#19 Franklin Pierce Seeks NE-10 Championship Berth
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Top-seeded and regular season champion Ravens host fourth-seeded American International in NE-10 semifinal tomorrow at 7 p.m.
RINDGE, N.H. (March 5, 2009) - Top-seeded and regular season champion Franklin Pierce University, ranked 19th in this week's USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Division II poll and first in the East Region rankings, seeks its first appearance in the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Championship when it hosts fourth-seeded American International College, among teams receiving votes nationally and ranked fourth in the region, for semifinal round action of the NE-10 Tournament tomorrow night in the Fieldhouse at 7 p.m.
Admission to the game is $6 for adults and $3 for students, senior citizens and children. The game will be broadcast live on WEEI 93.5 FM Keene and live video and audio webcasts, produced by the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication, will be available via the internet at athletics.franklinpierce.edu. WAIC 91.9 FM will provide a live broadcast to the Springfield, Mass., area.
Top-seeded Franklin Pierce (22-5, 18-4 NE-10), which earned a first round bye in the tournament for the second-straight year, advanced to the semifinals with a commanding 81-59 victory over ninth-seeded Southern New Hampshire University in Tuesday's quarterfinal round at the Fieldhouse. Junior All-American and Great Britain international Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy (Conn.)) led the Ravens with a game-high 24 points (16 first half) on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, including 6-for-12 from three-point range, to go with five assists and four steals in 29 minutes of play. Senior Toby Martin (Wayne, Maine/Maranacook) added 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting (2-3 three's), while sophomore Tori Ahrens (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) made 6-of-7 shots from the field for 12 points to go with three steals and two blocked shots.
American International (20-11, 14-9 NE-10) also advanced to tomorrow's semifinal with relative ease, posting a 60-41 victory over fifth-seeded Pace University, ranked tenth in the region, in Tuesday's quarterfinal. Junior Stacy Boisvert (Agawam, Mass./Agawam) and sophomore Laechia Conley (Urbandale, Iowa/Hoover) combined for 31 points and the Yellow Jackets defense held the Setters to just five first half field goals (5-for-22) in a 22.7-percent shooting effort from the field in the first half. Conley led AIC with 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals, while Boisvert made 9-of-12 free-throws en route to 15 points and five rebounds.
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Franklin Pierce enters tomorrow's semifinal winners of six-straight, 16 of 17 and 18 of 20 having captured its first NE-10 regular season championship since joining the Conference prior to the 2000-01 season. The Ravens boast the NE-10's top offense, averaging a Conference-best 74.1 points per game, while ranking sixth in scoring defense (62.1 ppg). The Ravens also lead the NE-10 in scoring margin (+12.0), field goal percentage (.445), assists (16.7/gm) and assist/turnover ratio (1.0), while also ranking second in blocked shots (4.1/gm), steals (10.2/gm), three-point field goals per game (7.5) and turnover margin (+2.4), third in three-point field goal percentage (.363) and fifth in rebound margin (+1.7).
Franklin Pierce is led by the sister combination of Johannah and senior Jennifer Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy (Conn.)), who have combined to average 35.2 points this season, accounting for 46.3-percent of the Ravens scoring output. One or the other sister has led Franklin Pierce in scoring in all but four games (84 of 88) over the last three seasons, including 25 of the Ravens 27 contest so far this year.
Johannah, named the NE-10 Player of the Year for the second straight season last week, leads the NE-10 in scoring for the third-straight season with 23.0 points per game to go with a Conference-best 3.1 steals per outing. The reigning State Farm/WBCA Division II Player of the Year is also adding 6.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists (14th NE-10) and 1.4 blocked shots per game (5th). She also ranks among NE-10 leaders with her .487 field goal percentage (10th), .862 free-throw percentage (6th) and .376 three-point field goal percentage (8th), hitting conference-best 2.2 three-pointers per game.
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Jennifer, who earned NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year honors as well as All-Conference accolades for the second-straight season last week, is averaging 12.2 points (20th), 3.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists (3rd) and 2.3 steals (5th) per game in a team-high 32.1 minutes per game. She also ranks among NE-10 leaders with her .377 (46-122) three-point percentage (7th).
Ahrens has also provided solid production, averaging 7.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks (8th) per game. She leads the NE-10 in field goal percentage at .571 (89-for-156) and ranks seventh with her 2.6 offensive rebounds per contest.
American International bounced back from back-to-back defeats to Franklin Pierce and Stonehill College to round out the regular season with Tuesday's quarterfinal win over Pace. The Yellow Jackets, who had dropped three of five heading into the postseason, lead the NE-10 in scoring defense, limiting the opposition to just 55.9 points per game, while ranking 14th in scoring offense (59.6 ppg). AIC is third in the Conference for rebound margin (+2.0) and fifth in field goal percentage defense (.380).
AIC is led by the All-Northeast-10 combo of Boisvert and Conley. Boisvert, a first team All-Conference pick, leads the Yellow Jackets with 16.2 points (5th NE-10) and 6.4 rebounds (16th) per game, while shooting 78.2-percent from the free-throw line. She gets to the line an average of 7.4 times a game. Conley, a third team All-Conference selection, adds 12.6 points (18th), 5.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists (13th) and 1.5 steals per game, leading the team in field goal percentage at 44.3-percent (158-357).
Friday will mark the 22nd meeting all-time between these two programs, the first in postseason play. American International holds a 13-8 advantage in the all-time ledger after the two teams split the regular season series this winter, each winning at home. AIC posted a 66-58 triumph in Springfield, Mass., back on December 9, before Franklin Pierce closed out its regular season with a 65-51 victory at the Fieldhouse on February 21. The Yellow Jackets are 7-4 all-time in Rindge.
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Boisvert averaged 18.5 points and eight rebounds in the two head-to-head meetings this season, leading AIC to the December win with 20 points and nine boards. The Leedham sisters combined to average 26.5 points over the two contests for Franklin Pierce. Johannah, who missed all but four minutes of the first encounter due to injury, led the Ravens to victory in the rematch 12 days ago with her fourth double-double of the season (22nd career) as she posted 24 points, ten rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots.
The winner of tomorrow night's game advances to the NE-10 Championship game to face the winner of tomorrow's other semifinal between seventh-seeded The College of Saint Rose (20-9, 13-9 NE-10) and third-seeded Bentley College (20-10, 15-7 NE-10) being played in Waltham, Mass., at 7 p.m. The NE-10 title and the Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament will be on the line on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Conference announced today that Pack Network will provide a live video webcast of the championship free of charge through both the NE-10 and participating institutions websites on Sunday.
Franklin Pierce seeks its first appearance in the NE-10 championship since joining the Conference prior to the 2000-01 season, falling just short a year ago with a 78-65 setback to Bryant University in the semifinals. American International is looking to make its fourth NE-10 title game appearance and first since second-year head coach Kristen Patterson led the Yellow Jackets to their lone tournament championship as a player in 2002, earning MVP honors.
Franklin Pierce's last conference championship appearance came in 1999, when the Ravens dropped their second-straight New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) championship, falling to Binghamton University at the Fieldhouse. The Ravens last conference tournament title came in 1992 under current assistant coach Steve Hancock, when they claimed an 82-63 victory over UMass Lowell.
2009 Northeast-10 Women's Basketball Championships
Sunday, March 1
First Round (Campus sites)
Game 1: #5 Pace 70, #12 Merrimack 64
Game 2: #11 New Haven 80, #6 Assumption 74
Game 3: #7 Saint Rose 66, #10 Saint Michael's
46
Game 4: #9 Southern New Hampshire 58, #8 Le Moyne
38
Tuesday, March 3
Quarterfinal Round (Campus Sites)
Game 5: #4 American International 60, #5 Pace 41
Game 6: #3 Bentley 69, #11 New Haven 54
Game 7: #7 Saint Rose 67, #2 Stonehill 59
Game 8: #1 Franklin Pierce 81, #9 Southern New
Hampshire 59
Friday, March 6
Semifinal Round (at higher seeds)
Game 9: #4 American Int'l (20-11, 14-8 NE-10)
at #1 Franklin Pierce (22-5, 18-4 NE-10), 7 p.m.
Game 10: #7 Saint Rose (20-9, 13-9 NE-10) at #3
Bentley (20-10, 15-7 NE-10), 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 8
Championship (at higher seed)
Semifinal winners, 1 p.m.
