Kate McDonald knocks down four three-pointers in the first half

RINDGE, N.H. (January 6, 2013) – Senior guard Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) pumped in a career-high 26 points and helped key a second half rally to propel the Franklin Pierce University women’s basketball team to a 75-72 win over Saint Michael’s on Sunday at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens won their second straight to improve to 7-4 overall and 4-3 in the Northeast-10, while the Purple Knights dipped to 2-9 and 0-7 in league play. 

Johnson was 10-of-16 from the field, including a 7-of-13 clip in the second half, while also collecting three rebounds, handing out three assists, swiping a trio of steals and blocking a shot.

She scored seven of her points during a 21-3 run by Franklin Pierce midway through the second half as the Ravens turned a 56-45 deficit into a 66-59 advantage with 6:41 remaining. 

Johnson sparked the rally with a layup at the 11:32 mark and factored into the Ravens next basket as she sent a swing pass cross court over to junior guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.), who followed by knocking down one of her two three-pointers in the game.

Martelle, who also had seven points of her own during the surge, assisted on a Johnson layup minutes later as the Ravens evened the game at 59-all. Freshman forward Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.), who had 14 points in the game, converted a pair of free throws on Franklin Pierce’s next trip down the court to give the Ravens their first lead since six minutes into the game. 

Martelle hit a driving layup on the Ravens next possession and Johnson capped it with a trey from the left wing.

St. Mike’s, which had led for all but a few seconds prior to Franklin Pierce’s rally, did not have an answer. Nicole Adach stemmed the tide for the Purple Knights with a three of her own, but Johnson answered at the other end with another three-pointer and Charette pushed Franklin Pierce’s lead out to nine at 71-62 with 4:16 left as she hit a drop step layup in the post. Saint Michael’s never got it closer than the final margin. 

Martelle ended the game with 16 points. The other Raven to log double-figures in scoring on the afternoon was junior guard Kate McDonald (Fall River, Mass.), who dropped in 12 points on four three-pointers, which all came in the first half to help the Ravens remain close.

The Purple Knights owned a majority of the play in the first half and eventually built a 26-16 lead with 8:30 left until halftime as Kayla Carnell knocked down a 15-foot jumper to give St. Mike’s its first double-digit lead. 

St. Mike’s lead continued to hover between 7-to-10 points for the remainder of the half, eventually going back up to 10 at 38-28 following an Adach three-pointer from the left corner of the baseline.

Johnson, however, got hot offensively in the final minute of the half and buried back-to-back three’s, including one at the buzzer to pull Franklin Pierce to within four at 38-34 going into the locker room. 

Johnson rained in two more triples in the opening minutes of the second half to knot the score at 40-40, but an ensuing 16-5 run by St. Mike’s gave them the 11-point advantage before the Ravens finally kicked it into overdrive and rallied for the win.

The Ravens shot a blistering 60 percent (12-of-20) from three-point range and a 49 percent clip overall from the field (26-of-53). 

Adach paced St. Mike’s with 17 points, while Megan Olsen followed with 15. Alexa Long was the Purple Knights other double-figure scorer with 13 points.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Wednesday when the Ravens travel to face Southern Connecticut State at 5:30 p.m. in New Haven. 

For more information on Franklin Pierce women’s basketball, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women’s basketball apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)