RINDGE, N.H. - The regionally-ranked Saint Michael's College women's basketball team hit the road for the first time this winter and fell to Franklin Pierce University, 86-65, on Wednesday in the FPU Fieldhouse. During both teams' Northeast-10 Conference opener, each squad moved to 2-1 overall. The Purple Knights are tied for eighth in this week's D2SIDA East Region Media Poll.

Junior Makenzie Burud (Red Hook, N.Y./Coleman Catholic) led the visitors with 14 points and four rebounds while hitting all five free throw tries, and sophomore Indira Evora (Somerville, Mass./Somerville) notched 12 points while dishing two assists. Senior Kelly Frappier (Colchester, Conn./Bacon Academy) totaled 10 points and three helpers, and first-year Tomi Akinpetide (Sydney, Australia/Rice Memorial) season highs of eight points and six rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Classmate Leah Spencer (Brockton, Mass./Archbishop Williams) also corralled six rebounds, among them four offensive, and added two assists.

Senior Jessica Hurd (Kegworth, England/Burleigh College) paced Franklin Pierce with 17 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 8-of-14, while junior Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass./Fairhaven) notched 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Graduate student Kate McDonald (Fall River, Mass./BMC Durfee) had 10 points and five assists, and sophomore Alison Palma (Stamford, Conn./Trinity Catholic) tallied 10 points and six boards off the bench.

Evora buried a three-pointer 1:08 into the game for the opening points before the Ravens responded with the next nine to grab the final lead, and the hosts extended their advantage to 15-5 with 12:44 remaining. Junior Megan Gaudreau (Brooklyn, Conn./Pomfret School) hit a triple at 9:51 to bring Saint Michael's within 20-16, and her second trey made it 26-19 before Franklin Pierce scored seven of the next eight points. After the hosts claimed their fifth 13-point cushion, Saint Michael's scored the final five points of the stanza, with Evora hitting two freebies at 41 seconds and Frappier converting a three-point play at 17 ticks, and the visitors trailed 42-34 at halftime.

Charette made a basket 12 seconds into the second half before Burud turned in a three-point play to trim the deficit to single digits, at 52-43 with 15:56 remaining. However, Charette responded with a hoop 41 seconds later, and the hosts never again led by fewer than double figures.

Saint Michael's begins a six-match stretch during which it plays five times at home by hosting Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.