Ravens open play at noon on Friday against UDC at Center for Recreation and Sports

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RINDGE, N.H. (March 8, 2015) – The Franklin Pierce University women's basketball team has been named as the sixth seed of the NCAA Championship East Regional, as announced Sunday night by the NCAA. The Ravens, a Northeast-10 Conference semifinalist, earn an at-large bid in the eight-team tournament, which will run Friday, March 13 through Monday, March 16 and be hosted by top seed Adelphi at Center for Recreation and Sports in Garden City, N.Y. Franklin Pierce will open pursuit of its fourth regional crown at noon on Friday against third-seeded District of Columbia.

Each of the eight teams will play their first game in the quarterfinal round on Friday. In addition to the Franklin Pierce (18-10) game against UDC (25-4), Adelphi (28-3) will meet eighth-seeded Holy Family (20-10), second-seeded New Haven (23-5) will square off with seventh-seeded Philadelphia (22-8) and fourth-seeded Stonehill (22-4) will tip off against fifth-seeded Queens (N.Y.) (22-7).

After Friday's four quarterfinals, the semifinals will be played on Saturday and the regional title will be decided on Monday night.

Franklin Pierce returns to the NCAA Championship after a one-year hiatus. The Ravens make their 11th overall appearance in the tournament and their seventh in the last eight years, and will open the East Regional in Friday's first quarterfinal, at noon. The other quarterfinal in Franklin Pierce's session is the New Haven/Philadelphia tilt, which is set for 2:30 p.m. The evening session is currently schedule to feature Adelphi/Holy Family at 5 p.m. and Stonehill/Queens at 7:30 p.m.

Ticket prices per session will be as follows: $8 for adults and $4 for children/seniors and college students with valid ID. Per NCAA policy, no complimentary admissions will be issued. Friday's quarterfinal round consists of two sessions of two games each, while Saturday's semifinals and Monday's final are one session each.

Adelphi, Holy Family and Queens all received automatic bids to the tournament as champions of the Northeast-10 Conference, Central Collegiate Athletic Conference and East Coast Conference, respectively. Meanwhile, Franklin Pierce, New Haven and Stonehill from the Northeast-10; Philadelphia from the CACC; and UDC from the ECC all earned at-large selections. Half of the field returns from last year's East Regional, as Adelphi, New Haven, Stonehill and UDC all participated in the 2014 event. Noticeably absent is last season's national champion, Bentley, which finished the 2014-15 season at 11-16.

Friday's quarterfinal contest will mark just the second meeting between Franklin Pierce, which finished second in the Northeast Division of the Northeast-10, and the Firebirds of UDC, who won the ECC's regular-season title before falling to NYIT in the semifinal round of the ECC Championship. The only previous meeting between the two teams came on Dec. 29, 2011, at the C.W. Post Classic in Brookville, N.Y. The Ravens rolled to an 82-48 victory in that contest, behind 15 points each from Amanda Saab and Jewel White. Lauren Brittingham led UDC with 10 points in defeat.

The winner of the East Regional will advance to the Elite Eight, scheduled for March 24-27 at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. Seven other regional tournaments will be conducted over the weekend, with each sending its champion to Sioux Falls as well; the East Region champion will square off against the West champion in its national quarterfinal. Franklin Pierce is a three-time regional champion (2010, 2009, 2008).

NCAA Women's Basketball Championship East Regional
Hosted by Adelphi University
Center for Recreation and Sports (Garden City, N.Y.)
Seeds in parentheses 

Friday, March 13 -- Quarterfinals
Game 1: (3) District of Columbia vs. (6) Franklin Pierce -- Noon
Game 2: (2) New Haven vs. (7) Philadelphia -- 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: (1) Adelphi vs. (8) Holy Family -- 5 p.m.
Game 4: (4) Stonehill vs. (5) Queens (N.Y.) -- 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 14 -- Semifinals
Game 5: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner -- 5 p.m.
Game 6: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner -- 7:30 p.m.

Monday, March 16 -- Final
Game 7: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner -- 7 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).