FLORENCE — Junior Shannon Singleton-Bates scored a season-high 23 points in only 22 minutes of action and the Francis Marion full-court defense continued to force turnovers as the 22nd-ranked Patriots defeated St. Augustine’s College 86-56 on Friday afternoon in non-conference women’s college basketball action.
Francis Marion improves to 4-0 and wins its 18th straight contest against non-conference opponents. The Patriots, who had forced 150 turnovers in their opening three contests, forced the Lady Falcons into 49 on Friday and FMU converted them into 45 points.
Singleton-Bates was 7-of-14 from the floor and 8-of-9 on free throws. Seniors Precious Tucker and Nicole Mealing both came off the Francis Marion bench and tallied 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Tucker also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Thirteen of the 14 Patriots scored in the game.
Sophomore forward Keyona Bryant led St. Augustine’s (2-2) with 18 points and seven rebounds. She was 6-of-8 on field goal attempts. Both LeKeisha White and Allison Sikes scored nine points apiece.
Francis Marion scored the game’s opening 12 points and never trailed. The Lady Falcons did trim the margin to 17-14 on a Bryant layup with 14:19 left in the first half. FMU responded with a 13-1 run, including six points by Singleton-Bates, to go ahead 30-15. The Patriots led 45-31 at halftime.
Bryant and White opened the second stanza with baskets to cut the deficit to 45-35, but again the Patriots answered, this time with a 13-2 run to open a 58-37 advantage. St. Augustine’s did cut the margin to 15 points (60-45) following a pair of free throws by Sikes with 11:18 left, but an 11-2 spurt by the Patriots upped the lead to an insurmountable 71-47.
Altogether, Francis Marion received 52 points from its reserves. The Patriots shot 42 percent from the floor and made a season-high nine three-pointers. FMU held St. Augustine’s to 36.2 percent shooting and only 1-of-3 from beyond the three-point arc.
Francis Marion returns to action today in a 2 p.m. home game against Allen University. St. Augustine’s travels to St. Paul’s on Monday for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.
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