Women's Basketball Stuns #1 Franklin Pierce, 71-64
Eagle-Tribune
Article
RINDGE, NH - Handing the nation's top team, Franklin Pierce
University, their first loss of the 2009-10 season, the Merrimack
women's basketball team delivered a 71-64 blow to the Ravens
Wednesday evening on the road.
"I used an article from when South Carolina beat #1 Kentucky
earlier this year as motivation to my team," said a grinning
Helen Williams following the program's first ever
win over a No. 1 seed. "They clearly responded and made the right
plays at the right time tonight."
With the win, Merrimack improves to 10-15 (8-12 NE-10),
solidifying its chance at making the Northeast-10 Tournament, while
Franklin Pierce falls to 23-1 (19-1 NE-10) cutting off their streak
of 28 straight regular season wins. Despite the loss,
Franklin Pierce clinched the outright 2009-10 Northeast-10
Conference regular season championship with a Bentley loss to
UMass-Lowell on Wednesday evening, 64-61.
Perhaps the play of the game was a block by junior Sarah
Benischek (Shrub Oak, NY) on a desperate three-point
attempt by the Ravens' Kirsten Doldoorian with 16.7 seconds to
play.
"I knew from the scouting report that number-25 was looking to
shoot, so I went for it," Benischek said of the block on
Doldoorian. "We knew if we kept it close near the end, [Franklin
Pierce] would not be used to playing in that position."
In addition to a career-high 11 assists and three blocked shots,
Benischek would finish with 18 points and tally her fourth straight
game leading the Warriors in the scoring column. The Warriors
limited the Ravens to just 5-of-22 shooting from behind the arc,
four of which came from Leedham in her 31 point effort.
Much like their first meeting this year on December 2 (32-29 FPU
at half), Merrimack hung with the Ravens in the first half,
trailing by only one at the break. Despite 22 points and eight
boards from reigning Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year,
Johanna Leedham, the Warriors trailed by only one at the break
backed by an even scoring attack.
Leedham, who finished with 31 points, leads the nation in scoring
and ranks second in steals. She stands at 2,775 points for her
career and is 111 points shy of becoming the all-time leading
scorer in NCAA Division II women's basketball history.
Senior captain Casey Miller
(Fairbanks, AK) used long range shooting (3-of-6) to keep
the Warriors close at halftime (37-36) and finished the with a 15
points on the night, while seven Warriors registered a field goal
in the first 20 minutes and the game.
On a lob pass-layup from Benischek to Kelly Schatzlein
(Tolland, CT), the Warriors took a 38-37 lead to open the
second half but would witness an ensuing 8-2 run by the Ravens over
the next four minutes. The Warriors would claw back, though to take
a 48-47 lead on a pair of free throws from Benischek at the 12:06
mark.
Merrimack would be without sophomore Genn Roy (Granby,
MA) for the final six minutes after being disqualified for
fouling out, but a 15-3 run over the final 4:30 delivered the
Warriors a win, snapping a four-game drought to the Ravens.
A three from junior Tiffany Colon
(Lawrence, MA)
trong> gave the Warriors a 64-62 lead at the 2:56 mark before a
defensive stop by Merrimack that led to a lay-in from Benischek and
an eventual win.
Delivering Franklin Pierce their first Conference loss
since January of 2009 against Bentley (29-straight), Merrimack
notched the first win in the program series since 2006-07.
"You hate to use the cliche that it's beyond words, but it really
is right
now," said Benischek. "We really stuck to the game plan and played
tough when it counted most. We talked at halftime about
limiting their second half runs, and because we were able to we had
a chance down the stretch."
With two regular season games remaining, the Warriors
return to action at home Saturday against Saint Michael's College
for a 1:00pm tip-off with the Purple Knights. Earlier in the
season, the Warriors picked up a road win in Colchester 75-70 over
Saint Michael's.
