Adelphi Uses Second and Third Quarter Scoring Spurts to Fend Off Ravens

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

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (January 26, 2019) – Three Franklin Pierce University women's basketball players scored in double figures during a 79-53 setback to Northeast-10 Conference foe Adelphi University Saturday afternoon. The win sends the Panthers to 9-10, 6-6 in league play while the Crimson and Grey lost their 14th contest overall and 11th conference game.

Raven freshman forward Izzy Lipinski (Farmington, Conn.) led all Pierce players with a 14 point, seven rebound effort. She snared a game-high three offensive boards and dished out two assists, came up with two steals and blocked one shot. Teammate Sophia Holmes (Oakland, Maine) added 13 points, four rebounds, three thefts, one helper and one stuff. Freshman guard Lisa Sulejmani (Burlington, Vt.) tacked on 11 points, a team-high four steals, four dimes, and three boards.

Four Adelphi athletes produced double-digit points including two double-double efforts. Leonie Edringer racked up a game-best 22 markers to go with 12 caroms, two steals, and two blocks. Teammate Niajah Morgan chipped in 14 points, 12 boards five steals, and five assists. The Panthers outshot (46.3%-to-35.2%) and outrebounded (44-to-32) the Crimson and Grey.

The hosts started off the scoring as Emily Miccile converted an old fashioned three-point play 53 seconds into the game. Three straight Raven buckets by Lipinski, Sulejmani, and Holmes tilted the edge towards the guest side 6-3.  Adelphi responded pouring in six consecutive markers of their own until Raven sophomore forward Claudia Tucci (Trumbull, Conn.) found sophomore guard Demi Akins (Cambridge, Mass.) for a trifecta to even the battle 9-9. Minutes passed until Lipinski stole the rock away from Fallyn Stephens, however, she missed her jumper attempt, but freshman guard Paris Wilkey (Lynn, Mass.) cleaned up the miss and put the second chance bucket in to push Pierce ahead 11-9. Adelphi's Julia Strachan drilled back-to-back treys to end the quarter and give her team a 15-11 lead.

Trailing 19-13 two minutes into the second, eight points in a row for the Ravens, a Lipinski jumper sandwiched between two Sulejmani three-balls catapulted FPU back into the driver's seat 21-19. Holmes capped off the Ravens 13-2 binge with a driving take to move the Crimson and Grey ahead by a high of five points 26-21 at the 4:33 mark. Adelphi's defense locked the Ravens down for the remainder of the quarter as their offensive unit closed the half on an 11-0 spurt to lead 32-26 at the intermission.

The Adelphi run carried over into the third quarter as a Leonie Edringer lay-in and a Morgan jumper expanded their lead to 10, 36-26 with 9:09 to play in the third. Following a 30-second Raven timeout, Holmes answered rifling home a long-range attempt to bring their deficit down to seven 36-29. Holding a 47-37 advantage at the 4:16 mark, the Panthers offense exploded on a 13-3 using three three-pointers to open up a 20 point, 60-40 edge after three quarters. Stephens opened up a game-high 27 point Adelphi lead with a deep conversion with 7:49 left to play.

The Ravens return home for two games this coming week, the first against the University of New Haven on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://www.fpuravens.com). 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://www.fpuravens.com/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/).