ORANGEBURG, N.Y. (11/20/22) – Franklin Pierce women's basketball picked up a much needed victory with a 62-50 non-conference decision over Caldwell University, concluding their participation in the Regina Rivera Memorial Tournament on Sunday afternoon.

Through the weekend, Franklin Pierce earned a split and improves to 2-3 (0-1 NE10) on the season, ending a recent two game skid. Caldwell breaks even with the loss, moving to 2-2 overall.

To open the first quarter, the Ravens found early success inside the paint, beginning with a layup from Gabriela Sanchez-Parodi (Canary Islands, Spain) 1:11 into play. Over the course of the next four minutes, the in-close game would continue to thrive for Pierce with six uninterrupted from layups by Ines Gimenez-Montserrat (Mallorca, Spain) and Sara Macary (Naugatuck, Conn.), with Macary also adding in a jumper from inside the arc. The 8-0 lead for Franklin Pierce prompted a comeback bid by the Cougars, but the Ravens would hold strong and carry a 12-9 edge into the second quarter.

Franklin Pierce began the second quarter with attempts from outside the paint, but found similar success with the quarters' first six points, all belonging to Gimenez-Montserrat. Trailing the Ravens 18-9, Caldwell clawed back to within two points on an 9-2 run, bringing the score to 18-16 with under four minutes to play in the quarter. The close out the first 20 minutes, the guest Ravens responded with five unanswered points between Sanchez-Parodi and Gimenez-Montserrat, limiting the Cougars to a single free throw for a 25-19 advantage entering the break.

Coming out of intermission, freshman Leana Heitmann (Pompey, N.Y.) promptly set the tone in the third with a three-pointer on the first possession. From there, the Ravens appeared to be heating up with a 7-2 run, but would fall victim to a 15-4 Caldwell streak saw the Cougars claim their first lead of the afternoon at the 1:45 mark of the frame. However, the birds were determined to carry another lead into the final stanza, and pulled back ahead on consecutive scoring drives by Leana Heitmann and sophomore Keely Toohey (McCrae, Australia), finishing the third ahead 44-41.

The Ravens closed out the afternoon in complete control of the offense, starting with another early three from Leana Heitmann. Over the course of the final quarter, Sara Macary would led the offensive charge for the Ravens with six points, while the Pierce defensive game worked on limiting Caldwell chances. With a ten point lead in hand with less than a minute to play, Ines Gimenez-Montserrat put the game on ice with a final two-point jumper, resulting in the 62-50 final.

Ines Gimenez-Montserrat produced her second double-double performance of the season, contributing heavily to the offensive game with 19 points with 13 total rebounds, 11 of which were defensive. Freshman Sara Macary contributed a new career-high 12 points in the effort,  while Leana Heitmann notched her third 14-point performance of the season. As a team, the Ravens shot 27-of-55 (49.1%) from the floor, with a solid showing beyond the arc hitting 4-of-9 (44.4%) from three-point territory.

Women's basketball will get their first taste of home cooking on Tuesday, November 22^nd   where they will take on the NE10's northernmost squad Saint Michael's College for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff from The Fieldhouse.