PBC YEARBOOK
53-43 with four minutes to go in the third, but the Jags put together
a big run.
In only the second lead change of the game, the Jags stole a 6261 lead on junior Breonna O’Conner’s three-point play with just over
six minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore Joshlyn Belcher buried two three pointers in the
close of the third period, the second coming with five seconds dwindling on the clock to get the Jags in a 61-53 game.
No one scored until 8:15 when Pitt scored one off the glass
before Hutt made a tough shot in the lane for a 61-57 game.
O’Conner got a steal and drove the lane to bring Augusta within
two points after a 9-0 run and gave them the lead on an and-one
basket up 62-61.
With five minutes to go
it was a tie 66-all game, when
O’Conner took a hard step in the
lane for the go-ahead basket.
Junior Kayla Lovett moved to 1314 on free throw attempts in the
NCAA Regional with one of two
at the charity stripe and the Jags
started their run.
A fast-break layup from
O’Conner pushed the lead to
71-66 and Augusta held on for the
final after AU was forced to foul
down the stretch.
The Jags are in their fourth
NCAA Tournament appearance all
time since the 1991-92 season
and their first in the last eight
seasons. Last time they were in
the regional championship game, Augusta took down Georgia College
in the 2004 South Atlantic Regional championship after beating No.
1 seed Shaw, and No. 5 seed Armstrong State to advance to the Elite
Eight.
ELITE EIGHT BOUND! Patriots continue Cinderella Run
with 72-65 Sweet 16 win
GAFFNEY, SC – Regional Most Outstanding Player Briana Burgins
registered her second straight double-double with 14 points and
10 rebounds and seventh-seeded Francis Marion University used
a 15-2 run to open the second half to capture a 72-65 victory over
eighth-seeded Augusta University, Monday night (March 14) in the
championship game of the 2016 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional
women’s basketball tournament.
The improbable run by the Patriots (24-8), who a week ago were
just hoping to earn an at-large berth in the regional, advances FMU to
2015-16
its second-ever Elite Eight. Francis Marion advances to Sioux Falls, S.D.,
where the Patriots will face the winner of Monday night’s West Region
title game between Alaska-Anchorage and UC San Diego on March 22
at 7 p.m. (Eastern Time). The Final Four is slated for the following day
March 23 with the national championship game set for April 4 at 3 p.m.
in Indianapolis, Ind.
FMU previously advanced to the 1998 Elite Eight and eventually
the Final Four in Pine Bluff, Ark.
This year’s FMU squad, under the direction of first-year head coach
Jeri Porter accomplished a nearly worst-to-first journey. Losers of 20
games in 2014-15 and picked to finished 13th out of 14 teams in the
pre-season Peach Belt Conference coaches’ poll, F