ECAC Division II Tournament Third-Seeded Franklin Pierce Rolls by #2 Dominican, 70-48
Ravens advance to face top-seeded Philadelphia University tomorrow for championship
BLAUVELT, N.Y. (March 10, 2006) - Third-seeded Franklin Pierce opened a 13-point lead by halftime and rolled to a 70-48 victory over second-seeded Dominican College in opening round action of the 2006 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division II Women's Basketball Tournament at the Hennessy Center this evening.
Franklin Pierce (15-14) advances to face top-seeded Philadelphia University (22-6) for the ECAC Championship tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. The game will be played at Holy Family University due to renovations occurring at Philadelphia. Dominican ends its season with a record of 19-13.
Freshman Jennifer Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England) led four Franklin Pierce players in double-figures with 15 points (11 first half) as she hit 7-of-10 shots from the field to go with three steals. Junior Danielle D'Ettorre (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/St. Mary's) snapped out of a two-game scoreless slump with 14 points (all first half) to go with seven rebounds. Freshman Vanessa Power (Mildura, Australia) added a season-high 13 points (all second half), hitting 4-of-8 from the field (3-7 three's), in 14 minutes off the bench, while senior captain Heather Jacobs (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton) chipped in ten points, seven rebounds and two assists.
Junior captain Jackie Tracey (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) led Dominican with 11 points, hitting 4-of-6 from the field, to go with six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Sophomore Dana Rotio (Garfield, N.J./Paramus Catholic) added ten points, three rebounds and two steals, while senior Ashley Rossi (Greenwood Lake, N.J./Tuxedo) chipped in nine points, a team-high eight rebounds and a blocked shot.
An early 9-0 run put Franklin Pierce up by six (15-9) after a Nicola Dalton (Danbury, Conn./Ridgefield) jumper just over five minutes into the contest. Dominican cut the Ravens lead to three (17-14) after Tracey scored a lay-up midway through the half, but Franklin Pierce opened a double-digit lead (31-20) on a Leedham jumper with 4:45 left.
Franklin Pierce led by as much as 15 in the opening half and settled for a 13-point lead (39-26) at the intermission. The Ravens came out firing in the second half, using a 17-3 run to open a 23-point lead (56-33) after a Melissa Kapela (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) jumper with 8:05 to go in regulation. Franklin Pierce would go on to lead by as much as 26 (68-42), after a Josie Lidke (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) lay-up with 2:09 left, before settling on the 22-point margin of victory.
Franklin Pierce, which won its first postseason game since 2000 (snapping a streak of five-straight losses), hit 46.9-percent (30-of-64) of its shots from the field, including 52% (13-25) in the second half. The Ravens forced Dominican into 26 turnovers and held the Chargers to 32.6% (15-46) shooting from the field, including 30.8% (8-26) in the second half. Dominican also hit just 2-of-12 (16.7%) three-point attempts.