SPARTANBURG, SC – Second-seeded Francis Marion University trailed by only two points with 5:07 remaining in the contest, but third-seeded Belmont Abbey College scored the final 12 points to claim a 54-40 win, Saturday night (March 9) in the semifinals of the Atlantic Casualty Insurance Company Conference Carolinas Women's Basketball Tournament.

Francis Marion ends its season at 20-8, the program's second consecutive 20-win campaign.  Belmont Abbey (23-7) advances to Sunday's title game.
 
Senior post player Lauren Taylor led FMU with 12 points and 15 rebounds, her 49th career double-double.  The two-time conference Player of the Year ends her Patriot career ninth on the school's career scoring list with 1,644 and sixth in career rebounds with 1,023.
 
Freshman center Trinity Delaney came off the FMU bench and scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting.  Junior forward Kiana Lee tallied nine points, freshman MacKenzie Feagin six, and junior Jada Richards three.
 
Abigail Crain led Belmont Abbey with 19 points and four assists.
 
Francis Marion managed only 25.8 percent shooting from the floor and hit just 3-of-4 free throws.
 
Taylor scored the game's first and third buckets to give the Patriots an early 4-2 advantage.  The Crusaders scored the next eight points and never trailed again.  Delaney then bucketed her first two hoops to draw FMU to within 10-8, but Belmont Abbey led 13-8 at the end of the first quarter.
 
Belmont Abbey upped its margin to 17-8, before the Patriots rallied to within 18-13 after a Taylor lay-in.  An 11-1 run by the Crusaders produced the game's widest margin at 29-14.  Delaney scored on a pull-up jumper and Feagin drained a corner three to pull Francis Marion to within 29-19 at halftime.
 
The Crusaders scored the first four points of the third period before FMU mounted a rally. Lee bookended a 10-0 spurt that cut the deficit to 33-29 with 5:49 left in the quarter.  Neither team scored over the next 3:08 before Belmont Abbey scored the final six points to restore the 10-point margin (39-29) as the teams headed to the final period.
 
The Crusaders' Catherine Hendershott opened the fourth with a three-pointer that produced a 42-29 advantage.  Francis Marion made one final run with an 11-0 run that cut the lead to 42-40 with 5:07 remaining.  Delaney and Taylor both contributed four points to the spurt and Lee drained a three-pointer.
 
On the ensuing FMU possession, Lee had a potential go-ahead three-pointer blocked and the Crusaders rattled off the final 12 points of the game as the Patriots missed their final eight shots.
 
After the game, FMU head coach Jeri Porter explained, "We picked a really bad night to have a really bad night. I am disappointed in that I thought we had figured out a little better how to attack a zone. We got a rattled and we allowed that to take us out of what we do well.  We went away from what we do well.  When you have a bad shooting night you aren't going to survive against a good team like Belmont Abbey.
 
"Honestly, I didn't think our offensive execution was bad, we just didn't hit shots.  I thought we defended well. They scored almost the same number of points as 10 days ago (a 62-52 FMU win in Florence to close the regular season).
 
"We talked about being in big moments and having an opportunity to show who you really are. I didn't feel we met the moment tonight."
 
"Trinity's performance speaks to a freshman who plays in the momen,and understood the moment and met it.  She stepped up and played well enough that she made me leave her on the floor.  She played more minutes than normal as she was productive for us on the offensive end.
 
 
03/09/24 7:30 pm at Spartanburg, SC (Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium)
BELMONT ABBEY 54, FRANCIS MARION 40
BELMONT ABBEY (23-7)
Abigail Crain 7-11 5-5 19; Peyton Nation 7-14 0-0 14; Catherine Hendershot
4-10 1-2 12; Cate Schieber 2-7 0-0 6; Riley James 1-8 0-0 3; Katie
Bischoping 0-0 0-0 0; Janiah Shular 0-2 0-2 0; Dearia Page 0-0 0-0 0;
Madison Lusk 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-52 6-9 54.
FRANCIS MARION (20-8)
Lauryn Taylor 5-14 2-2 12; Trinity Delaney 5-7 0-0 10; Kiana Lee 3-9 1-2 9;
MacKenzie Feagin 2-3 0-0 6; Jada Richards 1-9 0-0 3; Aniyah Oliver 0-10 0-0
0; MiLeia Owens 0-1 0-0 0; Sydney Turner 0-0 0-0 0; Trinity Adams 0-9 0-0 0.
Totals 16-62 3-4 40.
Belmont Abbey.................   13   16   10   15  -   54
Francis Marion................    8   11   10   11  -   40
3-point goals--Belmont Abbey 6-11 (Catherine Hendershot 3-4; Cate Schieber
2-4; Riley James 1-2; Abigail Crain 0-1), Francis Marion 5-29 (MacKenzie
Feagin 2-3; Kiana Lee 2-5; Jada Richards 1-6; Aniyah Oliver 0-5; Trinity
Adams 0-6; Lauryn Taylor 0-4). Fouled out--Belmont Abbey-None, Francis
Marion-None. Rebounds--Belmont Abbey 40 (Janiah Shular 10), Francis Marion
40 (Lauryn Taylor 15). Assists--Belmont Abbey 9 (Abigail Crain 4), Francis
Marion 8 (MiLeia Owens 4). Total fouls--Belmont Abbey 9, Francis Marion 12.
Technical fouls--None. A-987