Jessica Hurd comes off the bench to spark Ravens with 6 points, 3 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists

RINDGE, N.H. (February 4, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University women's basketball team exploded offensively by scoring the game's first 19 points on Saturday and easily cruised to a 73-44 win over Saint Michael's at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens ran their record to 14-7 overall and 11-6 in the Northeast-10, while the Purple Knights dipped to 10-11 and 7-10 in league play.

Just as impressive as they were offensively, the Ravens also turned in an outstanding defensive effort in the game's opening minutes, shutting out St. Mike's for the first six minutes and not allowing the Purple Knights to register their first field goal until 12-plus minutes gone by. By the time St. Mike's logged its first basket at the 7:48 mark, the Ravens had built a comfortable 31-6 advantage, thanks in large part to eight points apiece from seniors Marielle Giroud (Martigny, Switzerland) and Jewel White (Worcester, Mass.), and sophomore Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.). Junior guard Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) also aided in the run as she scored five points.

Martelle bombed in a pair of triples during the decisive early run and hit a soft floater in the lane, while Giroud netted six of her points nhard driving layups to the basket. White was able to get position in the low block for easy baskets, including a layup at the 8:04 mark to make it 31-4 Ravens, just seconds before St. Mike's got its first basket when Cara Deroy tossed in a layup to end her team's draught.

All four Ravens that had a hand in the early surge went on to lead the team in scoring as each logged double-figures. Giroud and Martelle paced the Franklin Pierce attack with 16 points apiece, while White followed with 11 points and Johnson added 10. White and Giroud each logged double-doubles as they went for 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively. Martelle collected six rebounds and dished out three assists, while Johnson swiped three steals.

The Ravens shot a blistering 56 percent (29-of-52) from the field, including going 50 percent (10-of-20) from three-point range. On the defensive side, Franklin Pierce limited Saint Michael's to just 27 percent shooting (13-of-49), including a 23 percent clip (3-of-13) from behind the arc.

Franklin Pierce also held a commanding 41-18 advantage on the glass as seven of the eight Ravens that played grabbed at least two rebounds. 

Several other Ravens played a hand in the win, including sophomore center Jessica Hurd (Kegworth, England), who came off the bench to pump in six points, grab three rebounds, dish out a trio of assists and swipe a game-high four steals. Senior guard Lekia Cowen (Hopedale, Mass.) added six points and a pair of rebounds, while sophomore backcourt-mate Kate McDonald (Fall River, Mass.) tossed in eight points, collected five boards, handed out three assists and collected a theft. Junior forward Amanda Saab (Windham, N.H.) failed to score, but she still had a strong game with seven assists, two rebounds and three steals.

Nicole Adach and Caitlin Quinn led St. Mike's with 10 points apiece. The one area where the Purple Knights played well was forcing the Ravens into 26 turnovers and scoring 27 points off of those.

Despite the turnovers, Franklin Pierce did not give St. Mike's an opportunity to get back into the game and kept it going offensively. Johnson bombed in another triple with 5:43 left in the half and Hurd scored six-consecutive points to end the frame to send Franklin Pierce into the locker room at halftime with a 40-15 lead.

The Ravens continued their hot shooting in the opening stages of the second half and minutes into the frame went on a 9-0 run, kick-started by a Martelle three and capped by back-to-back baskets from Johnson and Giroud, to take a 54-21 lead with 13:38 remaining.

Franklin Pierce kept its lead above the 30-point margin for most of the remainder of the game and led by as many as 38 at 68-30 with 6:28 to go following a deep three-pointer from McDonald. The win marked Franklin Pierce's 10th straight over the Purple Knights. The 44 points also were the fewest points allowed by Franklin Pierce this season.

Saturday's lopsided win was a far cry from the nail biter that took place in Colchester, Vt. back on Nov. 27. In that game Johnson was the hero for the Ravens as she knocked down a jumper with just :03 left to lift Franklin Pierce to a narrow 63-62 win.

Pierce returns to action Wednesday night when the Ravens play host to in-state rival Southern New Hampshire 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 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).