FLORENCE, S.C. – Junior guard Brittany Young tallied a career-high 25 points for the second consecutive game and Francis Marion University took advantage of 31 Presbyterian College turnovers to claim a 66-57 victory, Tuesday night (Nov. 21) in non-conference women’s basketball action.

The Patriots improve to 2-1, while the Blue Hose drop to 2-2. Francis Marion converted the Presbyterian miscues into 33 points, while also holding a 36-10 edge in points in the paint.

As she did last Saturday, sophomore forward Katherine Kiefer followed Young with 15 points, 13 of which came in the opening half.

Junior guard Amy Jones led the Blue Hose with 16 points, while her backcourt mate Bridget Takach added 13 points. Forward Kerianne Blease chipped in 11 points and forward Morgan Johnson scored nine points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

The first half, while closely contested, was filled with missed shots and turnovers. The two squads combined for 30 turnovers and shot a combined 20 for 56 from the floor. Presbyterian held a 14-7 advantage at the midway point of the half as FMU missed 10 of its first 13 field goal attempts.

However, Francis Marion rallied with a 17-5 run to take a 24-19 lead with 2:57 left before intermission. The lead grew to 10 points (31-21) after a basket by Young with 10 seconds left in the stanza. A trio of free throws by Jones trimmed the margin to 31-24 as the squads left the floor at the break.

Although the Patriots would hold double-digit leads on two occasions early in the second half, Presbyterian trailed by only four points (50-46) following a bucket by Takach with 5:56 remaining.   Young and Kiefer scored on layups and Kirby Marsh converted four free throws to fuel an 8-2 spurt that gave FMU a 58-48 lead.

The Patriots converted 6-of-8 free throws in the final minute to seal the win, while Presbyterian missed its final four field goal attempts.

Francis Marion has won 114 of the last 140 home contests.

FMU plays Carson-Newman College, Friday at 6 p.m. as part of the Catawba College Classic in Salisbury, N.C. Presbyterian travels to Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Ga., for a 5:30 p.m. game on Monday.

11-21-06 7:30 pm at Florence, SC (Smith University Center)

FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY 66, PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE 57

PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE (2-2)

Amy Jones 4-16 7-7 16; Bridget Takach 5-9 0-0 13; Kerianne Blease 2-8 6-8

11; Morgan Johnson 2-6 5-8 9; Jessica Parris 2-3 0-0 6; Lea Smith 1-7 0-0 2;

Taylor Price 0-4 0-0 0; Jenna Handshoe 0-2 0-0 0; Tishe Sanders 0-0 0-0 0;

Bobbie Van Tassel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-55 18-23 57.

FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY (2-1)

Young, Brittany 10-13 5-7 25; Kiefer, Katherine 5-11 5-5 15; Guilliams,

Renee 3-12 1-2 9; Marsh, Kirby 0-4 7-8 7; Goff, Vanessa 2-5 2-4 6; Dixon,

Yasmean 1-2 0-0 2; Mack, Shavone 1-5 0-2 2; Downer, Shonelle 0-5 0-0 0;

Preal, Shaketa 0-0 0-0 0; Quinlan, Chelsea 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-58 20-28 66.

Halftime: Francis Marion 31 Presbyterian College 24.

3-point goals-Presbyterian College 7-17 (Bridget Takach 3-4; Jessica Parris

2-3; Kerianne Blease 1-5; Amy Jones 1-5), Francis Marion University 2-14

(Guilliams, Renee 2-8; Kiefer, Katherine 0-3; Marsh, Kirby 0-3). Fouled

out--Presbyterian College-None, Francis Marion University-Kiefer, Katherine.

Rebounds-Presbyterian College 44 (Morgan Johnson 12), Francis Marion

University 35 (Goff, Vanessa 7). Assists-Presbyterian College 12 (Amy Jones

4), Francis Marion University 11 (Marsh, Kirby 6). Total fouls-Presbyterian

College 23, Francis Marion University 22. A-253