SPARTANBURG, SC – The 18-game winning streak and the thirst to earn a bid to the national tournament came to an end for the Francis Marion University women's basketball team as the Patriots lost a 72-68 overtime decision to UNC Pembroke, Saturday afternoon (Mar. 4) at the 2023 Atlantic Casualty Conference Carolinas Basketball Tournament.
 
The second-seeded Patriots end the season at 20-7, marking the 24th twenty-win campaign in the 50-year history of the program.  Third-seeded UNCP (21-9) advances to face top-seeded and 25th-ranked Belmont Abbey College in the title contest on Sunday.
 
Junior center Lauryn Taylor and sophomore forward Kiana Lee led FMU with 15 points apiece, while senior forward Jasmine Stanley scored 12, on 5-of-6 shooting, and junior point guard Aniyah Oliver 11.  Taylor was named the conference Player of the Year earlier this week, while both Lee and Stanley were tabbed All-Conference.
 
Stanley and Oliver led the Patriots with eight rebounds each, while Oliver handed out five assists.
 
Junior guard Kalaya Hall led the Braves with 17, while Aniah McManus and Zaria Clark each tallied 16 points.
 
Despite trailing by four points with 24 seconds left in the overtime period, FMU had a chance to pull out the win.  Oliver drove the length of the floor for a fast-break lay-in to trim the margin to 68-66.  Following a UNCP free throw, Taylor then converted two charity tosses with 15 ticks remaining to pull Francis Marion within 69-68.  Again, UNCP would make only one of two free throws attempts, but Taylor's potential game-winning three-pointer from the left elbow with three seconds left was off the mark, and the Braves added two insurance free throws with one second on the clock to account for the final margin.
 
Francis Marion shot 43.1 percent from the floor and was 19-of-22 at the foul line, while UNCP connected on 36.9 percent of its shots and was 15-of-20 on free throws.
 
FMU scored the game's opening five points and never trailed in the first half.  A three-pointer by Lee extended the first-quarter advantage to 16-9 and later she hit two free throws to push the margin to 23-14 as the first quarter ended.
 
A three-pointer by Oliver stretched the lead to 12 points, at 28-16, and after leading by as many as 12 on several other occasions, the Patriots retired to the locker room holding a 39-28 lead at intermission.
 
UNCP held Francis Marion to only six points in the third quarter – an Oliver three at the 7:03 mark and a three-pointer by senior guard Scarlett Gilmore with 30 seconds left – and the margin was trimmed to a one-point FMU lead at 45-44.
 
The Braves scored the first five points of the final quarter to go ahead 49-45. The Patriots regained the advantage at 50-49 after a lay-in by Lee with 6:28 left in regulation.  Stanley calmly drained two free throws with 11 seconds remaining to give FMU a 57-55 lead, but Hall scored in the paint with three ticks left to knot the score and force overtime.
 
Oliver splashed a three-pointer to open the extra session, UNCP ran off the next seven points to take the lead for good at 64-60.  Two free throws by Lee with 45 seconds left pulled FMU to within 66-64, but Clark scored off an offensive rebound to give the Braves a 68-64 advantage with the 24 seconds left.  
 
UNCP converted 23 Francis Marion turnovers into 21 points, while the Braves only committed 11 miscues.
 
After the game, FMU head coach Jeri Porter commented on her team's run toward the end of the season, "I am super proud of this group.  The problem with what we did, was we put ourselves in a position that if we didn't get to Sunday's title game, we felt that we failed.  That's how we feel now, but that is a testimony to how well we played to get to this point. 
 
"It is a gut punch, its makes you feel like you didn't do everything you should have done.  This team has grown since the streak started in December, they showed reliance, and worked very hard, both individually and collectively.  At some point, we will realize what we accomplished, just not right now."
 
When asked if UNCP did anything different in the third quarter, she said, "They collapsed hard in the paint and we didn't do a good enough job of playing out of that.  I think in the first two meetings with them we might have had 23 combined turnovers, and today we had 23."
 
"I thought we played the way we wanted to in the first half.  We played at the right pace and got defensive stops.  In the second half, we let them dictate the tempo and style.  At the end of the day, it came down to them making a few more plays, particularly down the stretch."

 
03/04/23 2:45 pm at Spartanburg, SC
UNC PEMBROKE 72, FRANCIS MARION 68
UNC PEMBROKE (21-9,16-4 Confer)
Kalaya Hall 5-17 6-8 17; Zaria Clark 4-11 7-8 16; Aniah McManus 7-12 0-2 16;
Lillian Flantos 4-9 2-2 12; Kelci Adams 3-8 0-0 9; Malea Garrison 1-3 0-0 2;
Hannah Russell 0-1 0-0 0; Alcenia Purnell 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 24-65 15-20 72.
FRANCIS MARION (20-7,18-2 Confer)
Kiana Lee 4-10 7-8 15; Lauryn Taylor 3-10 9-11 15; Jasmine Stanley 5-6 2-2
12; Aniyah Oliver 4-9 1-1 11; Trinity Adams 3-6 0-0 7; Scarlett Gilmore 1-4
0-0 3; Janiyah Hagood 1-1 0-0 3; MiLeia Owens 1-2 0-0 2; Jada Richards 0-3
0-0 0. Totals 22-51 19-22 68.
UNC Pembroke................ 14   14   16   13   15  -   72
Francis Marion................   23   16    6   12   11  -   68
3-point goals--UNC Pembroke 9-27 (Kelci Adams 3-7; Lillian Flantos 2-2;
Aniah McManus 2-4; Zaria Clark 1-3; Kalaya Hall 1-6; Alcenia Purnell 0-4;
Malea Garrison 0-1), Francis Marion 5-22 (Aniyah Oliver 2-5; Trinity Adams
1-2; Janiyah Hagood 1-1; Scarlett Gilmore 1-4; Jada Richards 0-2; MiLeia
Owens 0-1; Lauryn Taylor 0-3; Kiana Lee 0-4). Fouled out--UNC Pembroke-Kelci
Adams, Francis Marion-Kiana Lee. Rebounds--UNC Pembroke 32 (Zaria Clark 6;
Aniah McManus 6), Francis Marion 40 (Jasmine Stanley 8; Aniyah Oliver 8).
Assists--UNC Pembroke 12 (Kalaya Hall 3; Zaria Clark 3), Francis Marion 11
(Aniyah Oliver 5). Total fouls--UNC Pembroke 20, Francis Marion 19.
Technical fouls--UNC Pembroke-Kelci Adams. A-198