Francis Marion races past Pacers in second half for 101-83 NCAA Regional win

HICKORY, NC – Senior point guard Kevina Ransom scored 18 points and handed out 10 assists as fourth-seeded and 17th-ranked Francis Marion University raced past fifth-seeded USC Aiken in the second half to claim a 101-83 win, Friday night (March 13) in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional women’s basketball tournament.

Francis Marion (26-4) advances to face top-seeded and 19th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne College (a 69-58 winner over Anderson University) in Saturday’s second semifinal at 8 p.m. Third-seeded Clayton State University meets second-seeded and 16th-ranked Tusculum College in the first semifinal at 6 p.m.

Sophomore Shannon Singleton-Bates led FMU with 20 points, 18 of which came in the second half. Ransom scored 16 of her 18 in the final 20 minutes.

Junior guard Shana Franks added 18 points to the Patriot attack, while Jennifer Dyer scored 12 and Robin Colbert 10.

Junior Kendra Chandler paced USCA (22-12) with a career-high 27 points. Guard Megan Starnes tallied 20 points and Morgan Johnson added 12 points and 12 rebounds for her 14th double-double of the season.

Pacer senior guard Meredith Legg scored six points in her final game to become the school’s all-time scoring leader with 1,480 points surpassing Jami Cornwell, who also served as an FMU assistant coach last season.

The two squads traded the lead in the opening seven-and-a-half minutes. Two free throws by freshman center Dominique Powell gave FMU a 16-14 lead. A three-pointer by Dyer and a fast-break layup by Powell expanded the Patriots’ advantage to 37-28 with 3:00 left in the first stanza.

USCA closed the half with a 7-2 spurt to draw within 39-35 as the teams left the floor for the locker room at intermission.

A layup by Starnes kept USCA within four at 47-43, The Patriots then gradually began to pull away. Ransom capped a 20-8 FMU spurt with a three-point play that put FMU up 67-51.

The Pacers crept to within 71-59, but Francis Marion scored eight straight points to go up 79-59 with 7:46 left. The margin would not dip below 15 points the remainder of the game.

Francis Marion made 28-of-34 free throws, while USCA was 29-of-35 at the stripe. The Patriots, who lead the nation scoring offense and turnover margin, scored 29 points off 23 USCA miscues.

By Michael G. Hawkins