AIKEN, SC - Lander University placed five players in double figures and the Bearcats raced to a 20-point halftime margin en route to a 93-73 win over top-seeded Francis Marion University, Saturday afternoon (March 8) in the semifinals of the Peach Belt Conference Women's Basketball Tournament.
Francis Marion drops to 21-8 and the Patriots must now await Sunday evening's NCAA Division II Selection Show to see if they will receive an at-large bid to the national tournament. The fourth-seeded Bearcats (21-11) advance to face seventh-seeded AASU in Sunday's title contest at 2 p.m.
Junior forward Creshenda Singletary paced FMU with 16 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Senior guard Brittany Young added 14 points and six assists and junior center Ebony Allen chipped in 11 points.
Reserve guard Kianna Smith and Shannon McKever led Lander with 19 points each, while 6-0 senior center Stephanie Ponds tallied 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Francis Marion took a quick 10-7 lead, only to see Lander score 26 of the game's next 30 points to go ahead 33-14. During that stretch, the Patriots missed 18 of 20 field goal attempts, most of them jump shots, and committed five turnovers.
Trailing 48-28 at halftime, Francis Marion scored the first six points of the second stanza to draw within 48-34. However, the Bearcats responded with a 15-2 spurt to grab a commanding 63-36 advantage with 13:52 remaining.
A jumper by Singletary did get FMU to within 16 points, at 72-56, with 6:17 left, but Lander again responded, this time with a 6-0 spurt on consecutive three-pointers by Smith.
"It is very difficult to get in a 20-point hole against a very good basketball team and then try and rally," said FMU first-year coach Heather Macy. "Lander played very well. Hopefully we will use this as a learning experience. In the past two weeks, we have been able to accomplish many of the things we want to do on the court, it just has not translated into wins."
03/08/08 4:00 PM at Aiken, S.C. (Convocation Center)
LANDER 93, FRANCIS MARION 73
LANDER (21-11)
Smith, Kianna 7-9 2-2 19; McKever, Shannon 7-12 5-9 19; Ponds, Stephanie 4-8
8-10 16; Chiles, LaShonda 6-17 2-2 15; Good, Tiara 5-13 0-0 14; Butler,
TaSheba 2-3 0-0 4; Butler, Andrea 2-3 0-0 4; McCall, Candi 0-1 2-2 2;
Kirkland, Tierra 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-66 19-25 93.
FRANCIS MARION (21-8)
Singletary,Creshenda 6-11 3-8 16; Young, Brittany 6-12 1-2 14; Allen, Ebony
5-11 1-1 11; Singleton-Bates, Sha 4-9 0-0 8; Ruff, Evelyn 3-6 0-0 6; Dyer,
Jennifer 2-7 0-0 5; Dixon, Yasmean 2-7 1-1 5; Ransom, Kevina 2-8 0-0 4;
Morgan, Shaquana 2-4 0-0 4; Marsh, Kirby 0-0 0-0 0; Grayson, Rita 0-3 0-0 0;
Guilliams, Renee 0-1 0-0 0; Downer, Shonelle 0-0 0-0 0; Mack, Shavone 0-0
0-0 0. Totals 32-79 6-12 73.
Halftime: Lander 48 Francis Marion 28
3-point goals-Lander 8-17 (Good, Tiara 4-10; Smith, Kianna 3-4; Chiles,
LaShonda 1-3), Francis Marion 3-16 (Dyer, Jennifer 1-6; Young, Brittany 1-5;
Singletary,Creshenda 1-2; Ruff, Evelyn 0-2; Guilliams, Renee 0-1). Fouled
out--Lander-None, Francis Marion-None. Rebounds-Lander 45 (Ponds, Stephanie
12), Francis Marion 42 (Ransom, Kevina 8; Singleton-Bates, Sha 8).
Assists-Lander 25 (Smith, Kianna 8), Francis Marion 17 (Ransom, Kevina 7).
Total fouls-Lander 14, Francis Marion 21. A-532
