FLORENCE, SC – Seven players scored in double figures led by senior forward
Kiana Lee's 17 points as Francis Marion University cruised to a 97-70 Senior Day win over visiting Lees-McRae College, Saturday afternoon (Feb. 8) in Conference Carolinas women's basketball action.
Francis Marion improves to 17-5 overall and 12-3 in league play. FMU will play at the University of Mount Olive on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Lee's point total included a trio of three-pointers and she also handed out five assists. She grabbed her 500th career rebound to become only the 22nd Patriot to record 1000 points and 500 rebounds.
Senior forward
Trinity Adams scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the year. Senior guard
Jada Richards scored 14 points, while senior guard
Kennedi Simmons, freshman guard
Kiara Croskey, and sophomore center
Trinity Delaney each tallied 13 points. Simmons also snared eight rebounds, while Richards blocked three shots.
FMU sophomore guard and Florence native
MacKenzie Feagin scored 11 points, including her own trio of three-pointers, off the Patriot bench.
Junior guard Sandra Mason led Lees-McRae (6-13, 4-11) with 16 points.
FMU snapped an 8-8 deadlock in the opening quarter with a 12-1 run that included five points each from Simmons and Richards. The Patriot led 22-12 at the end of the period.
Lees-McRae drew to within 31-28 after a three-pointer by Nadiya Hairston with 5:05 left before halftime. Croskey scored the next five points on a driving lay-up and a three-pointer as FMU pulled away to a 42-31 halftime advantage.
A 9-2 spurt to open the third quarter pushed the lead to 18 points at 51-33. The Bobcats would not get any closer than 14 points for the remainder of the contest. Francis Marion 68-47 heading to the fourth period where a 20-4 run would swell the margin to 36 points (94-58) after a driving left-handed lay-up by Feagin with 3:27 left.
Francis Marion connected on 51.3 percent of its field goal attempts, including 11-of-29 three-point shots, and was 6-of-12 at the free throw stripe. The Bobcats were held to 41.4 percent shooting from the floor, including 15-of-26 from behind the arc, and were 7-of-11 at the foul line.
FMU converted 22 Bobcat turnovers into 28 points and the Patriots held a commanding 48-12 edge in points in the paint, and 19-to-3 in second-chance points.
