Costly Second Half Mistakes Dooms Women's Basketball in 63-60 Loss to Merrimack

Junior guard Kate McDonald ties career-high with seven assists

RINDGE, N.H. (November 13, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University women's basketball team had its two-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday night with a tough 63-60 setback to Merrimack at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens fell to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the Northeast-10, while the Warriors improved to 1-0 overall and in league play.

Sophomore guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.) pumped in a game-high 21 points for the Ravens, including dropping in five three-pointers, while freshman forward Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.) added 16 points, eight rebounds, a block and a steal.

However, Franklin Pierce could not shake off 16 turnovers and just a 34 percent shooting clip (22-of-65) for the game.

Katie Ganser went a perfect 4-for-4 from behind the arc and pumped in a team-high 17 points for Merrimack, while Shelby Secor and Jaclyn Lyons added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Merrimack shot a strong 46 percent (25-of-54) from the field, including an even stronger 54 percent (7-of-13) from three-point range. 

Franklin Pierce, though, had the hot hand from behind the arc late in the game and bombed in three-consecutive triples, including two from Martelle and one from junior guard Brooke Coderre (Woonsocket, R.I.), to take a slim 60-56 lead with 6:44 remaining.

However, just as fast as they got hot shooting, the Ravens went cold just as quick and did not score the rest of the way. Merrimack, on the other hand, tallied seven-straight points over the final six-plus minutes to pull out the victory. The rally started with back-to-back layups from Kelly Schatzlein, including the tying basket at the 3:58 mark, and included the go-ahead layup by Ashley Weissmann with 1:53 remaining to put the Warriors up 62-60.

Franklin Pierce missed a pair of free throws in the final minute and gave up multiple offensive rebounds to Merrimack, which denied the Ravens an opportunity to set up for a high percentage shot to tie it. Junior guard Kate McDonald (Fall River, Mass.) sent up a potential tying three-pointer at the buzzer, but it rang off the back of the iron as the horn sounded.

The Ravens committed seven turnovers in the final 20 minutes and shot just 24 percent (9-of-38) from the field.

The opening seven minutes of the first half saw the lead change hands four times before the Ravens went on a 9-0 run, aided by a three from senior forward Amanda Saab (Windham, N.H.) and capped with four-straight points from Charette, to take a 16-8 lead with 10:28 remaining until halftime.

Franklin Pierce led by as many as nine points on three different instances in the half, but Merrimack slowly chipped away at the deficit and got to within three at 37-34 at intermission.

The game remained close until the final seven minutes which saw the Warriors rally for the victory.

Franklin Pierce returns to action next Tuesday when the Ravens travel to take on Stonehill 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/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 new online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)