Women's Basketball Wins Third in a Row with 74-61 Triumph over Merrimack

Caitlin Hopkins gets eight points and nine rebounds in the win

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (November 23, 2013) – Senior guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.) pumped in a game-high 22 points to pace the Franklin Pierce University women’s basketball team to its third win in a row in a 74-61 triumph at Merrimack on Saturday in North Andover, Mass. Franklin Pierce improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the Northeast-10, while the Warriors dipped to 1-2 and 0-2 in league play.

Martelle scored five-consecutive points to cap a 9-2 surge by the Ravens to close the first half, which essentially put the game out of reach. Franklin Pierce held a narrow 32-27 lead with 3:33 left in the frame, but the Ravens started to open up some breathing room with the run, kick-started by a pair of Brooke Coderre (Woonsocket, R.I.) free throws. Martelle put an exclamation point to the rally with a jumper, and a deep three-pointer with :11 left to give Franklin Pierce a 41-29 lead at the break.

Martelle scored 18 of her 22 points in the opening 20 minutes on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting from the floor, including a 2-of-2 effort from beyond the arc.

Franklin Pierce never let its lead slip below double-digits the entire second half.

Sophomore forward Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.), who netted 19 points for the game, and just missed scoring 20-or-more points for the fifth-consecutive time, scored five-straight points early in the second stanza to extend Franklin Pierce’s lead even further.

The Ravens pushed their lead out to 21 midway through the half on a three-point play by sophomore Dyamond Gardner (Cambridge, Mass.), and led by as much as 24 at 66-42 with 7:50 to go on a jumper from Caitlin Hopkins (Holtsville, N.Y.).

Gardner was Franklin Pierce’s third double-figure scorer on the afternoon, as she dropped in 12 points. Both Gardner and Hopkins came up big on the glass for the Ravens, as they both collected nine rebounds apiece as Franklin Pierce held a 48-46 rebounding advantage.

The Ravens shot 42 percent from the field, while limiting Merrimack to just 31 percent shooting.

Lexi Sells, Shelby Secor, and Allison Wagner each netted 11 points to lead Merrimack, which also struggled shooting just 10 percent from beyond the arc (2-of-21).

The game was tightly contested early on before Martelle highlighted a 12-0 run with seven points of her own to give the Ravens a 27-15 lead. Tia Scott laid in a basket late in the frame to pull Merrimack within five before the Ravens pulled away for the win.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Tuesday night when the Ravens play host to Stonehill at 5:30 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(.)