RINDGE, N.H. - The 12th-seeded Saint Michael's College women's basketball team lost to No. 5 Franklin Pierce University, 65-63, on Friday during the opening round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship in FPU Fieldhouse. The Ravens were sixth in this week's NCAA East Region rankings.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (6-23), Franklin Pierce (19-9)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Paige Slaven (Fair Haven, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven Regional), 19 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 7-for-13 field goals, 4-for-5 three-pointers
• Junior Brianna Furch (Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood School/Cal State Fullerton), 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 4-for-7 field goals
• Sophomore Julie Lyden (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake), 7 points, 3-for-5 field goals
• Junior Molly Brophy (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich Central School), 7 points
• Senior Jaxson Nadeau (Wakefield, Mass./Tilton School), 6 points, 4 assists

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Anna Badosa Soler, 14 points, 3 assists, 2 steals
• Senior Colette Mulerig, 12 points, 7 rebounds
• Senior Janessa Gonzalez, 12 points, 4-for-7 field goals
• Sophomore Leana Heitman, 10 points, 5 rebounds
• Senior Gisela Vazquez Segura, 8 points, 5 assists, 3 steals

THE ACTION

• Neither team led by more than three points until first-year Ruby Santos (New Paltz, N.Y./Kent School) hit a pair of free throws at 3:03 of the first quarter to give her team a 14-10 lead, and classmate Amber Furch's (Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood School) lay-in 52 seconds later capped a 7-0 run that put Saint Michael's up by six.
• The Ravens slowly trimmed the deficit to 21-20 on Badosa Soler's freebie at 7:32 of the second quarter before Brianna Furch's lay-up put the visitors up 28-23 with 3:59 left.
• Franklin Pierce responded with a 15-4 run that bridged halftime, led by six points from Gonzalez, and Mulderig's hoop 27 seconds into the third quarter extended the lead to 38-32. Mulderig buried a three at 8:36 to make it 41-34.
• Slaven's nine points keyed a 13-4 response, as she knocked down a go-ahead triple at 3:06.
• The Ravens scored the next four points to lead 49-47 while forging ahead by no more than four points again until Badosa Soler hit a pair of free throws with 1:52 left in regulation (65-59).
• Nadeau made two from the charity stripe 19 seconds later, and senior Makayla Blake's (Colonie, N.Y./Colonie Central) pair of freebies cut the deficit to two with 26 seconds left.
• After the Ravens missed two free throws with 15 ticks remaining, the Purple Knights had two good looks in the waning seconds, but a three-point try with four seconds left was off the mark before a put-back attempt just before the buzzer was altered by Mulderig.