Patriot women off and running

Known as “Run FMU,” the Francis Marion women’s basketball team hasn’t had much trouble scoring these days.

Now the Patriots (4-0) will take their high-scoring show on the road when they travel to North Georgia today for their Peach Belt Conference opener.

The Saints (4-1, 0-1) are coming off a 63-62 loss to Armstrong Atlantic State in their Peach Belt opener. North Georgia shot just 38 percent from the field but held Armstong Atlantic to 42 percent shooting.

First-year FMU coach Heather Macy said her team must play Patriots basketball to prevent its first loss.

“(Basketball) is all about the style of play and the tempo,” she said. “If we control those things and do them well, we’ll come back to Florence happy.”

Including a 112-81 win over Wingate on Tuesday, the Patriots   have scored a school-record 338 points in their last three games.

What made Tuesday night’s  31-point rout particularly surprising was FMU missed 12 of its first 15 shots and trailed 21-9 early in the game.

“We missed several layups to start the game,” Macy said. “We were a little too fired up at first, but once we settled down, we were able to make a nice run.

“Had we played well in the first 10 minutes of the game, who knows how many points we could have scored.”

FMU’s average margin of victory in its first four games is 33½ points. The Patriots lead the PBC in assists, steals, rebounding and turnover margin.

Four players are averaging double figures in scoring for Francis Marion’s fast-paced offense in the early going. Senior guard Brittany Young leads the Patriots with a 15.3 points per game average.

Ebony Allen is posting 12.8 points per game, while Yasmean Dixon averages 10.

Junior transfer Kevina Ransom puts up 10 points, 5.5 assists and five steals per game.

“We’re very deep and we have kids who have a lot of heart,” Macy said. “Teams talk a lot about playing fast-paced basketball. We talk about playing fast-paced, but we also play this way.”

Macy added neither she nor her team expected such a hot start.

“We didn’t go into the streak expecting to set any records,” she said. “We’ve been forcing around 30 turnovers per game, and that leads to fast-break opportunities and easy baskets.”

Macy said her team’s early success stems from a solid recruiting class brought in for one purpose — to run and put constant pressure on opponents.

“Last year’s team averaged about 57 points per game. We’re averaging over 100 points right now,” Macy said. “To change your style of offense, you have to change the personnel, and we recruited for this style of play.”

The scoring streak has drawn attention not only from opponents, but the Patriots faithful.

“I’ve said all along that if you give FMU women’s basketball a chance, you’ll be hooked,” Macy said. “Our style has gotten people intrigued. They want to know what’s going on at the Smith University Center.”

Despite the lofty offensive output thus far, no one expects it to last a full season.

“We’re not going to score 100 points a game every game,” Macy said. “As long as we get to around 100 shot opportunities and 70 shots, we’ll score a lot of points and our fans will be happy.”