Kara Charette with 14 points and 9 rebounds

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (January 8, 2014) – Senior guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.) dropped in a team-high 18 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer in the final minute Wednesday night, to lift the Franklin Pierce University women’s basketball team to a 57-54 win over American International in Springfield, Mass.

The Ravens won their third straight and moved a game over .500 at 7-6 overall and 4-4 in the Northeast-10, while the Yellow Jackets dipped to 9-4 and 3-4 in league play.

Martelle’s three-pointer with :55 left put the Ravens up 55-54, and snapped a 9-0 run by AIC over the previous four minutes which took it from down seven to up two. The three was one of Martelle’s two triples in the game, as she was 8-of-13 from the field.

Sophomore forward Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.), who just two days ago was named the NE-10 Player of the Week, followed with 14 points, and her two free throws with :04 left gave the Ravens a little bit of a cushion to seal the win. She narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds to go along with her double-figure point total.

Charette’s layup with 6:50 remaining staked the Ravens to a 52-45 lead, and with AIC on the way to shooting just 30 percent from the field for the game, the advantage looked to be a comfortable one for Franklin Pierce.

However, the Yellow Jackets surged, led by four-consecutive points from Krista Ferrentino, and capped by a deep three ball from Sarah Noble with 1:22 to go to make it 54-52.

Ferrentino pumped in a team-best 16 points, while Noble followed with 11.

Before AIC went on its late surge, the Ravens had to use one of their own midway through the stanza to pull even at 41-41 with 11:37 left. Franklin Pierce scored seven-straight points to tie it, as the brief rally was capped with a Martelle’s first three of the night.

While AIC struggled shooting the basketball, the Ravens were efficient by connecting on 49 percent of their attempts. Despite the poor shooting by AIC, the Yellow Jackets were able to hang tough with a commanding 38-25 rebounding advantage.

Before the game went back and forth late, the first half saw AIC jump out to a 19-8 lead 11 minutes in. Franklin Pierce, however, countered and scored 16 of the next 22 points to pull within one at 25-24 with 1:35 to go until halftime. Sophomore guard Dyamond Gardner (Cambridge, Mass.) scored five-straight points to begin the rally and had seven overall during the stretch, while Charette and junior forward Jessica Hurd (Kegworth, England) each chipped in four.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday when the Ravens put their three-game winning streak on the line when they play host to Saint Rose at 1:30 p.m. in The Fieldhouse.

For more information on Franklin Pierce women’s basketball, please visit the team’s page at http://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 http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)