Sophia Holmes
Sophia Holmes (Photo Courtesy of Luke Tracy)

Holmes, Lipinski and 24-Point Third Quarter Carry Women’s Basketball to Non-Conference Win

This Franklin Pierce University women's basketball recap is presented by Belletetes

RUTHERFORD, N.J. (December 8, 2018) – The Franklin Pierce University women's basketball team scored 24 points in the third quarter while sophomore guard Sophia Holmes (Oakland, Maine) tallied a season-high 17 markers as the Ravens defeated non-conference opponent Felician University 65-54 Saturday afternoon at the Job Gymnasium. With the win, the Ravens move to 2-7 overall while the Golden Falcons move to 1-5 on the season.

Holmes buried 7-of-14 (50%) of her shot attempts including 2-of-3 (66.7%) from downtown. She snared five rebounds and recorded three thefts. For the second straight game, freshman forward Izzy Lipinski (Farmington, Conn.) manufactured a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to go with two blocks. Classmate Lisa Sulejmani (Burlington, Vt.) added 11 points, five boards, and a game-high four helpers. Sophomore guard Demi Akins (Cambridge, Mass.) dominated the boards off the bench with six caroms - two on the offensive end.

Bionca Chambers carried the Golden Falcons with 12 points in 12 minutes off the pine. Kameron Stone chipped in 10 points, nine rebounds, and three steals. FPU capitalized off the Felician mistakes scoring 23 points off their 22 turnovers. The Ravens also had the more superior post presence scoring 34 points in the paint compared to their counterparts 16. The Crimson and Grey knocked down 61.5% of their shot attempts in the first half.

FPU drew first blood as Lipinski dished the rock to a driving Freya Cooney (Woodbridge, England) for the showdowns opening bucket. The Golden Falcons took their only lead of the game two minutes into the contest as Kayla Diaz dropped home a trifecta, 3-2. Two consecutive Lipinski buckets established a 6-3 edge in favor of the guests.

Both squads swapped points until Shaelee Brown took the ball away from Cooney which resulted in a Taliyah Brisco jumper to deadlock the score 10-10 with two minutes to play in the stanza. FPU outscored Felician 7-2 over the final minutes of the quarter to move in front by five 17-12 following a Rylee Skinner (Leominster, Mass.) layup.

Holmes helped build Pierce's first double-digit lead of the battle producing a stretch of seven straight points across 50 seconds capped off by a trey to move the Crimson and Grey up 26-12. A Chambers three made it a 10 point, 28-18 Felician deficit until another deep conversion brought the margin to seven 30-23. Holmes tallied the final five points for the Ravens including a buzzer-beating jump shot to increase the Raven margin to 34-25 at the intermission.

The Ravens pulled away from the Golden Falcons behind an 11-0 scoring binge to start the third quarter to take a 20 point, 45-25 advantage. Sophomore guard Hannah Everidge (Baldwinville, Mass.) began the Raven run by connecting on a long-range attempt. Sulejmani tallied the next four points via a jumper after an Everidge theft and a second chance lay-in on a possession kept alive by Cooney. Cooney capped the spurt with back-to-back buckets. FPU's lead grew to a game-high 24 points, 56-32 when Holmes came up with a steal and Lipinski capitalized off the turnover on the other end.

Felician started the fourth and final quarter on a 10-3 run to cut into their deficit which brought the margin to 15, 60-45. The Golden Knights continued to chip away allowing only seven points for Pierce while they scored 19 to fall by only 11 points.

The Ravens are off for a week and head back to Northeast-10 Conference play against Southern New Hampshire University next Saturday, December 15th at 1:30 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens ), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women's basketball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store). You can also follow the women's basketball team on Twitter (https://twitter.com/FPURavensWBB) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/franklin_pierce_wbb/).