March 7, 2008

No. 6 BRYANT UPSETS No. 2 FRANKLIN PIERCE, 78-65, TO ADVANCE TO NORTHEAST-10 TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP

Boxscore

RINDGE, N.H. - The thought passed through the minds of the bleacher full of Bryant faithful at halftime. But that was too soon to be thinking upset.

It nudged back in with 15:33 to play in the second frame as the Bulldogs glided down the floor, converting hard-nosed defense for a 48-41 advantage. But still, they were the six seed - the road team that had already beaten a three seed in Tuesday's quarterfinal. Could they really make it two upsets in a row?

But it finally sank in with about five minutes left in Friday night's Northeast-10 Conference Tournament semifinal against No. 2 Franklin Pierce. Bryant was going to win.

But the Bulldogs played as if they knew what would happen all along.

The sixth-seeded Bryant University women's basketball team embraced their underdog status once again Friday night, upsetting the second-seeded Ravens, 78-65, on the road at the FPU Fieldhouse and earning a trip to the NE-10 Tournament Championship for the first time since 1988-89.

Bryant (20-10) came out on the mark to start the conference semifinal, taking the Ravens (24-5) for a 9-1 lead after three minutes of action. The Bulldogs exploited strong post options from both sophomore leading-scorer Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) and freshman Siamone Bennett (Newburgh, NY) to find their lead, keeping the pair busy inside early in the frame.

Bryant maintained around an eight-point lead until the 13:55 mark, when junior Cara Johnson (Endicott, NY), with no other open option, drove into the key with two-man pressure for a layup that put the visitors up, 17-9. But Franklin Pierce would start to shut Bryant down outside and climb back in just a minute later, and a quick grab and shoot from Vanessa Power followed by a Johannah Leedham bucket narrowed the Bulldogs' lead to 17-16.

Leedham hit from downtown with 10:50 to play, tying the game at 19-19, taking advantage of a two-minute Bryant scoring drought.

The teams traded baskets, keeping the game close through the end of the frame, with the Bulldogs regaining a multi-point lead with just 47.6 seconds to the buzzer, when Johnson was successful on a pair of free throws to take a 37-34 advantage into halftime.

Both teams shot well, with Bryant hitting a 47 percent clip and Franklin Pierce at 45 percent.

Bennett opened up a 40-34 second-half lead for the Bulldogs to start the closing frame, scoring all six points. But the Ravens responded with a 7-0 run of their own to close the gap, before a Kristin Mraz (Johnstown, NY) three-pointer, followed by a converted steal from Johnson, reupped Bryant's lead to 48-41 and forced the home team to take a timeout with 14:59 on the clock.

Leedham and her sister, junior Jennifer Leedham, hit back-to-back buckets to close the deficit to 50-47. But Franklin Pierce would go on to take its first lead of the game at the 8:40 mark, when a jumper from Melissa Kapela put the Ravens up, 56-55.

The lead traded for the next three minutes, until Stephanie Fontaine (Franklin, Mass.) gave Bryant a 64-59 edge on a pull-up jumper with 5:07 on the clock.

Then, the dam broke and the flood poured in.

Johnson hit from downtown - 69-62. O'Keefe went to the line to add two more. Franklin Pierce tried to respond with a trey from Vanessa Power, but Bennett's huge block of Jess McPherson with 1:55 to play and a steal from senior captain Lynne-Ann Kokoski (Hatfield, Mass.) under the Ravens' basket with 1:15 on the clock secured Bryant's 73-65 lead.

Five more free throws nailed the game shut in the waning seconds, as the Bulldogs did all they could to hold their excitement till the final buzzer. And when that buzzer sounded, signaling a 78-65 Bryant win, it was mayhem on the court, mayhem in the stands.

The underdogs did it again.

O'Keefe notched her ninth double-double of the year in the win, scoring 20 points and grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. Johnson led the Bulldogs with 21 points, while Kokoski dished out a game-high eight assists and added eight points of her own.

Johannah Leedham notched a game-high 30 points on 11-of-23 shooting to pace the Ravens.

The Bulldogs shot 46.8 percent on the day, outrebounding Franklin Pierce, 40-33.

Friday's conference semifinal was the program's first since the 1995-96 season and just the second of head coach Mary Burke's career. Now, the Bulldogs advance to Sunday's NE-10 Tournament Championship for the first time in 19 years, a game they won over Bentley College, 71-70, in their last appearance.

Bryant will get the chance to bring another championship home on Sunday, March 9, when they will take on top-seeded and nationally tenth-ranked Stonehill College in Easton, Mass. Tipoff is 1 p.m.