Southern Connecticut Shoots 
Past Franklin Pierce, 64-54
Owls shoot 51.9-percent from the field, 
hold off two Raven rallies

RINDGE, N.H. (November 22, 2005) – Southern Connecticut State University withstood a pair of rallies from Franklin Pierce to collect a 64-54 victory in Northeast-10 Conference women’s basketball action at the Fieldhouse tonight.

Sophomore Kate Lynch (Rumford, R.I./LaSalle Academy) led Southern Connecticut with 18 points on 9-of-16 shooting and a game-high nine rebounds (four offensive). Classmate Shamika Jackson (Norwalk, Conn./Penn State) added ten points on 3-of-5 shooting, including 2-3 from three-point range. Senior Anabel Perdomo (Lawrence, Mass./Gov. Dummer Academy) chipped in with six points, six boards and a game-high eight assists.

Both teams shot well for the night, but Southern finished shooting 51.9-percent (27-52), including 14-of-25 (56%) in the second half, compared to 46.9% (23-49) shooting for Franklin Pierce on the night. While the Ravens hit 51.9% (14-27) from the field in the closing 20-minutes, they hit just 4-14 (28.6%) from three-point range, including 1-6 (16.7%) in the first half.  Southern also won the rebounding battle, 32-18, with the teams each pulling down 12 rebounds on the Owls offensive end.

Junior forward Danielle D’Ettorre (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/St. Mary’s) led the way for Franklin Pierce with 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and three blocks. D’Ettorre was 8-of-17 from the floor, while shooting 2-of-5 from three-point range. Freshman Jennifer Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England) added ten points and three assists, shooting 5-of-7 from the floor, while senior Maria Clifton (New York, N.Y./Saint Michael’s Academy) chipped in nine points.

Southern Connecticut led by as much as 12 points (19-7) after a Lynch lay-up midway through the opening half, but Franklin Pierce trimmed its deficit to three points (21-18) after a Clifton lay-in with 7:55 left in the stanza.

The Owls regained a nine-point (32-23) cushion at the break and worked the lead back to 11 (48-37) midway through the second half after an Allyson Smith (East Hampton, Conn./East Hampton) three-pointer.

Franklin Pierce answered with a 7-0 spurt to again close within three (50-47) after a D’Ettorre three-ball. The Ravens were still down three with the ball, but missed a lay-up with 6:09 on the clock and Southern scored the next seven points to regain a double-digit advantage (57-47), capped by a Perdomo three with 3:24 to play, and were never threatened the rest of the way.

Franklin Pierce (1-1, 1-1 NE-10) is back in action on Friday as it travels to No. 8-ranked University of North Dakota for a contest at 7 p.m. (EST). Southern Connecticut (3-0, 2-0 NE-10) will host American International College on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

BOX SCORE