Brittany Martelle bombs in a trio of threes and scores 15
points
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (January 19, 2013) -- The Franklin
Pierce University women's basketball team went to overtime Saturday
to win its sixth in a row as the Ravens downed Adelphi, 73-71, at
the Recreation Center in Garden City, N.Y. Franklin Pierce improved
to 11-4 overall and 8-3 in the Northeast-10, while the Panthers
fell to 9-6 and 6-5 in league play.
Senior guard Tiffany
Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) poured in 25 points -- one shy
of her career-high -- on 10-of-16 shooting from the floor. Fifteen
(15) of Johnson's point total came in the second half and overtime,
which helped lift the Ravens to victory. It marked Johnson's
second-straight 20-point effort as she is a combined 19-of-34
shooting from the field over the last two contests.
Freshman forward Kara
Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.) followed with 16 points on
5-of-5 shooting from the field and a 6-for-9 clip from the foul
line. Junior guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield,
Conn.) came off the bench to toss in 15 points.
Jessica Kitrys pumped in a
game-high 26 points for Adelphi, while Sade Jackson followed with
22 points.
Kitrys opened the scoring in
overtime with a layup, but Martelle answered a minute later with
one of her three, three-pointers to make it 67-66 Franklin
Pierce.
Adelphi couldn't convert on its
next possession and Charette grabbed a big defensive rebound as the
Ravens raced down the court looking to add to their lead. Charette
came up huge once again on the glass as she grabbed an offensive
board, fed it off to Johnson, who went to the basket and drew a
foul. She converted both foul shots to put the Ravens up three.
Jackson hit a pair of foul shots at
the other end of the court to pull the Panthers back within one,
but Johnson and Charette countered with consecutive layups to
push Franklin Pierce's lead out to 73-68 with 1:10 left.
Jackson hit a three moments later
for the Panthers to pull them within two, and she had a chance to
pull out a last-second win, but her three attempt at the buzzer
rattled out, thus enabling the Ravens to pull out the victory.
The game went to overtime due to
neither side gaining much of an upperhand in the second half as the
stanza saw six ties and eight lead changes.
Samantha Milhaven converted a
three-point play five minutes into the period to stake the Panthers
to a 43-39 lead. Franklin Pierce, however, took its turn of making
a run and scored seven of the ensuing nine points, highlighted by
five from Martelle, to go up 46-45.
Martelle rained in another trey
with 8:00 left to give the Ravens a 59-54 lead, but Adelphi
countered with six-consecutive points on three-straight layups from
Jackson, Kitrys and Kelly Mannix to go up by one with 3:17
remaining.
Johnson knocked down a triple to
stem the tide and make it 62-60, but Kitrys laid in another bucket
to knot the score. Johnson hit another jumper with 1:17 left, but
Kitrys again converted another layup, this one with :14 remaining
to knot it at 64-64 and send the game into overtime.
The Ravens shot a solid 48 percent
(28-of-59) from the field, while the Panthers also shot well,
converting on 47 percent of their attempts (29-of-62).
The first half was just as tightly
contested as the last two periods. Johnson had 10 points in the
frame to help give Franklin Pierce a 35-34 lead at halftime.
Franklin Pierce returns to action
Wednesday night when the Ravens travel to Worcester, Mass. to take
on Assumption at 5:30 p.m.
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/FranklinPierce), Twitter
(www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook
(www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase
women's basketball apparel can do so on the athletic department's
online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)
