AUGUSTA, GA. - Forward Eva Vodrazkova scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Augusta State University to a 53-49 win over a Francis Marion University that was plagued by cold shooting in the first half, Wednesday night (Feb. 22) in Peach Belt Conference women's action.
The Patriots fall to 11-14 overall and 9-10 in the PBC, while Augusta State improves to 12-16 and 7-12.
Senior forward Danielle Moore led FMU with 16 points on six-of-11 shooting. However, the rest of the squad was a combined 11-of-45 from the floor. Freshman forward Katherine Kiefer tallied 10 points and seven rebounds off the Patriot bench.
Moore passed former FMU forward Brenda Cain and now occupies 15th position on the Patriot career scoring list with 1,235 points.
On Monday night at UNC Pembroke, Francis Marion took advantage of a Lady Braves squad that missed its opening 11 field goal attempts. On Wednesday, the Patriots were the ones with the cold-shooting touch, misfiring on their first seven shots to fall behind 6-1. At the midway point of the first half, FMU pulled to within 14-12 when Moore drained a three-pointer. The Patriots would then miss 17 of their next 20 attempts as ASU opened a 26-18 halftime advantage.
The Lady Jaguar lead would grow to 15 points (36-21) early in the second stanza when Vodrazkova scored on a jumper. The Patriots responded with an 11-0 run, trimming the margin to 36-32 following a free throw by Kiefer with 10:21 remaining.
ASU pushed the lead back to double figures at 47-36, before Francis Marion made another run. A layup by sophomore Renee Guilliams with 1:06 left, capped a 13-4 Patriot spurt that brought FMU to within 51-49. Vodrazkova sank two free throws with 24 ticks left to up the margin to four points. Patriot point guard Brittany Young missed a layup with 11 seconds remaining and ASU hung on for the victory.
FMU’s shooting touch warmed slightly in the final 20 minutes to 41.7 percentage.
FMU will play its final regular-season game on Saturday afternoon when the Patriots host 21st-ranked Clayton State University at 2 p.m. FMU will also celebrate Homecoming 2006 on Saturday.
02/22/06 5:30 p.m. at Augusta, Ga. (Christenberry Fieldhouse)
AUGUSTA STATE 53, FRANCIS MARION 49
FRANCIS MARION (11-14, 9-10 PBC)
Moore, Danielle 6-11 2-4 16; Kiefer, Katherine 3-6 3-5 10; Guilliams, Renee
3-8 0-0 8; Young, Brittany 2-9 1-2 5; Downer, Shonelle 2-7 0-1 4; Marsh,
Kirby 0-6 4-4 4; Mack, Shavone 1-7 0-0 2; Preal, Shaketa 0-2 0-0 0. Totals
17-56 10-16 49.
AUGUSTA STATE (12-16, 7-12 PBC)
Vodrazkova, Eva 10-15 2-2 22; Ford, Shirrell 3-10 3-5 9; Robbins, Julie 2-5
0-0 6; Jackson, Sonya 2-6 0-3 5; Paschal, Tiffany 2-5 0-0 4; Wyatt, Jamica
1-5 1-2 3; Batovska, Alena 1-1 0-0 2; Paschal, Tracey 1-2 0-0 2; Simpson,
Doesshe 0-0 0-0 0; DeCoud, Lauren 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 22-53 6-12 53.
Halftime-Augusta State 26 Francis Marion 18.
3-point goals-Francis Marion 5-15 (Moore 2-2; Guilliams 2-5; Kiefer 1-2;
Marsh 0-5; Young 0-1), Augusta State 3-7 (Robbins 2-4; Jackson 1-1; DeCoud
0-1; Vodrazkova 0-1). Fouled out--None. Rebounds-Francis Marion 39
(Young 8), Augusta State 39 (Ford 10). Assists-Francis Marion 7 (Marsh 4),
Augusta State 12 (DeCoud 4; Batovska 4). Total fouls-Francis Marion 12,
Augusta State 15. A-357
