Five Ravens score in double-figures
BOXSCORE
RINDGE, N.H. (March 1, 2011) – The Franklin Pierce
University women's basketball team opened post-season play
Tuesday with an 82-57 win over Saint Michael's in the
quarterfinals of the 2011 Northeast-10 Conference playoffs in The
Fieldhouse in Rindge. The second-seeded Ravens improved to 23-6,
while the seventh-seeded Purple Knights closed out their campaign
with a strong 16-11 mark.
With the win, Franklin Pierce
advances to the NE-10 semifinals, where they will face third-seeded
Assumption on Friday night at 7 p.m. in The Fieldhouse in Rindge.
The two teams met once in the regular season with the Ravens
pulling out a 75-72 win in Worcester back on Jan. 19. A win on
Friday night would send the Ravens back to the NE-10 finals for the
third-straight season.
Five Ravens scored in
double-figures in the quarterfinal victory over Saint
Michael's, including junior center Jewel
White (Worcester, Mass.), who had 20
points, eight rebounds, a career-high five blocks and three
assists. The impressive performance came just days after she
was named the NE-10 Player of the Year, while also earning a spot
on the conference's first-team.
Classmate Marielle Giroud
(Martigny, Switzerland), who just a few days ago as well
was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year, chipped
in with 19 points, nine rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Sophomore Tiffany
Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) added 14 points
on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, while also totaling six
rebounds, two steals and two assists. Freshman guard
Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.) bombed in a
trio of three-pointers as she totaled 13 points, and sophomore
Amanda Saab (Windham, N.H.) added 10 points, six
assists, three steals and three boards.
Marilyn Ferreira paced St.
Mike's offensive attack with 18 points, while also swiping
five steals. Mandy Scott came off the bench to add 13 points.
Franklin Pierce owned a commanding 42-27 advantage on the boards,
as seven of the eight Ravens that played pulled down multiple
rebounds. Franklin Pierce's offensive attack benefited from
strong perimeter passing as freshman guard Kate McDonald
(Fall River, Mass.) dished out a career-high tying six
assists. Overall, the Ravens assisted on 22 of their 29 shots made.
The Ravens shot 48 percent (29-of-60) from the field, while holding
the Purple Knights to just 35 percent shooting (17-of-49).
Despite the strong numbers,
Franklin Pierce did come out of the gates sluggish and found itself
trailing 23-19 with 8:18 remaining in the first half.
The Ravens, though, buckled down on
the defensive end and forced St. Mike's into a couple of
turnovers, which Franklin Pierce quickly converted into points. The
Ravens responded by scoring nine-straight points to take a 28-23
lead with 4:15 left in the half. Giroud scored six of those points,
while Johnson added a layup. That 9-0 run was part of Franklin
Pierce's 17-6 surge to close out the first half and take a
36-29 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The strong offensive play late in
the stanza carried over into the second half as the Ravens raced
out to a 14-point lead a little more than five minutes in. Johnson
hit back-to-back layups during the stretch as Franklin Pierce built
a 51-37 lead.
White laid in a basket moments
later and Martelle followed by knocking down one of her triples to
extend the Ravens' advantage out to 17 at 59-42 with 12:19
remaining.
Ferreira tried to counter for the
Purple Knights by scoring five-consecutive points to bring Saint
Michael's to within 12 at 59-47 with 10:56 to go. It seemed
that St. Mike's had started to get back into the game, but
those thoughts were quickly erased with an ensuing 7-0 run by the
Ravens to grab a commanding 66-47 edge with 9:33 remaining. Giroud
sparked it with a layup, Martelle added to it with another deep
trey and White capped it with a layup of her own.
Franklin Pierce would push its lead
out to more than 20 points just minutes later and would lead by as
many as 25 late in sealing the victory.
The victory was also Franklin
Pierce's 16th post-season triumph in the last 18
games (including NE-10 and NCAA Tournaments). Overall, Franklin
Pierce has won 78 of its last 88 games overall, which spans parts
of the last three seasons.
For more information on Franklin
Pierce women's basketball, please visit the team's page
at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.)
To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce
Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports),
Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics)
and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).
