FLORENCE, SC – Junior forward
Trinity Adams scored a game-high 21 points and Francis Marion University led wire-to-wire in a convincing 78-53 victory over the University of Mount Olive, Wednesday night (Jan. 15) in Conference Carolinas women's basketball action.
Francis Marion improves to 11-3 overall and 6-1 in league play. The Patriots will host Erskine College on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Adams connected on 7-of-14 field goal attempts, including 3-of-6 from behind the three-point arc, while also hauling down six rebounds. Freshman point guard
Kiara Croskey scored 16 points and handed out four assists.
FMU junior 6-1 forward
Danielle Jackson made just her second start of the year and tallied a career-high equaling 13 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds. Senior guard
Kennedi Simmons chipped in 11 points.
Sophomore guard Anna Miller led Mount Olive (1-13, 0-9) with 11 points.
Patriot sophomore center
Trinity Delaney opened the scoring with a free throw, and following a Trojan turnover, Adams canned a pull-up jumper and FMU never trailed. Leading 15-11, the Patriots rattled off eight straight points to push the margin to double digits. FMU held a 29-20 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Francis Marion gradually pulled away from the Trojans and led 45-30 after a pair of charity tosses by Croskey with 1:58 left before halftime. The margin at intermission was 47-34.
Another 8-0 run swelled the lead to 19 points (55-36) midway through the third quarter.
A Mount Olive bucket to start the fourth period brought the Trojans to within 59-45, but FMU scored the next seven points to go up 66-45 with 6:37 remaining. The Patriots ended the game on a 10-2 spurt to account for the final 25-point margin.
Francis Marion shot 44.4 percent from the field, including seven three-point makes, and was 15-of-23 at the free throw stripe. The Patriots held UMO to 32.8 percent shooting and the Trojans were 9-of-12 at the foul line.
FMU held a commanding 51-28 rebounding advantage and led 27-12 in second-chance points.
