#2 Franklin Pierce Runs Away from Women's Basketball, 80-56
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack women's basketball
Warriors dropped their fourth straight contest Wednesday evening to
#2 Franklin Pierce University at Volpe Gym, 80-56.
The Warriors fall to 1-6 (0-4 NE-10) on the year with a six-game
road trip on the horizon. Franklin Pierce improved to 5-0 (3-0
NE-10) on the year with the Northeast-10 Conference's top
offense.
Senior Casey Miller (Fairbanks, AK) led the
Merrimack offense with 18 points on 9-of-17 shooting making her
career total 963 points.
The Warriors shot just 11.1% (2-of-18) from long range, while
the Ravens connected on 10 triples to stretch their halftime lead
of three to 10 within the first five minutes of the second frame.
Franklin Pierce also benefited from 27 Warrior turnovers,
scoring 28 points off those mistakes along with 17 second chance
points off as many offensive boards.
"We really need to continue to protect the ball on offense,"
said Head Coach Helen Williams following the
game Wednesday evening. "Those have hurt us the most the year
and will be a focus in practice in preparation for Saint Michael's
on Saturday."
Entering Wednesday's contest, Franklin Pierce was the
league leader in scoring (75.5 points per game) and scoring margin,
beating their opponents by an average of 23.2 points. Merrimack was
no exception to that rule as they scored a season-low of 56 points
on the night.
In the first half, the Ravens' Cynthia Gaudet came out
firing with 14 points of her 24 points, including a trio of three
pointers. Two-time Northeast-10 Player of the Year, Johannah
Leedham, scored 17 of her game-high 28 points in the second half,
but more impressively had five steals in the first stanza and eight
in the game. Leedham also pulled down eight boards and dished out a
game-high five assists.
The Warriors embark on a six-game road trip until returning home
on January 9, 2010 against Assumption College at 1:00pm. The
Warriors play at Conference rival Saint Michael's on Saturday
at 1:30pm before visiting Southern New Hampshire University on
December 8 at 5:30pm.
