers added 11 points and four steals.

Sophomore 5-10 forward Kristin Tines came off the FMU bench and registered season-highs of six points and 14 rebounds, while sophomore Khayani Chandler chipped in eight points and freshman Shaunice Fulmore seven.

Francis Marion committed only 12 turnovers and led 31-9 in points-off-turnovers.  Thanks to a 19-11 advantage on the offensive glass, FMU also led 21-5 in second-chance points.

Eboni Ross led Shaw with 16 points and 14 rebounds.

The score was tied only once, at 2-2, and the Patriots never trailed in the contest.  After that early deadlock, Francis Marion scored nine of the next 11 points to take an 11-4 lead.  A layup by sophomore Briana Burgins with four ticks left in the first period gave Francis Marion a 17-12 advantage at the end of the quarter.

Shaw closed to within 17-16 after a three-point play by Aaliyah Mercer early in the second period.  However, FMU responded with a 16-2 run that included six points from Dye and five from Dash to assume a 33-18 lead.  The Lady Bears narrowed that deficit to 36-29 at halftime.

The Patriots would push the margin back to double digits early in the third quarter at 41-29, but Shaw rallied to trail by only 45-41 after a lay-in by Ross with 2:56 on the clock.  Two free throws by Fulmore and a steal and layup by Chandler expanded the lead to 49-41 and FMU would escape the quarter still holding a seven-point lead (53-46).  Of the Patriots' 17 points in the third quarter, 11 were the results of Lady Bear miscues.

A three-pointer by Fulmore stretched the Patriot lead to 58-48, but Shaw made one final push and closed to within 60-55 with 5:03 remaining.  Dye then scored the next four points, all from the free throw line, and the Lady Bears would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Francis Marion shot 36.6 percent from the field, was 5-of-21 from beyond the three-point arc, and hit 15-of-23 free throws.  Shaw shot a higher percentage from the floor (46.2%), but the Lady Bears were only 1-of-9 from long range and only 14-of-25 at the charity stripe.