Saint Anselm Edges Franklin Pierce, 54-53
Amyot jumper with 2.4-seconds to play lifts Hawks to regular season sweep of Ravens
RINDGE, N.H. (February 10, 2007) - Sophomore Meredith Amyot (Ashford, Conn./E.O. Smith) drained a jumper with 2.4-seconds to play to lift Saint Anselm College to a 54-53 victory over Franklin Pierce, ranked eighth in this week's NCAA Division II Northeast Regional rankings, in Northeast-10 Conference women's basketball action at the Fieldhouse this afternoon.
Amyot finished with eight points, hitting 2-of-3 three-pointers, six rebounds, two assists and two steals in 21 minutes off the bench for Saint Anselm. Junior Cassaundra Thorpe (Portsmouth, N.H./P.C.A.) led a balanced Hawks attack with 11 points to go with four rebounds, while freshman Kirsten Doldoorian (Oxford, Mass./Oxford) added ten points and eight rebounds. Senior Christina Buckley (Levittown, N.Y./Division Ave.) posted eight points and seven assists, while classmate Jessica Morgan (West Lebanon, N.H.) grabbed a game-high ten rebounds to go with six points.
The loss squandered freshman Johannah Leedham's (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy) seventh 30-point outing of the season, finishing with 30 points on 11-of-23 shooting from the field and converting 6-7 free-throws, to go with eight rebounds, five steals and two assists. Sophomore sister Jennifer Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy) added 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. She became the first Raven since Cindy Young in 1997-98 to collect 100 assists in a season, finishing the day with 102.
Franklin Pierce finished shooting 32-percent (16-of-50) from the field, including 2-15 (13.3%) from three-point range. The Leedhams were a combined 15-for-34 (44.1%) from the field on the afternoon, while their teammates were just 1-16. The Ravens posted a 22-15 advantage in points off turnovers, but Saint Anselm enjoyed an 11-4 edge in second-chance points. Saint Anselm shot 36.5% (19-for-52) from the field, including 43.3% (13-30) in the second half, and out-rebounded Franklin Pierce 41-33.
Franklin Pierce closed out the first half with a 12-3 run to take a seven-point lead (26-19) into the locker room, with Johannah Leedham netting 11 of the Ravens points during that six-minute stretch.
Saint Anselm trimmed the deficit to two (26-24) with a Doldoorian three 1:25 into the second half, but Franklin Pierce rebounded with a 9-0 run, sparked by five Leedham points, to take an 11-point lead (35-24) with 15:28 to play.
The Ravens went ten minutes without a field goal to key an 18-6 Saint Anselm run, which saw the Hawks regain the lead (42-41) after a pair of Doldoorian free-throws with 5:23 to go. Leedham broke the slump with a layup to put the hosts back in front (43-42) with 4:46 on the clock.
Back-to-back Leedham layups in the span of a minute put Franklin Pierce back up three (49-46) with 2:17 to play, but Morgan converted a conventional three-point play, knotting the score (49-49) with 1:58 left.
Thorpe put Saint Anselm in front (52-51) with a jumper with 23-seconds to go. Leedham was then fouled going to the basket and drained both free-throws to put the Ravens back in front (53-52) with 12-seconds left. After the teams exchanged timeouts, Amyot sprung loose on the left wing and knocked down her game-winning 12-footer. Leedham had a good look from just inside halfcourt at the buzzer, but her heave caromed just off the mark, handing the Hawks the regular season series sweep of the Ravens.
Franklin Pierce (16-9, 12-8 NE-10) is off until next Saturday when it visits Merrimack College at 1 p.m. The Ravens return home on Tuesday, February 20, for their regular season finale against Saint Michael's College at 5:30 p.m. Saint Anselm (6-18, 3-16 NE-10) visits the College of Saint Rose on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.