RINDGE, N.H. - The Saint Michael's College women's basketball team narrowly fell to Franklin Pierce University, 61-53, on Thursday evening at the Franklin Pierce Fieldhouse during Northeast-10 Conference action, suffering its 10th single-digit loss of the season. The Purple Knights are now 3-16 overall and 2-13 in the league, while the Ravens moved to 12-8 and 9-6.

Sophomore Megan Gaudreau (Brooklyn, Conn./Pomfret School) shot 4-of-7 from three-point range while notching 12 points and three assists. She is already tied for 14th in program history in made threes for a career (72) through just 45 games, matching Tara Clark '00, who appeared in 103 contests. Sophomore Makenzie Burud (Red Hook, N.Y./Coleman Catholic) had 12 points off the bench, and junior Maggie Sabine (Litchfield, Maine/Oak Hill/Central Maine CC) turned in a well-rounded 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

First-year Indira Evora (Somerville, Mass./Somerville) collected 10 points and four assists, and senior Alexa Long (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) hauled in seven rebounds to increase her career total to 560. In the process, she passed SMC Athletic Hall of Fame member Becky Bouchard '85 (556) for 16th in school history and is within one of Nicole Adach '13 (561). Saint Michael's shot 2-of-4 on free throws to the Ravens' 16-of-20.

Senior Brittany Martelle (Brookfield, Conn./Brookfield) had 21 points for the hosts, shooting 4-of-8 from three-point range and adding five assists and three steals. Junior Jessica Hurd (Kegworth, England/Burleigh College) recorded 15 points and 10 boards, sophomore Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass./Fairhaven) had nine points and five steals, and classmate Dyamond Gardner (Cambridge, Mass./Cambridge Rindge & Latin) tacked on nine points. Senior Brooke Coderre (Woonsocket, R.I./Woonsocket) blocked six shots.

The Purple Knights forged a 10-3 lead by the time 2:14 had elapsed thanks to consecutive lay-ups to open the game by senior Cara Deroy (Hamden, Conn./Hamden) and back-to-back three-pointers from Gaudreau. The Ravens later pushed into a 15-12 lead with a 12-2 run, keyed by a trio of triples. After Gardner knocked down another three, Sabine converted a three-point play to bring Saint Michael's within 18-17, and the Purple Knights cut their deficit to one point on three more occasions before Gaudreau knotted the game at 26 with another trey at 2:48. That's where the teams stood at halftime, having combined for just seven points in the final 7:52 of the stanza.

Evora dropped in a lay-up at 17:00 of the second half to give Saint Michael's the final of three four-point leads, 36-32, before the Ravens responded with 15 straight points, including 10 by Martelle, and the hosts led 47-36 by the 10:08 mark. The Purple Knights fought right back with a 10-0 run, as Burud connected for the first three baskets in a matter of 1:12 before concluding the run with a lay-up at 6:43. After Franklin Pierce pushed its lead back to five at 51-46, Long's basket with 4:18 remaining brought the visitors within 52-50, and the Purple Knights possessed three times with a chance to tie in the ensuing minutes but came up empty. Gardner's hoop at 1:33 made the score 54-50, and the Ravens shot 7-of-8 on free throws in the final 57 seconds to pull away.

Saint Michael's plays for the second time in three days on Saturday at Stonehill College at 1:30 p.m. The Skyhawks are receiving votes toward this week's USA TODAY national poll.