Trip to the NE-10 semis at stake for both teams on Sunday

Sophomore point guard Kate McDonald started all 26 games for the Ravens during the regular season.

RINDGE, N.H. (February 22, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's and women's basketball teams will play host to a Northeast-10 Conference Quarterfinal doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The fourth-seeded women's basketball team will take on fifth-seeded Southern New Hampshire at 1:30 p.m., with the NE-10 regular season champion men's basketball team taking on either Assumption or Bentley at 3:30 p.m.

Tickets are $7 for adults, $4 for children/seniors and $1 for college students of the participating schools presenting a valid school ID. The first 150 Franklin Pierce students who present their school ID at the front door will have the cost of their ticket covered, courtesy of the Department of Athletics.

The women's basketball team will be meeting Southern New Hampshire for the third time this season with the Ravens winning the previous two contests, including a 63-51 win in Manchester back on Nov. 30 and a 67-62 triumph in Rindge two weeks ago.

In the November victory over the Penmen, senior center Jewel White (Worcester, Mass.) posted a double-double with 25 points and 17 rebounds, while classmate Marielle Giroud (Martigny, Switzerland) followed with 12 points and seven boards. Junior forward Amanda Saab (Windham, N.H.) came off the bench to net 11 points. Sloane Sorrell paced SNHU with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Megan Spanarkel pumped in 12 as well.
In the win two weeks ago, White tallied another double-double, this time going for 19 points and 10 rebounds. Giroud narrowly missed a double-double with 16 points and nine boards and sophomore guard Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) knocked down a pair of three-pointers and scored 12 points. Sorrell pumped in a game-high 25 points for the Penmen and Christine Duffy dished 16 assists to aid in SNHU's offensive attack.

The senior duo of White and Giroud helped guide the Ravens to an 18-8 overall record during the regular season, including a 15-7 mark in the NE-10. Franklin Pierce is currently ranked sixth in the latest NCAA East Region Poll. The Ravens earned the fourth seed in the NE-10 tournament on Tuesday night when they defeated Merrimack in the regular season finale 72-41. White averaged a double-double during the regular season as she went for 16.8 points and a league-leading 11.6 rebounds per game. She also led the conference in field goal percentage at 58.4 percent. Giroud averaged 15.0 points and 8.8 rebounds per game during the regular season and ranked sixth in the league with 56 steals. Both players topped the 1,000-point mark for their careers earlier this season.

A Franklin Pierce win on Sunday would send the Ravens to NE-10 semifinals, which would be held next Thursday with a site and opponent to be determined.

The men's basketball team, which is ranked No. 1 in the NCAA East Region Poll, claimed the NE-10 regular season crown on Tuesday night via its 73-60 win over Merrimack, coupled with Adelphi's 76-65 loss to Southern Connecticut State. It marked the eighth conference title in program history and the first since Franklin Pierce joined the NE-10 in 2000. The Ravens also won 20 games during the regular season, marking the first time since the 1995-96 campaign the program reached that plateau. The top-seeded Ravens have homecourt advantage throughout the NE-10 tournament and will take on the winner of eighth-seeded Bentley and ninth-seeded Assumption, as those two teams will square off in the first round on Friday night.

Franklin Pierce downed Assumption, 76-48, in the teams' only matchup of the regular season back on Jan. 17 in Rindge. Sophomore forward Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) went 6-of-7 from the field, scored a team-high 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds, swiped six steals and dished out three assists. Freshman forward Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) rained in four three-pointers and added 14 points. Kevin Donahue netted 18 points for the Greyhounds.

Franklin Pierce and Bentley split during the regular season with each winning on the other's home court. Bentley handed the Ravens their only home loss of the season back on Dec. 7 via a 70-60 count. Sam Leclerc pumped in a game-high 24 points for the Falcons. Three Ravens tallied double-digits in scoring, including Cooper's 15 points, junior guard Eric Jean-Guillaume's (Stamford, Conn.) 15 points and Vilmont's 12 points. Franklin Pierce evened the series last week in Waltham, Mass. as the Ravens pulled away in the second half for a convincing 78-58 win. Vilmont and Cooper went for 19 and 18 points, respectively, and Jasper Grassa paced Bentley with 14 points.

Cooper and Jean-Guillaume have been the catalysts for the Ravens this season. Cooper is posting averages of 14.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, while also leading the league with 63 steals and ranking 12th with 20 blocks. Jean-Guillaume is also averaging 14.7 points per game and leads the NE-10 in three-point percentage (48.5%) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.6).

A Franklin Pierce win on Sunday would send the Ravens to the NE-10 semifinals, which would be held on Wednesday night at The Fieldhouse against an opponent to be determined.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men's and women's basketball, please visit their respective team pages at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the programs even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).