Franklin Pierce Trips Bryant, 
54-52
Ravens post key win behind strong 
defensive effort

SMITHFIELD, R.I. (January 29, 2005) – Franklin Pierce collected a key win on their way to a return to postseason play with a 54-52 win at Bryant University in Northeast-10 Conference women’s basketball action at the Chace Athletic Center this afternoon.

            Franklin Pierce was able to collect the win despite shooting just 28.3-percent (15-53) from the field as it held Bryant to 35.7% (20-56) from the floor and forced 18 Bulldog turnovers.

            Junior captain Heather Jacobs (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton) led a balanced Franklin Pierce effort with 15 points, aided by 3-of-4 from three-point range, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sophomore Danielle D’Ettorre (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/St. Mary’s) added eight points, a game-high nine rebounds and three blocks, while classmate Mollie Stelmack (New Westminster, British Columbia/New Westminster) registered nine points.

            Sophomore Joanna Skiba (Providence, R.I./Classical) led Bryant with 12 points, three rebounds and three assists. Senior Dede Fogarty (Middletown, Conn./Middletown) totaled 11 points (ten second-half), three rebounds and three assists, while junior Megan Peper (Castleton, N.Y./Bishop Maginn) added eight points and a team-best seven rebounds off the bench.            

Franklin Pierce took a four-point lead (25-21) into the locker room at halftime, but Bryant scored the first 11 points of the second half to take a seven-point lead (32-25) 3:56 into the stanza. Fogarty keyed the stretch with two three’s.

            The Bulldogs advantage was six after freshman Nancy Marrero (Middletown, Conn./Middletown) hit two free throws with 1:48 to play. The free throws came just after D’Ettorre hit a lay-up to end a nine-minute Ravens drought and marked Bryant’s last points of the night.

            Jacobs hit both ends of a one-and-one to draw Franklin Pierce within four (52-48) with 1:30 to play and Stelmack buried a three-pointer to pull the Ravens within a point (52-51) with 56-seconds left. Jacobs was fouled while grabbing a rebound on the Bryant end and hit both free-throws to put the Ravens in front (53-52) with 50.4-seconds on the clock.

            Bryant was fouled with 37.7 ticks left, but senior Kellie Fournier (Westport, Mass./Westport) missed two free-throws and classmate Lindsay Hermann (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Central) also missed a pair with 8.1-seconds left which could have put the Bulldogs back in front. Stelmack hit one-of-two with 4.2-seconds left to ice the game.

                Franklin Pierce (11-8, 8-7 NE-10) returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Assumption College at 5:30 p.m. Bryant (13-7, 8-7 NE-10) visits UMass Lowell on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

BOX SCORE