RINDGE, N.H.- Southern Connecticut women's basketball defeated Franklin Pierce, 61-40 in an NE10 matchup on Wednesday evening. The Ravens finished the season with an overall record of 2-25 and an NE10 record of 1-17. The Owls finished the regular season with an overall record of 21-5 and an NE10 record of 16-2.
Hope Fox led the Owls with 14 points, was 5-for-9 from the floor, grabbed four boards and had a team-best of four steals.
Tish Blackwood had 13 points, grabbed a team-best of eight rebounds and had a team-best of five assists.
Rheyna Steinauer had 11 points and grabbed five boards.
Taeya Steinauer and
Jillian Martin both had seven points each. Steinauer had five boards, two assists and two steals. Martin had four boards, three assists and two steals.
Arianna Gerkin had four points and a team-best of two blocks against the Ravens.
In the first quarter, the Ravens jumped to a quick 5-0 lead. However, it was
Rheyna Steinauer and
Taeya Steinauer who got the scoring going for the Owls. The offense started off slow for Southern but halfway through, they found their momentum with points from Sentance, Gerkin, Blackwood and Martin. Both teams tied one another towards the end of the quarter until the Owls went on a 5-1 run, going up 14-13 before the second quarter.
In the second quarter,
Hope Fox made two free-throws within the first minute of play, to extend the lead to 16-13. Franklin Pierce wasn't going away as they worked to retake the lead, with five minutes to go. From there, the Owls went on a 14-2 run in the last few minutes with good defensive efforts and points from Henry, Blackwood, Fox and
Rheyna Steinauer. Southern headed into halftime, up 33-24 over Franklin Pierce.
In the third quarter,
Rheyna Steinauer and Fox added points to the Owls' lead of 37-27, with six minutes to go. Finishing the quarter on a 14-2 run, Southern began to pull away over the Ravens. Gerkin, Fox, Blackwood and
Taeya Steinauer all scored for the Owls, as they continued a 30-7 run, that begun in the second quarter and went into the fourth quarter with a lead of 49-29.
In the fourth quarter, the Ravens started out with a quick 4-0 run. Nonetheless, Southern responded with a 10-2 run down the stretch and grew their lead, to 59-33.
Rheyna Steinauer, Martin, Blackwood and Fox all made baskets, to close out the 61-40 victory for the Owls.
The Owls enter the 2026 NE10 Women's Basketball Championship Tournament as the #2 seed and will face the #7 seed, Adelphi, in the James Moore Field House on Sunday, March 1 at 1:30 pm.
