FLORENCE, SC – Senior forward Kiana Lee led five players in double figures with 18 points and registered the game-ending steal as Francis Marion University upset 24th-ranked Columbus State University 77-75, Wednesday evening (Nov. 13) in non-conference women's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion, now 2-1, will host Augusta University on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 5:30 p.m.
 
Lee connected on 7-of-14 field goal attempts, including a trio of three-pointers, and handed out six assists.  She now stands only seven points shy of becoming the 31st player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
 
FMU sophomore 6-0 center Trinity Delaney scored a career-high 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting and junior forward Trinity Adams also tallied 15 points.  Senior guard Kennedi Simmons added 11 points and freshman point guard Kiara Croskey 10 points and six assists.
 
Junior 6-1 center Simone Lett came off the Columbus State bench and led the Lady Cougars (2-1) with 14 points.
 
Columbus State scored the game's opening nine points and led the entire first quarter.  FMU trimmed the margin to one on four occasions, but the Lady Cougars held a 22-19 advantage at the end of the period.
 
In the second period, CSU led by as many as five, at 32-27, but Francis Marion rallied to take its first lead at 36-34 on a three-pointer by Lee.  The North Augusta, S.C., native later tied the contest at 39-39 on a three-point play, and even later at 41-41 on a pull-up jumper.  However, Columbus State led 44-43 at halftime.
 
A driving lay-up by Croskey to open the second half scoring gave the Patriots the lead again at 45-44. But the Lady Cougars recovered and later led by as many as five points (62-57) before settling for a 62-61 margin at the end of the third quarter.
 
Columbus State scored the first seven points of the final quarter to forge a 69-61 lead with 7:34 remaining.  FMU responded with a 14-4 spurt that resulted in a 75-73 Patriot margin with 3:05 on the clock.  CSU knotted the score at 75-75 on an inside hoop by Lett with 2:26 left.  That would prove to be the final bucket of the game.
 
Simmons made 1-of-2 free throws with 1:52 remaining to put Francis Marion up 76-75, and Croskey made 1-of-2 with 1.5 ticks left to make it a 77-75 edge.  Following a timeout that moved the ball to midcourt, the Lady Cougars turned the ball over on the inbounds pass, with Lee collecting the steal, to seal the result.
 
Francis Marion shot 48.3 percent from the floor and was 17-of-23 at the free throw line, while CSU connected on 49.2 percent of its field goal attempts, including 8-of-24 from behind the three-point arc, but was only 3-of-4 at the charity stripe.