Kara Charette scores six of her 13 points late to help break 52-all tie

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. (January 22, 2014) – Senior guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.) pumped in a game-high 25 points, and the Franklin Pierce University women’s basketball team got back on the winning track Wednesday night with an important 64-57 road win at Pace in Pleasantville, N.Y. in the Goldstein Fitness Center.

The Ravens won for the fifth time in their last six games to improve to 9-7 overall and 6-5 in the Northeast-10, while the Setters dipped to 3-14 and 2-9 in league play.

Martelle’s 25 came despite a cold 1-for-6 shooting night behind the arc. Despite the long-range struggles, she was a cool 8-for-10 from the inside the stripe and 6-of-7 from the foul line. She also handed out three assists and grabbed three boards.

Her biggest offensive stretch came late in the first half with the Ravens finding themselves trailing 16-12 following a quick 8-2 surge by Pace. Martelle went right to work driving the lane for high-percentage buckets, and scored nine of her team’s final 11 points of the stanza to nab a 26-24 lead at the break.

Martelle picked up right where she left off in the second half with a three-point play to put the Ravens back up 29-28 after the Setters got four-straight points to open the frame from Yuni Sher and Rachel Dortch.

The game remained within a point or two for the next several possessions, but then the Ravens started to gain some separation thanks to a brief 8-2 run to open a 39-32 lead. Freshman forward Alison Palma (Stamford, Conn.) kick-started and capped the rally with a pair of jumpers, while Martelle and senior guard Brooke Coderre (Woonsocket, R.I.) each dropped in a layup to aid it.

Pace continued to fight back, and eventually knotted things up at 52-all with 5:18 remaining on a Margo Hackett three-pointer.

Sophomore forward Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.), who had 13 points in the game, hit a layup at the other end for the Ravens, but Sher responded with a layup of her own to bring the score back to equal.

This time, though, the Setters didn’t have an answer, and Franklin Pierce went to work scoring 10 of the game’s final 13 points to swipe away the win.

Charette had six of her 13 points after the 52-52 tie, and was 7-of-9 from the foul line. Junior frontcourt mate Jessica Hurd (Kegworth, England) added 10 points, including hitting a crucial three early in the second half as the game was going back and forth.

Sher paced the Setters with 17 points, while Dortch followed with 12 points. Pace was just 2-of-8 from three-point range, but struggled just as much from the foul line by converting on just 9-of-18 attempts.

Franklin Pierce is back in action this Saturday when the Ravens return home for the first time in two weeks when they play host to Southern Connecticut State at 1:30 p.m. in The Fieldhouse in Rindge.

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(.)