NEW HAVEN, Conn. (2/15/23) – Heading out on the road for a mid-week, Northeast-10 Conference test at Southern Connecticut State University, the Franklin Pierce women's basketball team found themselves upended by the Owls on Wednesday evening, falling by a 62-40 final inside the James Moore Fieldhouse.

The loss drops the Ravens to 8-17 (4-14 NE10) on the season, while the Owls improve to 16-8 (11-7 NE10) with the victory.

Despite claiming a brief lead on early baskets from freshman Kenzie Sirowich (Seymour, Conn.) and Laia Llorente (Madrid, Spain), the Ravens found themselves in a quick pinch as Southern Connecticut surged ahead with an 12-2 run. Now trailing the hosts 15-4, the Ravens started showing signs of life with back-to-back baskets from behind the arc by Laia Llorente and junior Ines Gimenez Monserrat (Mallorca, Spain), but would fail to fully recover the rest of the way through.

In the second quarter, defensive struggles only made matters worse for Pierce as the Owls stretched their lead to 34-18 following a 16-6 run. In similar fashion to their late pushback in the first quarter, the Ravens managed to shave down the deficit in the final two-minutes, outscoring the Owls 8-2 to close out the half.

Play in the third quarter was a more of a "slow crawl" for both teams, as they combed for 12 total points scored. However, Pierce would only be able to secure a single made basket from the field, shooting their lowest single-quarter percentage of the season at 8.3%.(1-for-12). At the start of the final stanza, the Ravens would trail the Owls 45-30.

After going scoreless through the final three minutes of the third, the trend would continue through nearly four minutes into the fourth quarter. Finally, at the 6:07 mark of the frame, junior Ana Badosa Soler (Girona, Spain) would break the silent streak for Franklin Pierce, scoring on a fastbreak layup off a Southern Connecticut turnover, cutting the Owl lead down to 45-32. However, as the Ravens attempted to climb back in, the defensive effort would struggle to contain the opposing offense, before eventually falling 62-40.

Ana Badosa Soler finished with evening with 12-points, five rebounds, two assists, and three steals to lead the Ravens in the loss. Ines Gimenez Monserrat was the only other Raven to score double-figures, notching 10 points along with four boards. All-in-all, it was a difficult outing on the floor for the Ravens, shooting 15-of-52 (28.8%) with only 14 points in the paint.

Women's Basketball will host Bentley University (15-9) this coming Saturday, February 18^th for their final home contest of the 2022-23 regular season, with opening tipoff at 1:30 p.m.