No. 15-ranked Lady Patriots Stop Pirates, 84-67

(Release Courtesy of Francis Marion Sports Information)

FLORENCE, S.C. - Senior guard Eboni Fields scored a career-high 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting and 15th-ranked Francis Marion University cruised to an 84-67 Peach Belt Conference win over Armstrong Atlantic State University, Saturday afternoon (Feb. 6) in women’s basketball action.

Francis Marion (19-2 overall, 11-1 in the PBC) wins its ninth straight game and improves to a perfect 12-0 this season in the Smith University Center.

Coming off a 6-of-12 three-point shooting night on Wednesday at UNC Pembroke, Fields drilled 7-of-11 attempts from long-range on Saturday. She also grabbed five rebounds.

Junior Shannon Singleton-Bates, who was honored before the game for recently scoring her 1,000-career point, added 12 points and five assists, while senior forward Nicole Mealing chipped in 10 points. Junior point guard Robin Colbert dealt out a good hand with seven points, seven assists, seven steals, and five rebounds.

Freshman Jazmin Walker paced the Lady Pirates (7-13, 4-8) with 17 points, 16 of which came in the second half.  Senior Portia Jones scored 11 points and senior Dartayvia Thomas added 10 points and eight rebounds.

Francis Marion scored the game’s opening eight points – four by Colbert – and never trailed. Leading by only a bucket at 12-10, a three-pointer by Fields started a 7-0 Patriot run. After AASU closed to within 19-14 with 10:47 left in the half, FMU put together an 11-2 spurt to open a 30-16 advantage. The margin would not dip below double digits for the rest of the game. The Patriots led 42-25 at halftime.

Fields connected on a pair of three-pointers in a 10-2 FMU run to open the second half as the Patriots went up by 25 points (52-27). Francis Marion’s largest lead came at 60-32 following a pair of free throws by Singleton-Bates with 14:35 remaining.

For the game, Francis Marion was 11-of-23 from three-point territory, while the Lady Pirates managed only 1-of-8 shots from beyond the arc. FMU also forced 29 AASU turnovers which were converted into 27 points.

The Patriots will play at North Georgia College & State University on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., while AASU entertains Lander University on Monday at 5:30 p.m.