Jewel White nabs fifth-straight double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds

RINDGE, N.H. (December 4, 2011) -- The No. 13 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University women's basketball team made it six wins in a row to open the season on Sunday night with a 68-61 victory over Saint Anselm at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens improved to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the Northeast-10, while the Hawks dipped to 7-3 and 2-3 in league play.

Senior center Jewel White (Worcester, Mass.) tallied her fifth-consecutive double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds. She shot 6-of-9 from the field, including going 7-for-10 from the charity stripe.

Sophomore guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.) was the other Raven to go for double-figures as she knocked down four three-pointers for 12 points. Ten Ravens saw game action with nine registering in the scoring column, including eight points apiece from sophomore guard Kate McDonald (Fall River, Mass.) and senior forward Marielle Giroud (Martigny, Switzerland). Senior guard Lekia Cowen (Hopedale, Mass.) netted seven points and junior forward Amanda Saab (Windham, N.H.) had a solid all-around game with six points, five assists and three rebounds.

Megan Howard pumped in 20 points to pace the Saint Anselm offensive attack, while Epiphany Smith and Briana Jones followed with 16 and 10 points, respectively. Howard also tallied a double-double with 12 rebounds.

Franklin Pierce started fast in the game and built a 13-point lead in the first half, but over the remaining minutes of the frame and the early stages of the second half, Saint Anselm slowly chipped away at the deficit. The Hawks used a 6-0 run during the midway portion of the second half to turn a 47-41 deficit into a 47-all tie with 10:52 remaining. Tori Lehr scored four points during the surge, including converting a pair of free throws to knot the score.

The Ravens countered by scoring the next five points, including a triple from Martelle and a layup from White to regain the advantage at 52-47 with 9:40 left. That rally sparked Franklin Pierce as it would go on to score 11 of the next 15 points and open up a 63-51 lead with 4:05 remaining. White had six points during the surge and Martelle bombed in another trey to spark the run.

Saint Anselm tried to make a comeback, but could not get the deficit to under seven points the rest of the way as the Ravens cruised on for the victory.

Martelle's three-point shooting was part of a 10-for-22 effort for Franklin Pierce from behind the arc (45.5 percent). The Ravens shot 43 percent (23-of-54) from the field and limited St. A's to under 40 percent shooting (39 percent), including a 25-percent clip (4-of-16) from three-point range.

Franklin Pierce shot the ball well from deep range in the first half, connecting on 8-of-15 three-point attempts. The Ravens opened up a 28-15 lead -- their largest of the game -- at the 7:01 mark when junior guard Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) drained a triple from the right wing.

The momentum seemed to be going in Franklin Pierce's favor before Saint Anselm became a monster on the glass, outrebounding the Ravens, and chipping away at the deficit. The Hawks got Franklin Pierce's lead down to a point late in the frame before Cowen rained in a triple with just :16 left to put the Ravens up, 36-32, going into the locker room at halftime.

The win for Franklin Pierce came against a Saint Anselm team which was also being recognized nationally as the Hawks were receiving honorable-mention votes in the USA Today/WBCA Division II Top-25 Poll.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Wednesday night when the Ravens play host to No. 1 Bentley at 5:30 p.m. in The Fieldhouse. The game will be a Pierce Pride event with free giveaways being handed out to the first 150 Franklin Pierce students.

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/FranklinPierceAthletics).