FSU falls 78-68 at home in women’s basketball opener

FAYETTEVILLE, NC – The Fayetteville State Lady Broncos opened their season against the same team they opened with last season.

In that game a year ago, the Lady Broncos suffered a 30-point defeat. All they did was shake that off and race to the CIAA Championship.

A year later with a younger team, Fayetteville State again tipped off its season against the Francis Marion Lady Patriots. This time, they were competitive throughout, getting 21 second-half points from Preseason All-CIAA selection LaQuasha Jordan (Jr., Greenville, NC) in an encouraging 78-68 loss at Felton J. Capel Arena on Friday night.

“We saw a lot of confidence out of our team,” said Fayetteville State coach Eva Patterson-Heath. “We showed character. We fought back and continued to fight throughout the game.”

Fellow Preseason All-CIAA selection Tiffany Haywood (Sr., Fayetteville, NC) added 17 points and seven rebounds while Dasnii Curtis (Fr., Fayetteville, NC) had 11 points and Amanda Sinclair (Jr., Red Springs, NC) led the team with nine rebounds.

Francis Marion was led by Courtney Mealing, who made five 3-pointers in the first half and scored 20 of her game-high 27 points in the opening 20 minutes. She helped the Lady Patriots to a 35-24 lead at the break, hitting her fifth 3 as the shot clock buzzer sounded with 3 seconds to go in the period.

Two-time All-Peach Belt Conference player Shannon Singleton-Bates added 19 points and seven rebounds for Francis Marion, which advanced to the second round of the Division-II playoffs last season. Robin Colbert had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Francis Marion, thanks to Mealing’s early barrage of 3s, jumped out to a 9-1 lead less than 4 minutes into the game. But the Lady Broncos came right back, using a 7-0 run to make it 16-15 with 12 minutes left in the half.

The rest of the half was a series of small runs from there as the Lady Patriots managed to build an 11-point edge. The Lady Broncos chipped away from there, holding Francis Marion scoreless for nearly 3 minutes late in the half, but Mealing’s late 3 pushed the advantage back to double-digits.

The Lady Patriots built their edge in the first 10 minutes of the second half, eventually taking a 19-point lead midway through the period.

But Jordan tried to bring the Lady Broncos back. Held scoreless in the first half, Jordan used a variety of moves to score inside and outside, and on the strength of an 8-0 spurt, Fayetteville State closed within 11, 64-53, with 6:03 remaining in the game.

Francis Marion, though, was able to keep the Lady Broncos at arm’s length, never allowing the game to get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

“We have so many young people who haven’t played college basketball before, and they’re having to get a feel for our game,” said Patterson-Heath. “Francis Marion is a real good team, but I’m pleased with our effort. However, we still want to grow.”