Kara Charette logs 14 points and 6 rebounds

WALTHAM, Mass. (March 7, 2013) -- The Franklin Pierce University women's basketball team fought hard in the early going against No. 3 Bentley on Thursday night, but the Falcons proved to be too much with a strong second half surge in pulling away for a 74-55 win in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship semifinals at the Dana Center in Waltham, Mass. 

The fifth-seeded Ravens fell to 18-10 and will now await word if they earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament East Regional, which will be held next weekend. The NCAA announcement will be made on the organization's selection show, which will be held on Sunday night at www.ncaa.com(.) If the Ravens were to be selected it would mark their sixth-consecutive trip to the national tournament. Bentley, the NE-10's regular season champions and top seed in the league tournament, advanced to Sunday's championship game and will take on Assumption.

Four Ravens scored in double-figures, including freshman forward Kara Charette's (Fairhaven, Mass.) team-high 14 points and six rebounds. Senior frontcourt-mate Amanda Saab (Windham, N.H.) also collected six boards and netted 13 points. Junior guard Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn.) and senior guard Tiffany Johnson (St. Albans, Vt.) followed with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The group keyed a strong offensive performance by the Ravens to open the game. Junior guard Kate McDonald (Fall River, Mass.) and Saab each rained in a three in the opening minutes as Franklin Pierce scored nine of the game's first 11 points.

The Ravens continued to hold a lead for most of the half, including at 24-16 with 4:34 remaining as Charette worked her way along the baseline for a layup.

Bentley, though, started to push the pace offensively and used its depth advantage to wear down the Ravens. Jacqui Brugliera, who had a game-high 22 points, kick-started an 11-3 run for Bentley with a three-pointer as the Falcons closed out the half to knot the score at 27-all going into the intermission. Lauren Battista added to the run by scoring five of her 13 points during it. Battista also ripped down 11 boards to log the double-double.

Bentley picked up where it left off coming out of the locker room and went on a 17-7 surge to open the second half in building a 44-34 lead. Battista tossed in six points, while Brugliera chipped in with five, including a long-range three-ball to open the stanza.

Franklin Pierce didn't fold immediately and slowly started to chip away at the deficit. Johnson drained a trey with 9:58 remaining to pull the Ravens to within three at 48-45.

The Falcons, however, rallied again and this time scored 10-straight points to open up a 13-point advantage and never looked back in sealing the win.

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/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce women's basketball apparel can do so on the athletic department's online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)