Women's Basketball Has Nine-Game Winning Streak Halted in 58-54 Loss to Saint Anselm
White goes for 17 points; Giroud grabs 14 rebounds
RINDGE, N.H. (February 12, 2011) -- The Franklin Pierce
University women's basketball team had its nine-game winning streak
snapped Saturday afternoon with a 58-54 setback to Saint Anselm at
The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens fell to 19-6 overall and 16-6
in the Northeast-10, while the Hawks improved to 10-13 and 7-12 in
league play.
The loss also postponed the Ravens quest for 20 wins this season.
Franklin Pierce has three games remaining in the regular season to
reach that number, which would mark the fourth-straight season it
reached the 20-win plateau.
Junior center Jewel White (Worcester, Mass.), who
earlier this week was named the NE-10 Player of the Week, led
Franklin Pierce with 17 points, while also grabbing six rebounds.
Junior forward Marielle Giroud (Martigny,
Switzerland) followed with eight points and a team-high 14
rebounds, while sophomore guard Tiffany Johnson (St.
Albans, Vt.) and junior backcourt-mate Lekia Cowen
(Hopedale, Mass.) added seven points apiece.
Megan Howard and Epiphany Smith paced Saint Anselm with 20 and 19
points, respectively, in the victory.
The game was tightly contested throughout the first 12 minutes as
the score was knotted at 16-16. However, St. A's scored the next
six points to take a 22-16 advantage with 5:04 left in the half.
Howard kick-started the surge with a basket and capped it with
another bucket moments later.
The teams traded baskets the rest of the half as the Hawks took a
30-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Saint Anselm came out of the gates strong in the second half and
took a 43-33 lead with 13:02 left in the game following a layup
from Tori Lehr. The Hawks continued to add to their lead and opened
up a 50-35 advantage minutes later.
Saint Anselm continued to hold a double-digit advantage and was up
54-44 before the Ravens mounted a rally which brought them back
into the game momentarily. Franklin Pierce used an 8-2 run, aided
by a triple from Giroud, to pull within 56-52 with :34 left. But
that was as close as Franklin Pierce would get as the Hawks made
their free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Franklin Pierce shot just 32 percent from the field, while Saint
Anselm went a solid 43 percent from the floor, including a strong
43 percent from behind the arc. The Hawks also held a 41-34
advantage on the glass.
The Ravens return to action Wednesday night when they travel to
North Andover, Mass. to take on Merrimack at 5:30 p.m.
For more information on Franklin Pierce women's basketball, please
visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow
the program further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on
YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter
(www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook
(www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).