The Patriot

Issue date: 3/17/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Tony Gloster Women's basketball players and fans cheer in excitement after getting the ball back from Clayton State University during a 74-76 loss.

The women's basketball team earned a bid to the NCAA Division II National Tournament and lost in the quarterfinals, 88-69, to Clayton State University to bring their season to an end.

The Lady Patriots are serving as the host for the eight-team South Atlantic Regional, which began Friday, March 14 and will continue through Monday, March 17.

The 64-team field announced March 9 included 21 automatic qualifiers and 43 at-large selections. Winners of each of the eight regionals will advance to Kearney, Neb., for the Elite Eight on March 26, 27 and 29.

Francis Marion, which shared the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) regular-season championship and lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament, owns a 21-9 record and was seeded sixth in the regional. Under the direction of first-year Coach Heather Macy, the team has achieved one of the most dramatic turn-arounds in NCAA Division II, going from a 6-22 mark last year to a national tournament participant this season.

In addition to FMU, the other teams in the South Atlantic Regional are No. 1 seed Wingate University (23-7), No. 2 seed Tusculum College (26-4), No. 3 seed Clayton State University (18-10), No. 4 seed Shaw University (21-11), No. 5 seed Augusta State University (19-9), No. 7 seed Lander University (22-11) and No.8 seed Johnson C. Smith University (21-9). The championship game is set for 7 p.m. Monday, March 17.

FMU had a 5-3 record against the other teams in the regional prior to the tournament.

This was Francis Marion's sixth invitation to the Division II Tournament since moving to NCAA affiliation in 1992. The Lady Patriots earned invitations for five consecutive years between 1997 and 2001, reaching the Sweet Sixteen round four years in a row (1998-2001) and making the 1998 Final Four.

Senior guard Brittany Young, an All-PBC selection, leads the team in scoring with 13.6 points per game (ppg), followed by junior guard Jennifer Dyer (11.6 ppg), junior forward Creshenda Singletary (10.2 ppg), and four players averaging between 9 and 9.9 ppg. FMU leads Division II in scoring offense (90 ppg) and steals per game (18.4 per game).

Patriot point guard Kevina Ransom, who recently was named to the PBC Tournament All-Tournament Team, leads Division II in steals with an average of 4.6 per game.

Macy was named the PBC's Coach of the Year for 2008.

-- From campus reports

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