MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (December 5, 2020) – Only two days after suffering its first loss of the season, the Webber International University women's basketball team responded with a narrow 86-83 victory on the road over Florida Memorial University.

It was a rematch of The Sun Conference quarterfinal matchup between Webber (6-1 overall, 3-1 TSC) and Florida Memorial (3-3, 3-2) from last season when the Warriors defeated the Lady Lions 74-70 at home to advance to the TSC semifinals.

Three minutes into the third quarter in this one, Webber led by as much as 21 points at 62-41 on a layup by Amaya Small after an offensive rebound for the Warriors. From there, however, FMU cut its deficit down to 13 at 66-53 heading into the final quarter thanks to a 12-4 Lady Lions run over a five-and-a-half-minute span.

Then in the fourth quarter, FMU continued its run, scoring 10 straight to get back to within three at 66-63 with 7:09 remaining in the game.

After a jumper by LeAndra Franklin to stop the scoring drought for Webber, the Lady Lions got to within two at 68-66 with 6:18 left, and then got to within one at 72-71 with 4:27 on the clock.

Then, with FMU within one of the Warriors again at 77-76 with 2:47 to go, Franklin again responded with two free throws to put Webber up by three at 79-76, and then two more free throws by Franklin with 2:12 left again made it a three-point Webber lead at 81-78.

However, two free throws by FMU again made it one-point game at 81-80 with 1:45 to go.

From there, Paulette Burke hit two big free throws of her own to make it 83-80 Webber with 1:03 left, and then after a free throw by FMU with 37 seconds left made it 83-81, FMU went to the line again with 17 seconds left and a chance to tie. Chantel Barnett, however, missed both of her attempts, and Dasia Wandick secured the defensive rebound for Webber and got the ball back to Franklin, who made two more free throws with nine seconds left to make it a two possession game at 85-81.

After two more free throws by FMU with four seconds left, one free throw by Copeland made it a 3-point game with three seconds to go, and a last-second three by the Lady Lions was off the mark.

Webber's Head Coach Grady Morrell said after the game, "As simply as I can say it, if we want to compete for a championship, we are going to have to learn to close out games like a championship team, period."

Franklin scored 11 of her season-high 19 points in the fourth quarter to help Webber, which never did trail in the fourth quarter, hold on for the close win. In all, Franklin was 11-for-14 from the free throw line while also adding four assists and three steals.

In the final quarter, the Warriors shot 12-for-14 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line compared to 11-for-21 shooting (52.4 percent) from the stripe for the Lady Lions.

In addition's to Franklin's strong fourth-quarter effort, Webber had three other players finish in double figures in scoring, and had two double-doubles.

Small scored 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field, and she also finished with nine rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Wandick finished with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting overall and a 4-for-6 mark from 3-point range while also adding a career-high 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.

Last but not least, Paris Copeland had 16 points on three 3-pointers, and added a season-best 10 rebounds and seven assists for her first double-double of the year and fifth of her career.

Earlier in the game, Webber led 12-8 less than four minutes into the first quarter before the Lady Lions came back to tie it at 12-12 halfway through the period. The Warriors then went up 21-14 with three minutes to go in the quarter following a 7-0 run ending with the second 3-pointer of the quarter by Wandick, who had 10 points in the opening 10 minutes.

Less than three minutes into the second quarter, Webber went up by nine at 34-25 on a 3-pointer by Copeland after the offensive rebound and assist by Burke.

Then, starting at the 5:05 mark in the quarter, a layup by Franklin started a huge 11-0 Warrior run to make it a 19-point game at 51-32 with 1:58 on the clock. Four different Warriors scored during the run, which was a part of a stretch that saw the Lady Lions go without scoring a point for over three and a half minutes while FMU also went over five and a half minutes without a field goal.

After the 30-point second quarter for Webber, which made the score 52-35, three Warriors were already in double figures in scoring as Wandick had 14 points and both Copeland and Small had 11.

Also at the break, Webber led 26-18 on points in the paint and 18-8 on second chance points after outrebounding Florida Memorial 31-12 overall and 15-5 on the offensive glass.

Last but not least in the first half, Webber found itself with six 3-pointers on 46.2 percent shooting (6-13) from long range while FMU was only 3-for-13 from three to that point.

Next up for Webber will be a nonconference matchup at home against Columbia International University at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9, inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center. The Warriors will then play an exhibition game at Jacksonville University at 5 p.m. on Friday, December 11, followed by a 2 p.m. nonconference game the following day at Edward Waters College on Saturday, December 12.