Brittany Martelle bombs in a trio of threes and scores 15 points

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (January 19, 2013) -- The Franklin Pierce University women's basketball team went to overtime Saturday to win its sixth in a row as the Ravens downed Adelphi, 73-71, at the Recreation Center in Garden City, N.Y. Franklin Pierce improved to 11-4 overall and 8-3 in the Northeast-10, while the Panthers fell to 9-6 and 6-5 in league play.

Senior guard Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) poured in 25 points -- one shy of her career-high -- on 10-of-16 shooting from the floor. Fifteen (15) of Johnson's point total came in the second half and overtime, which helped lift the Ravens to victory. It marked Johnson's second-straight 20-point effort as she is a combined 19-of-34 shooting from the field over the last two contests.

Freshman forward Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.) followed with 16 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field and a 6-for-9 clip from the foul line. Junior guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.) came off the bench to toss in 15 points.

Jessica Kitrys pumped in a game-high 26 points for Adelphi, while Sade Jackson followed with 22 points.

Kitrys opened the scoring in overtime with a layup, but Martelle answered a minute later with one of her three, three-pointers to make it 67-66 Franklin Pierce.

Adelphi couldn't convert on its next possession and Charette grabbed a big defensive rebound as the Ravens raced down the court looking to add to their lead. Charette came up huge once again on the glass as she grabbed an offensive board, fed it off to Johnson, who went to the basket and drew a foul. She converted both foul shots to put the Ravens up three.

Jackson hit a pair of foul shots at the other end of the court to pull the Panthers back within one, but Johnson and Charette countered with consecutive  layups to push Franklin Pierce's lead out to 73-68 with 1:10 left.

Jackson hit a three moments later for the Panthers to pull them within two, and she had a chance to pull out a last-second win, but her three attempt at the buzzer rattled out, thus enabling the Ravens to pull out the victory.

The game went to overtime due to neither side gaining much of an upperhand in the second half as the stanza saw six ties and eight lead changes. 

Samantha Milhaven converted a three-point play five minutes into the period to stake the Panthers to a 43-39 lead. Franklin Pierce, however, took its turn of making a run and scored seven of the ensuing nine points, highlighted by five from Martelle, to go up 46-45.

Martelle rained in another trey with 8:00 left to give the Ravens a 59-54 lead, but Adelphi countered with six-consecutive points on three-straight layups from Jackson, Kitrys and Kelly Mannix to go up by one with 3:17 remaining.

Johnson knocked down a triple to stem the tide and make it 62-60, but Kitrys laid in another bucket to knot the score. Johnson hit another jumper with 1:17 left, but Kitrys again converted another layup, this one with :14 remaining to knot it at 64-64 and send the game into overtime.

The Ravens shot a solid 48 percent (28-of-59) from the field, while the Panthers also shot well, converting on 47 percent of their attempts (29-of-62). 

The first half was just as tightly contested as the last two periods. Johnson had 10 points in the frame to help give Franklin Pierce a 35-34 lead at halftime.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Wednesday night when the Ravens travel to Worcester, Mass. to take on Assumption at 5:30 p.m.

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/FranklinPierce), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase women's basketball apparel can do so on the athletic department's online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)