No. 2 Women's Basketball Runs Win Streak to Five
Leedham and Gaudet top 20 points each with 28 and 24 points, respectively.
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (December 2, 2009) - The
second-ranked Franklin Pierce University women's basketball team
won its fifth-straight game Wednesday night with an 80-56 victory
over Merrimack at Volpe Gym in North Andover, Mass. The Ravens
improved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the Northeast-10, while
Merrimack dipped to 1-6 and 0-4 in the league.
Senior standout Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England) turned in a sterling performance as she dropped in a game-high 28 points, grabbed eight rebounds, swiped eight steals, handed out five assists and blocked one shot.
Junior guard Cynthia Gaudet (Coventry, R.I.) had a strong game as well as she pumped in a season-high 24 points, dished out four assists and collected a pair of steals.
The Ravens defense came up big in the contest as it forced the Warriors into 27 turnovers and limited them to 11 percent shooting from behind the arc (2-of-18). Franklin Pierce converted those 27 turnovers into 28 points. It also out-rebounded Merrimack, 47-38, including 30 of those on the defensive end.
Casey Miller and Gennifer Roy were Merrimack's double-figure scorers with 18 and 15 points, respectively.
The first 20 minutes were closely contested as the game was tied four times and saw the lead change hands eight times.
Franklin Pierce broke a 27-27 tie in the final minutes of the half by going on a 5-2 run to take a 32-29 edge at halftime. Leedham laid in a basket to spark the surge and Gaudet capped it with a three-pointer.
The Ravens bolted out of the gates in the second half and began the period on a 9-2 run to take a 41-31 lead with 16:53 to go. Kirsten Doldoorian (Brimfield, Mass.), Marielle Giroud (Martigny, Switzerland) and Leedham each drained a jumper, and Gaudet drilled a trey to key the early run.
The game hovered around that margin for the next several minutes and Franklin Pierce held a 44-35 lead with 13:34 to go.
However, the Ravens picked up the offensive tempo from that point and ultimately put the game out of reach. Franklin Pierce scored eight of the game's next 10 points, including four points from Tiffany Johnson (Swanton, Vt.), to open up a commanding 51-37 lead with 10:48 left.
Merrimack never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way as Franklin Pierce cruised to the win, leading by as many as 27 points at one point late in the contest.
The Ravens return to action next Tuesday when they travel to face UMass-Lowell at 5:30 p.m. For more information on Franklin Pierce women's basketball, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.)