COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's basketball team erased a 22-point second-half deficit, with first-year Indira Evora (Somerville, Mass./Somerville) forcing overtime by banking in a three-pointer with 2.4 seconds left, before the Purple Knights ran out of gas during a 75-69 loss against Franklin Pierce University on Wednesday in the Ross Sports Center. In each team's Northeast-10 Conference opener, Saint Michael's slipped to 1-3 overall, while the Ravens, who were receiving votes toward the preseason national poll, are 2-2.

Senior Alexa Long (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) had a career-high-tying 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting for the hosts while hauling down 14 rebounds, and sophomore Makenzie Burud (Red Hook, N.Y./Coleman Catholic) notched 16 points, 10 boards, four assists and two steals. Evora had 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals off the bench for the Purple Knights, who turned the ball over only twice in the second half while using the same unit of five players from the time 7:45 remained in regulation until there were 7.7 seconds left in overtime.

Sophomore Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass./Fairhaven) led Franklin Pierce with 22 points and nine rebounds, and senior Brooke Coderre (Woonsocket, R.I./Woonsocket) posted 20 points. Junior Jessica Hurd (Kegworth, England/Burleigh College) added a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds off the bench.

The Purple Knights trailed 52-30 with 13:32 to go in the second half and were still down 58-39 with a little less than eight minutes remaining in the stanza before embarking on a 25-6 run to end regulation. Saint Michael's scored 18 of 19 points to begin the run, with Burud, senior Kaitlin Geary (Milton, Vt./Milton) and Evora canning consecutive three-pointers to cut the deficit to 58-48 before Burud chipped the hole to single digits, 59-50, with a hoop at 5:22. Junior Maggie Sabine (Litchfield, Maine/Oak Hill/Southern Maine CC) dropped in two buckets in a 32-second stretch to twice bring her team within two points, and Long's jumper at 1:35 knotted the score at 61.

After Charette made a go-ahead free throw with 1:17 left, the Purple Knights had a chance to go ahead with 11.9 seconds left, but two freebie attempts were off the mark, and Martelle made two more free throws at 7.9 ticks to provide a 64-61 lead. However, Evora took the ensuing inbounds pass, drove beyond midcourt and pulled up from near the top of the arc, banking her tying triple with 2.4 seconds left. A desperation three by the Ravens was off the mark at the buzzer.

In overtime, Coderre hit two threes 50 seconds apart to create a 70-64 score by 3:56, but three free throws by Burud and a jumper by Long brought Saint Michael's within one point with 2:20 to go. However, Franklin Pierce made three free throws in the final 7.7 seconds to ice the contest.

The Purple Knights forged a 5-2 lead 1:50 into the contest thanks to a pair of buckets by Long, as the hosts held Franklin Pierce to only a Charette hoop during the opening 5:58, and a 1-of-8 start from the floor. Franklin Pierce later went on an 11-0 run, keyed by four straight baskets by Charette, scoring 26 of the final 36 points in the first half thanks to making 15 of its last 22 shots. Behind 53.3-percent first-half shooting, the visitors held a 36-23 advantage by intermission.

Saint Michael's, which capped a season-opening four-game homestand, hits the road for three of its next four games, taking on Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.