SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (1/21/23) – After holding the lead after the first quarter, the Franklin Pierce women's basketball narrowly fell behind in a Northeast-10 matchup at American International College (AIC) on Saturday afternoon, falling to the Yellowjackets 68-61 at the Henry A. Butova Gymnasium.

With this loss the Ravens record now sits at 6-12 (2-9 NE10) having now lost three in a row, along with six of their past seven matchups. American International improves to 11-8 (8-4 NE10) and extends their recent win streak to five straight games.

The game started with a back-and-forth first quarter that saw neither team gain any real momentum, with the largest lead belonging to AIC (8-4) through the opening 10 minutes. Junior Ines Gimenez Monserrat (Mallorca, Spain) led the Raven attack in the first quarter with six points scored, including a two-point jump shot with 1:19 left to grant Pierce a mere 13-11 advantage at the quarter break.

To open the second quarter, Pierce pulled ahead 17-11 after freshman Kenzie Sirowich (Seymour, Conn.) converted on a layup shortly after  an early Gimenez Monserrat jumper. However, AIC eventually found their spark with under five minutes left in the half and powered their way back into the lead, 28-21 with an 11-0 run. The lead, from there, would remain in AIC's hands.

As the Ravens searched for consistency at the top of the third quarter, AIC continued to generate points of their own. Junior Collette Mulderig (Scranton, Pa.) attempted to set the tone for Pierce with four points over the opening minute, but the Yellow Jackets later responded with the afternoon's first three-point conversion with 7:07 remaining in the third. Nearing the midway point, the Ravens began to cut into the AIC lead with a 6-0 run, capped off by a driving layup by Ashley Smith (Holden, Mass.) who made it a three-point play after drawing the and-one. As the time ticked down to the final 20 seconds of the quarter, the Ravens refused to give in and shaved the AIC lead back down to one heading into the fourth thanks to a late three-point jumper from Gimenez Monserrat.

Needless to say, things were kept interesting in the fourth quarter for the Ravens. After falling behind 56-50, the score found itself back to a one-point difference as Pierce posted five combined points between Ines Gimenez Monserrat and Kenzie Sirowich. Shortly thereafter, with AIC hanging on by a 60-55 lead, freshman Leana Heitmann (Pompey, N.Y.) gave Pierce one last fighting chance with a fast-break three-pointer from the left corner, pulling the Ravens back to within two-points with 2:09 left.

Despite the relentless effort on the Ravens behalf, AIC eventually pulled away with scoring layups on consecutive possessions, as well as a 4-for-6 performance from the free throw line to close things out, 68-61.

Ines Gimenez Monserrat matched her season-high output in points for Pierce, leading the day with 23 points scored, along with five rebounds and a pair of assists. The real storyline of the effort was a career day for Collette Mulderig, who notched a new career-high 15 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the floor. Freshman Kenzie Sirowich contributed 11 points for the Ravens, and shot 5-of-8 with three assists. Both Sirowich and Mulderig pulled down 8 boards, which led all floor players. As a team, the Ravens went 24-of-56 from the field.

Women's basketball will return home to The Fieldhouse this coming week for a pair of matchups, opening with Assumption University on Tuesday, January 24^th at 5:30 p.m.