Brooke Coderre tosses in 10 points

RINDGE, N.H. (January 29, 2013) – The Franklin Pierce University women’s basketball team rallied from a double-digit second-half deficit for the second-straight game on Tuesday night as the Ravens picked up a 50-43 win over American International at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens improved to 13-5 overall and 10-4 in the Northeast-10, while the Yellow Jackets fell to 10-8 and 7-7 in league play.

Freshman forward Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.) notched double-figures with 11 points, while junior guard Brooke Coderre (Woonsocket, R.I.) netted 10 and had three rebounds, three assists and a steal. Senior backcourt-mate Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) followed with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and a trio of steals.

Franklin Pierce trailed by as many as 11 points on two separate occasions in the second half before mounting its winning rally. Ebony Easter’s jumper for AIC at the 15:56 mark staked the Yellow Jackets to a 34-24 lead, but they would go scoreless over the next seven-and-a-half minutes.

The Ravens took advantage of American International’s inability to put the ball in the hoop and they reeled off 12-consecutive points to go up by two with 9:19 left. Junior guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.) and Johnson took turns swapping baskets to kick-start the surge and senior Brooke Long’s (Richmond, Va.) two free throws gave the Ravens their first lead of the game since the 12:07 mark of the first half.

Krista Ferrentino, who had a double-double of 12 points and 18 rebounds, broke AIC’s scoreless spell with a layup to knot it at 36-all.

Charette answered with a three-point play at the other end and junior guard Kate McDonald (Fall River, Mass.) came alive minutes later with a pair of baskets, including a three-pointer to stake Franklin Pierce to a 45-40 lead with 3:53 to go.

Easter’s layup at the 2:13 mark trimmed Franklin Pierce’s lead to 45-43, but the Yellow Jackets could not inch any closer and Long sealed the win for the Ravens with four free throws in the closing seconds.

The Ravens trailed, 25-19, at the intermission, but outscored the Yellow Jackets, 31-18, in the second half. Franklin Pierce shot a little bit better in the second half as it registered a 36 percent clip, compared to just a 27 percent success rate in the opening 20 minutes. 

Franklin Pierce did a solid job defensively as it limited AIC to just 26 percent shooting in the second half (7-of-27), while also causing the Yellow Jackets to commit eight turnovers, which the Ravens turned into 11 points.

The Ravens raced out to an 8-4 lead minutes into the contest, but a scoreless spell of nearly 10 minutes enabled AIC to take the lead and build the six-point advantage at halftime.

Easter was AIC’s other double-digit scorer as she logged 10 points.

In addition to its second-straight double-digit come-from-behind win (FPU rallied from 24 points on Saturday to defeat Pace 69-60 in overtime), Franklin Pierce also claimed its seventh-consecutive home victory.

The Ravens return to action Saturday when they travel to face Saint Rose at 1:30 p.m. in Albany, N.Y.

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 women’s basketball apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)