FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 1-13-07

Women's College Basketball: AASU 65, Francis Marion 51

Release Courtesy of Francis Marion Sports Information

FLORENCE, S.C. – Junior forward Kaneetha Gordon scored a game-high 17 points to help Armstrong Atlantic State University snap a 10-game losing streak in Florence against Francis Marion University with a 65-51 victory Saturday night in Peach Belt Conference women’s action, and in the process handed FMU its school-record ninth consecutive defeat.

Gordon was the lone Pirate (9-6, 3-1) in double digits. AASU’s only other previous win in 14 visits to Florence came in 1993.

Freshman forward Yasmean Dixon came off the FMU bench to score a career-high 13 points. Junior guard Renee Guilliams added 11 points. Francis Marion drops to 3-12 overall and 0-4 in the PBC. The Patriots’ previous long losing skid was eight games in the 1994.

In an unusual oddity, both team’s leading rebounder, AASU’s Ameshia Bryant with 10 and FMU’s Shaketa Preal with a career-high 11, did not score.

Despite only hitting on six of their opening 20 field goals attempts, the Pirates ran off to an 18-4 lead as Francis Marion missed 10 of its first 12 shots from the floor. The margin stood at 30-21 as the two squads left the floor at intermission.

An 8-2 spurt to open the second stanza brought FMU to within 32-29. After Gordon and Francis Marion point guard Brittany Young traded baskets, AASU led 34-31 with 15:28 left in the game. A Guilliams jumper cut the FMU deficit to 44-37 with 9:22 remaining, but AASU answered with a 17-5 run to grab a 61-42 advantage with 3:32 on the clock. Six different Pirates contributed to the game-deciding run.

Although both teams shot less than 34 percent from the floor, AASU hit 20 of 26 free throws, while the Patriots were only seven of 15 at the stripe.

- Pirates -