DAHLONEGA, GA – Twelfth-ranked University of North Georgia outscored Francis Marion University by 11 during the second quarter and then held off a fourth-quarter Patriot rally to take a 77-65 victory over FMU, Monday afternoon (Feb. 22) in Peach Belt Conference women's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion will host Augusta University on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Attendance is limited to 250 and that includes only season ticket holders, FMU students with pre-acquired tickets, and player/staff family members identified on a pre-game pass list. No general admission game-day tickets will be sold.
 
Sophomore guard Scarlett Gilmore led FMU with a career-high 23 points, while freshman 6-0 center Lauryn Taylor tallied 19 points and nine rebounds.  Taylor scored 17 of her points in the first half on 7-of-7 shooting.
 
Julianne Sutton led North Georgia (15-1, 12-1) with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
 
A Nighthawk bucket to open the fourth quarter pushed the margin to 12 points at 63-51, but a 12-4 run by Francis Marion left the Patriots trailing by only 67-63 with 3:43 left.  Freshman guard Aniyah Oliver completed the run with a three-pointer.  However, UNG scored 10 of the final 12 points to secure the win.
 
Francis Marion connected on 42.2 percent of its field goal attempts, including 8-of-22 from behind the arc, while UNG shot 48.3 percent from the floor.  The Nighthawks held a commanding advantage at the free throw line by making 14-of-21 compared to FMU's 3-of-5.
 
UNG jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but Francis Marion responded with seven straight points to assume a 9-7 advantage.  After a Nighthawk three-pointer, the Patriots rattled off 10 straight points to take a 19-10 advantage, capped by a three-pointer by Gilmore with 4:14 left in the period.  North Georgia closed the first with an 8-1 spurt to draw within 20-18 as the horn sounded.
 
The run continued in the second quarter as UNG scored 14 of the first 19 points to take a 32-25 lead.  The Patriots responded with lay-ups by Taylor and Gilmore to trim the deficit to 32-29.  A 7-0 run by UNG stretch the margin to 39-29, but again Francis Marion rallied.  Two hoops by Taylor and a basket by Gilmore got FMU within 39-35 with 1:14 left before halftime.  However, two baskets by UNG extended the Nighthawk lead to 44-35 at intermission.  
 
The lead swelled to 13 on two occasions in the third period, but Gilmore contributed nine points to an 11-4 spurt as Francis Marion cut the margin to 57-51.  UNG led 61-51 at the end of the third quarter.
 
 
02/22/21 3:00 pm at Dahlonega, GA
NORTH GEORGIA 77, FRANCIS MARION 65
FRANCIS MARION (1-9,1-8 Peach Be)
Scarlett Gilmore 9-19 2-2 23; Lauryn Taylor 8-12 0-0 19; Jasmine Stanley 3-4
1-2 7; Jasmyne May 3-8 0-0 6; Aniyah Oliver 2-14 0-0 5; Abigail Bullock 1-2
0-0 3; Briana White 1-3 0-1 2; Camryn Johnson 0-0 0-0 0; Taylor Simmons 0-1
0-0 0; Ravyn Madaris 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-64 3-5 65.
NORTH GEORGIA (15-1,12-1 Peach)
Julianne Sutton 10-21 2-3 23; Lacie McCoy 5-7 4-6 14; Caroline Martin 4-7
3-4 12; Kara Groover 5-8 0-0 11; Josie Earnhardt 1-4 4-4 7; Abbie Franklin
2-6 1-4 6; Abby Hubert 2-7 0-0 4; Macey Gregg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-60 14-21 77.
Francis Marion................   20   15   16   14  -   65
North Georgia.................   18   26   17   16  -   77
3-point goals--Francis Marion 8-22 (Lauryn Taylor 3-4; Scarlett Gilmore 3-7;
Abigail Bullock 1-2; Aniyah Oliver 1-5; Ravyn Madaris 0-1; Jasmyne May 0-3),
North Georgia 5-17 (Caroline Martin 1-3; Abbie Franklin 1-5; Josie Earnhardt
1-2; Kara Groover 1-4; Julianne Sutton 1-3). Fouled out--Francis
Marion-None, North Georgia-None. Rebounds--Francis Marion 31 (Lauryn Taylor
9), North Georgia 40 (Julianne Sutton 11). Assists--Francis Marion 7 (Aniyah
Oliver 3), North Georgia 10 (Abbie Franklin 4; Caroline Martin 4). Total
fouls--Francis Marion 20, North Georgia 10. Technical fouls--None. A-300