Bears edge Patriot Women in final minute 67-65

SAVANNAH, GA -- Victoria Tanner made two free throws with 18 seconds left to give Shaw University a 67-65 win over 25th-ranked Francis Marion University, Saturday afternoon (Dec. 4) in non-conference women's basketball action.  The contest was played at Alfred Ely Beach High School in Savannah, Ga.

Francis Marion drops its second straight game to fall to 3-2, while the Bears improve to 3-1.  FMU will play at Barton College on Monday at 5:30 p.m.

Senior Shannon Singleton-Bates led FMU with 21 points and six rebounds, while sophomore guard Courtney Mealing added 16 points and a career-high nine rebounds.

Kyria Buford paced Shaw with 18 points, eight rebounds, and five blocked shots.

The game was closely contested with neither side leading by more than seven points.  The Bears took an early 15-8 lead, but Francis Marion quickly rallied to knot the score at 18-18.  Shaw led by three points at intermission, 36-33.

The Patriots came out of the locker room and quickly erased that deficit and pushed ahead to a 45-40 advantage following two free throws by point guard Robin Colbert.  With 11:56 remaining, Francis Marion still led 50-46 after a free throw by T.T. Belcher.

The Bears then rallied and went ahead 65-59 with 2:40 left.  A trio of lay-ups by Singleton-Bates accounted for a 6-0 spurt that tied the game for the 12th time, at 65-65 with 1:12 left.  Tanner then made her two charity tosses to give the Bears a two-point margin.

On the ensuing possession, Francis Marion turned the ball and then following two missed free throws by Shaw, Colbert missed a potential game-winning three-point attempt at the final horn.

FMU connected on 15-of-19 free throws, while Shaw struggled to hit 10-of-26 at the line.  The Patriots were held to 31.4 percent in the second half, while Shaw hit 52 percent of its shots over the final 20 minutes.