CHARLESTON, SC – A 12-4 spurt to close out the first half helped Charleston Southern University break open a close game and the NCAA Division I Buccaneers went on to capture a 69-56 win over visiting Francis Marion University, Saturday afternoon (Dec. 30) in non-conference women's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion sees its four-game winning streak snapped and falls to 6-5.  The Patriots will return to Conference Carolinas play on Wednesday (Jan. 3) at the University of Mount Olive for a 5 p.m. tip-off.
 
The win was the first ever for Charleston Southern over the Patriots – who had won the opening 12 contests in the series – but it was the first meeting between the two since 1985.  This was FMU's first game against a Division I opponent in seven seasons.
 
Senior center Lauryn Taylor led FMU with 23 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore forward Trinity Adams scored 10 points.  Freshman center Trinity Delaney came off the bench to chip in five points and eight rebounds.
 
During the contest, Taylor passed Danielle Moore to assume 16th place on the Francis Marion career-scoring list with 1,353 points.
 
Catherine Alben paced the Buccaneers (3-10) with 17 points, while Madison Adamson notched a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
 
The opening period was tightly contested with no more than one bucket separating the two squads.  CSU held a 14-13 margin after the opening 10 minutes.
 
Two free throws by Delaney to open the second period gave FMU a 15-14 advantage. The Buccaneers answered with six straight points to take a 20-15 lead. A jumper in the paint by Taylor and a fast-break pull-up jumper by Adams trimmed the margin to 20-19 at the 7:05 mark.  Charleston Southern closed the first half with the decisive 12-4 spurt to hold a 32-23 halftime lead,
 
A three-pointer by junior Jada Richards to open the third period brought Francis Marion to within 32-26, but that was as close as the Patriots would get.  An 11-4 run by CSU expanded the margin to 43-30.  Despite two lay-ins by Taylor, the lead would stand at 16 points (55-39) as the two teams headed to the fourth quarter.
 
Adams contributed six points to an 8-2 rally by FMU to open the final period that cut the deficit to 10 at 57-47.  After the two teams traded buckets and the margin remained at 10 and four minutes remaining, Charleston Southern sealed its win with a 7-0 run.
 
Francis Marion connected on 32.4 percent of its field goal attempts, while Charleston Southern shot 52.5 percent.
 
FMU entered the contest ranked 13th nationally in three-point accuracy, but went 3-of-20 from beyond the arc, and was 59th in free throw percentage, but was 7-of-15 at the foul line.
 
 
12/30/23 2:00 pm at Charleston, SC
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 69, FRANCIS MARION 56
FRANCIS MARION (6-5)
Lauryn Taylor 10-23 2-5 23; Trinity Adams 3-9 4-5 10; Kiana Lee 3-11 0-0 6;
Jada Richards 2-13 0-0 5; Trinity Delaney 2-6 1-2 5; Aniyah Oliver 1-5 0-0
3; MiLeia Owens 1-2 0-0 2; Nevaeh Farmer 1-1 0-3 2; Sommer Joseph 0-0 0-0 0;
Sydney Turner 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-71 7-15 56.
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN (3-10)
Catherine Alben 6-15 4-7 17; Madison Adamson 5-9 0-4 10; Maya Robinson 5-11
0-2 10; Keshunti Nichols 5-5 0-0 10; Saniya Jones 4-6 0-0 8; Jordan Berry
3-4 0-0 8; Shimei Muhammad 2-5 0-0 4; Alba Garcia-Valcarce 1-3 0-0 2; Laura
Ortega-Mora 0-0 0-2 0; Alaina Nettles 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-59 4-15 69.
Francis Marion................   13   10   16   17  -   56
Charleston So.................   14   18   23   14  -   69
3-point goals--Francis Marion 3-20 (Aniyah Oliver 1-3; Jada Richards 1-7;
Lauryn Taylor 1-6; Kiana Lee 0-2; Trinity Adams 0-2), Charleston So. 3-11
(Jordan Berry 2-2; Catherine Alben 1-3; Maya Robinson 0-1; Shimei Muhammad
0-2; Alba Garcia-Valcarce 0-2; Madison Adamson 0-1). Fouled out--Francis
Marion-Trinity Adams, Charleston So.-None. Rebounds--Francis Marion 39
(Trinity Delaney 8; Lauryn Taylor 8), Charleston So. 49 (Madison Adamson
16). Assists--Francis Marion 7 (Aniyah Oliver 2; Jada Richards 2),
Charleston So. 15 (Madison Adamson 5). Total fouls--Francis Marion 18,
Charleston So. 18. Technical fouls--None. A-413