Pee Dee News

Patriots tangle with Lions for Saturday basketball

The Francis Marion University men's and women's basketball teams will play host to Emmanuel College (Ga.) for a Conference Carolinas doubleheader on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 11) in the Smith University Center.

The twinbill will begin with the women's contest at 2 p.m., followed by the men's game at 4 p.m.  Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students with FMU students being admitted free with ID.

The Francis Marion women own a 14-game winning streak, fifth-longest in length in program history and the fourth longest active streak in NCAA Division II women's basketball.  The last time FMU won 15 games in a row was the 2009 season.  The Patriots, 16-6 overall and 14-2 in the conference play, are in third place in the standings, a half-game behind the second-place team and one game out of first.  Emmanuel (11-8, 10-5) is in fourth place. 

The all-time series is 1-1 as the two squads each won on their home floor last year.  The Patriots are seventh in this week's D2SIDA NCAA II Southeast Region poll.

FMU junior center Lauryn Taylor leads the conference in scoring at 17.7 points per games and is third in rebounding at 8.8 rebounds per game.  With 1,059 career points, she is 28 shy of moving into 28th position on the Patriot career scoring list.  She also stands 26th on the career rebounding list with 565.

The FMU men (13-9, 10-6) are fifth in the conference standings, but only one game out of fourth place and two games behind the third-place team.  The Lions are 16-7 overall and 12-3 in league play and occupy second place in the standings.

Francis Marion leads the all-time series 2-1.  FMU's Tionne Rollins (16.4 ppg), Bryce Beamer (16.1 ppg), and Jonah Pierce (15.4 ppg) rank sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively among the conference scoring leaders.  Patriot senior guard Alex Cox is averaging 14.9 ppg and is only 26 points shy of becoming the 22nd Patriot men's player to reach 1,000 career points. 

Original source can be found here