FLORENCE - Florence natives TaSheba Butler and Shannon McKever each posted double-doubles in their hometown Wednesday night, but it wasn't enough as the Lander women's basketball team lost to No. 19 Francis Marion, 100-79, in a Peach Belt Conference contest.

FMU improves to 15-1 overall and 8-1 in the PBC, while Lander falls to 10-7, 5-5.

Ciara Lyons scored a team-high 20 points for the Lady Bearcats, while Butler had 17 points and 12 rebounds and McKever 14 points and 12 rebounds. Nardia Robbins scored 11 points.

FMU's Creshenda Singletary led all scorers with 26 points, while grabbing nine rebounds. For the Lady Patriots, Jeffier Dyer added 17 points and 10 assists, Dominique Powell 13 points and nine rebounds, Robin Colbert 13 points and seven assists, and Eboni Fields 12 points and six rebounds.

Francis Marion, which led 53-38 at halftime, made 38-85 field goals for 44.7 percent, including 4-of-17 three pointers. The Patriots also sank 20-of-27 free throws for 74.1 percent.

Lander connected on 30-of-65 field goals for 46.2 percent, including just 1-of-4 three pointers. The Lady Bearcat were 18-of-35 from the foul line for 51.4 percent.

The Patriots also won the rebounding battled, 54-42.

After trailing by as many as 21 points in the first half -- 53-32 with 1:21 left -- Lander opened the second half with a 14-0 run and cut the margin to 53-52 on a McKever layup with 17:10 remaining.
FMU maintained a single-digit lead until Dominque Powell scored on a layup with 2:53 left to give the Lady Patriots a 89-78 advantage.