First time Giroud earns the top weekly award from the conference

RINDGE, N.H. (February 27, 2012) -- Franklin Pierce University women's basketball standout Marielle Giroud (Martigny, Switzerland) was named the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week on Monday, as announced by the league. It marked the first weekly award for Giroud this season.

The senior forward earned the league's top weekly award just days after she was named the 2012 NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season. Giroud became just the second player in program history to earn multiple major conference awards.

Giroud didn't win Monday's weekly award just because of her player-of-the-year accolade on Thursday. She garnered the honor after a pair of stellar performances in two Ravens victories, including a 72-41 triumph over Merrimack in the regular season finale on Tuesday and an 85-66 win over Southern New Hampshire in the NE-10 quarterfinals on Sunday.

For the week, she averaged 23.5 points per game on a combined 15-of-20 shooting from the field and averaged 8.0 rebounds a game. In the win over Merrimack, she went for 20 points and nine rebounds, while also dishing out six assists and swiping two steals. Giroud followed with another outstanding performance in the post-season win over SNHU as she dropped in 27 points and collected seven rebounds. Her performance against the Penmen helped propel the Ravens to the NE-10 semifinals where they will face top-seeded Bentley on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Waltham, Mass.

For the season, Giroud is averaging 15.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. She ranks 10th in the league in scoring, eighth in rebounding and sixth in steals (57).

For more information on Franklin Pierce women's basketball, please visit the team's page at 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).