Giroud goes over 800 career points; White goes over 600 career rebounds

BOXSCORE

LOWELL, Mass. (February 23, 2011) -- The Franklin Pierce University women's basketball team closed out its 2010-11 regular season Wednesday night with a 68-59 win over UMass-Lowell at the Costello Athletic Center in Lowell, Mass. The Ravens finished the regular season portion of the campaign with a 22-6 overall record and a 18-4 mark in the Northeast-10. The River Hawks fell to 9-17 and 8-14 in league play.

Franklin Pierce's win, coupled with Bentley's triumph at Stonehill on Wednesday, ensured the Ravens a second-place finish in the conference standings. Franklin Pierce will enter next week's Northeast-10 Conference playoffs as the No. 2 seed and will host a quarterfinal round game on Tuesday night at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens' opponent is still to be determined as the first round games will be held on Sunday.

Franklin Pierce's 22-6 regular season record was an amazing accomplishment considering the Ravens played without any seniors this season as upperclassmen Cynthia Gaudet (Coventry, R.I.) and Tori Ahrens (East Greenwich, R.I.) were lost to injury prior to the year. The Ravens featured four true freshmen who saw extensive minutes while adjusting from high school to the collegiate game. However, all four freshmen experienced success throughout the regular season, which will give them confidence heading into the postseason.

Two Ravens, juniors Jewel White (Worcester, Mass.) and Marielle Giroud (Martigny, Switzerland), who had tremendous regular seasons were the ones that led Franklin Pierce in the win over Lowell on Wednesday.

Giroud tossed in a game-high 24 points, and in the process, topped 800 points for her career. She also had seven rebounds and five assists to go along with her point total. White logged a double-double of 17 points and 17 rebounds as she too reached a milestone by topping 600 rebounds for her career.

Guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.), one of the four freshmen mentioned above, came off the bench to toss in 10 points, including going 2-for-3 from three-point range. Classmate Brooke Coderre (Woonsocket, R.I.) also knocked down 2-of-3 three-point attempts and chipped in with eight points.

Bianca Simmons paced UMass-Lowell with 22 points and six rebounds.

Franklin Pierce found itself trailing 23-22 with 4:03 left in the first half following a 12-0 run by the River Hawks. The Ravens, though, settled down and closed out the half in strong fashion by out-scoring the River Hawks by a count of 16-3 to take a 38-26 lead into the locker room. Martelle sparked the rally with a three-pointer and White followed with seven-consecutive points to aid the run. Giroud and Martelle capped the surge with a three-pointer and 15-foot jumper, respectively.

White had 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the first half, and pulled down nine rebounds. Giroud chipped in 11 and Franklin Pierce's reserves combined to outscore UMass-Lowell's subs by a 12-2 margin.

Coderre hit a triple for Franklin Pierce to open the scoring in the second half and the Ravens began to slowly add to their lead. Giroud converted a three-point play on a layup and foul shot with 16:08 remaining to extend Franklin Pierce's advantage to 20 at 52-32.

UMass-Lowell did try to claw back into the game and pulled to within 13 at 59-46 with 7:15 remaining. Giroud, though, thwarted the River Hawks' rally with a pair of layups and sophomore guard Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) followed with a basket of her own to keep the Ravens comfortably in control with a double-digit lead. Franklin Pierce would cruise the rest of the way in earning the victory.

For more information on Franklin Pierce women's basketball and the upcoming Northeast-10 playoffs, 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).