MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (January 25, 2020) – Both Webber International University and Florida Memorial University began the day on Saturday, January 25, in a tie for fifth place in The Sun Conference Women's Basketball standings, and in the end there was only one team left standing alone in fifth place as the Warriors withstood a late run from the Lions to win by a narrow score of 63-61 on Saturday afternoon on the road in Miami Gardens, Florida.

It was the second straight win in a battle of two fifth-place teams in The Sun Conference in a span of three days for Webber (12-9 overall, 6-5 TSC), which maintained control of its own postseason destiny by picking up the big victory. It was also the fifth win in six conference games for the Warriors and was the end of Webber's six-game losing streak (dating back to Feb. 16, 2017) against Florida Memorial (10-11, 5-6), which fell in its effort to win three conference games in a row.

The shot that would go on to be the game-winner for the Warriors came off the hands of LeAndra Franklin, who hit a midrange jumper off the pass from Paris Copeland to put Webber ahead 63-61 with 30 seconds left.

Although she only scored six points, Franklin was great in nearly all other areas of the game as she also finished with a career-high nine assists and had seven rebounds.

The Lady Lions then had a chance to win the game in the final seconds with a 3-pointer from the corner, but fortunately for the Warriors the shot was off target and was rebounded in traffic by Emmarrie Carmen.

Sparking the Warriors' effort off the bench with a team-high 15 points mostly on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range was Eletra Graham.

Copeland was the only other Warrior to reach double digits in points as she finished with 12 and also added seven rebounds.

Taniya Patrick finished with eight points and 11 boards, RayGene Garner had seven points, and Thalia Jackson had five points.

Webber got off to about as good of a start defensively on the road as you could want, holding FMU to only one field goal and only 7.14 percent (1-14) shooting in the first quarter. Overall, the Warriors held the Lions to under 28 percent shooting from the field for the game and limited them to only 20.6 percent (7-34) shooting from three.

The Warriors never trailed in the entire contest and led by as much as 13 points in the fourth quarter after two free throws by Jackson to put Webber ahead 59-46 with just under six minutes left to play.

However, five turnovers by the Warriors over the next two and half minutes helped spur a 15-2 FMU run that resulted in the only tie of the game at 61-61 with one minute left.

Next up, Webber will play at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Florida, at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 30, before returning home on Saturday, February 1, to kick off the final month of the season by hosting Johnson & Wales University at 2 p.m.