FLORENCE, SC – The University of Mount Olive used a 6-0 spurt to break a deadlock in the final two minutes of overtime and grab a 75-70 win over Francis Marion University, Thursday night (Feb. 24) in Conference Carolinas women's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion ends its regular season with a 14-12 record and places seventh in the final standings.  FMU will play 10th-seeded North Greenville University on Sunday evening at 6 p.m. on the campus of King University in Bristol, Tenn.  That winner will advance to face sixth-seeded King on Monday night at 7 p.m.
 
Sophomore point guard Aniyah Oliver led the Patriots with a career-high 21 points, while grabbing seven rebounds.  She connected on 8-of-14 shots and dished out three assists.
 
Sophomore center Lauryn Taylor tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season. Freshman guard Jada Richards and junior forward Jasmine Stanley each chipped in 10 points, while freshman guard Kiana Lee added nine points and eight rebounds.
 
Guard Azariah Fields paced Mount Olive (17-4, 15-4) with 28 points, six assists, and five rebounds.
 
The Patriots never led in overtime, but the score was tied on three occasions, the final time at 68-68 with 1:40 on the clock.  The Trojans scored six straight points to go up 74-68 with 16 seconds remaining.  Oliver answered with a pull-up jumper with 10 seconds left to bring FMU within 74-70, but Fields added a late free throw to seal the win.
 
The contest featured 14 ties and 13 lead changes.  The two teams were not separated by more than one possession throughout the first quarter that ended with the score deadlocked at 14-14.
 
UMO forged an eight-point advantage in the second period, before settling for a 36-31 lead at halftime.
 
Francis Marion shot 50 percent in the third quarter and outscored the Trojans 20-8 to own a 51-44 margin heading to the final period.  Taylor and Stanley each had two buckets during a 9-0 spurt that put FMU on top.
 
In the fourth quarter, Mount Olive scored the opening 11 points to erase the seven-point deficit and take a 55-51 lead.  A free throw by Richards with 37 seconds left brought FMU to within 61-60.  UMO was whistled for a shot clock violation on the ensuing possession and Taylor gave the Patriots a 62-61 lead with baseline-driving bucket with four ticks remaining.
 
However at the other end, FMU was whistled for a shooting foul with under a second left and UMO's Sherry Johnson made 1-of-2 free throws to force overtime.
 
Francis Marion connected on 39.1 percent of its field goal attempts and was 14-of-24 at the foul line, while UMO hit 43.9 percent of its shots from the field and was 10-of-15 at the charity stripe.

 
 
02/24/22 5:30 pm at Florence, SC
MOUNT OLIVE 75, FRANCIS MARION 70  OT
MOUNT OLIVE (17-4,15-4 Confer)
Azariah Fields 10-21 6-9 28; Ivanda Hudjakova 6-16 3-4 18; Laila Harris 5-10
0-0 10; Ayonna Cotten 2-3 0-0 5; Kaia Simpson 2-5 0-0 4; Asia Smith 2-5 0-0
4; Taylor Haynes 1-1 0-0 3; Sherry Johnson 1-1 1-2 3; Haleigh Crews 0-4 0-0
0. Totals 29-66 10-15 75.
FRANCIS MARION (14-12,13-11 Conf)
Aniyah Oliver 8-14 4-8 21; Lauryn Taylor 6-13 2-3 14; Jasmine Stanley 5-7
0-0 10; Jada Richards 4-14 1-3 10; Kiana Lee 3-10 3-6 9; Scarlett Gilmore
1-10 4-4 6; Janiyah Hagood 0-1 0-0 0; Ke'Onna Bryant 0-0 0-0 0; MiLeia Owens
0-0 0-0 0; Jasmyne May 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-69 14-24 70.
Mount Olive...................   14   22    8   18   13  -   75
Francis Marion..............   14   17   20   11    8  -   70
3-point goals--Mount Olive 7-18 (Ivanda Hudjakova 3-8; Azariah Fields 2-4;
Taylor Haynes 1-1; Ayonna Cotten 1-1; Haleigh Crews 0-2; Kaia Simpson 0-2),
Francis Marion 2-21 (Aniyah Oliver 1-4; Jada Richards 1-9; Kiana Lee 0-2;
Scarlett Gilmore 0-4; Lauryn Taylor 0-2). Fouled out--Mount Olive-None,
Francis Marion-None. Rebounds--Mount Olive 40 (Sherry Johnson 7), Francis
Marion 43 (Lauryn Taylor 10). Assists--Mount Olive 20 (Azariah Fields 6),
Francis Marion 13 (Jasmine Stanley 4). Total fouls--Mount Olive 20, Francis
Marion 13. Technical fouls--None. A-587