Senior Kelsey Simonds earned All-Championship honors and led Stonehill with 17 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots today. |
2010 NORTHEAST-10 CHAMPIONSHIP
#2 Franklin Pierce Pulls Away Late to Top Stonehill, 70-59
Leedham & White lead Ravens to second-straight tournament title
RINDGE, N.H. (March 7, 2010) - Top-seeded Franklin Pierce University, ranked 2nd in this week's USA Today/ESPN/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II poll and first in the NCAA East Regional rankings, held third-seeded Stonehill College, among teams receiving votes nationally and third in the region, scoreless for over eight minutes late in the second half to key a 70-59 victory and capture its second-straight Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Championship at the Franklin Pierce Fieldhouse this afternoon.
Franklin Pierce (28-1, 21-1 NE-10) has also locked up the Northeast-10's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament set to start next weekend. Stonehill (23-9, 16-6 NE-10), which competed in its tenth NE-10 Championship game today, is a lock to earn one of the five at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament when bids are announced on www.ncaa.com tonight at 9 p.m.
Senior All-American Johannah Leedham (Ellesmere Port, England/Cheshire Academy (Conn.)) earned tournament Most Outstanding Player honors for the second-straight year, capping the tournament with 31 points (17 second half), aided by 14-for-16 shooting at the free-throw line, to go with seven rebounds and two steals. Sophomore Jewel White (Worcester, Mass./Doherty Memorial) came up big with her second-straight double-double performance to earn a spot on the All-Championship team as she collected 15 points, shooting 5-for-9 from the field and converting 5-of-6 free throws, to go with a career-high 23 rebounds (11 offensive) , three assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Junior Cynthia Gaudet (Coventry, R.I./LaSalle Academy) chipped in with ten points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Junior Emily Rousseau joined Simonds on the All-Championship team and added 14 points and five assists. |
Senior Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) earned All-Championship team honors as she led Stonehill with 17 points (11 first half), six rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals in 24 minutes of play. Junior Emily Rousseau (Biddeford, Maine/Biddeford) also collected All-Championship team honors, finishing with 14 points (12 first half), five assists and two boards. Junior Kristen McWhirter (Melvin Village, N.H./New Hampton Prep) contributed 12 points, three assists, two steals and two assists for the Skyhawks.
Franklin Pierce shot 42.9-percent (21-for-49) from the field on the afternoon, but were held to just 2-for-12 (16.7%) from three-point range, outscoring Stonehill 26-7 at the free-throw line by converting 78.8% (26-33) of its tries. Stonehill finished shooting 34.8-percent (23-66) from the field after making 53.6% (15-28), including 4-for-7 (57.1%) three-pointers, in the first half to take a two-point (37-35) lead into halftime. The Skyhawks were held to 21.1% (8-38) shooting in the second half, including 2-for-11 (18.2%) in the second half. The Ravens dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Skyhawks 46-30 overall and were out-rebounded by just two (17-15) on their own offensive end.
The game featured ten ties and eight lead changes throughout, with the tenth tie (52-52) coming when Stonehill sophomore Tania Williams (South Setauket, N.Y./Ward-Melville) scored on a put-back with 9:04 to play in regulation. Franklin Pierce led by one (55-54) after freshman Amanda Saab (Windham, N.H./Salem) drilled a three-pointer, followed by a jumper by McWhirter with 8:15 remaining.
Junior Kristen McWhirter chipped in 12 points and three assists. |
Stonehill's offense then went quiet as it missed its next 11 shots, to go with three turnovers, during a game-clinching 11-0 Franklin Pierce run before Simonds ended the drought with a layup with 56-seconds left to pull the Skyhawks within ten (66-56). Nine of the Ravens points during that stretch came at the foul line as they made 11-of-12 attempts, including 6-for-6 for Leedham. Franklin Pierce had its own shooting troubles, as the Saab three was one of just two field goals for the Ravens in the final nine minutes. The lone basket was a layup by White off an offensive rebound with 7:01 remaining to put the hosts up five (59-54).
Stonehill jumped out to a five-point lead (9-4) after a McWhirter three 3:15 into the first half. Franklin Pierce responded with eight-straight points, four from Leedham, to gain the lead (12-9) with 13:23 left in the half. Senior Erin Gray (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) drained a three-pointer and McWhirter converted a three-point play off her own steal to cap a 10-2 run and put the Skyhawks back up five (19-14) with 10:25 to go before halftime.
Another Gray three had Stonehill up four (29-25) with 3:53 left in the half. After a Leedham layup off her own miss drew Franklin Pierce within a point (33-32) with 1:17 remaining, Rousseau scored four-straight points to push the Skyhawks lead to five (37-32) before Leedham drew the Ravens within two (37-35) at the break with a three-pointer with three-seconds on the clock. The game was back and forth over the first half of the final 20-minutes before Stonehill was hampered by its scoring drought over the closing ten minutes.
