Box Score

Senior G Ashley Rivera (Lowell, Mass.) scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed six rebounds off the bench, but it wasn't enough as Franklin Pierce University defeated UMass Lowell, 101-86, Saturday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Conference women's basketball tilt at the Costello Athletic Center.

With the loss, UMass Lowell slipped to 18-7 overall and 15-6 in the NE-10 (fourth place) entering Tuesday's regular season finale at Bentley (5:30).

The win was the third in four games for Franklin Pierce, which improved to 17-8 overall and 14-7 in the Conference (fifth place).

Rivera converted 11 of 20 field goals and 4 of 7 attempts from 3-point range. Senior G Bianca Simmons (Middletown, Conn.) scored 20 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished seven assists while junior G Danielle DePierro (Tewksbury, Mass.) chipped in 12 points.

Junior G Brittany Martelle led Franklin Pierce with 26 points while shooting 8-13 from the field and 3-5 from long range off the bench. Senior G Tiffany Johnson added 20 points and eight rebounds while senior F Amanda Saab had 15 points and nine rebounds on 5-9 shooting.

Junior F Caitlin Hopkins chipped in 10 points off the bench.

Franklin Pierce led 39-33 at the break and shot .556 in the second half (20-36) while UMass Lowell struggled to a .417 clip (20-48). For the game, the Ravens shot .492 from the field (32-65) while UMass Lowell converted at a .349 clip (30-86).

Franklin Pierce's shooting buffered a 26-17 scoring edge on second chance points by UMass Lowell, which outrebounded the Ravens on the offensive end 25-16.

UMass Lowell led 67-66 with 8:43 left to play, but Franklin Pierce used a 20-6 run to post an 86-73 cushion with 5:06 remaining. Martelle led the run with seven points while junior G Brooke Coderre and Hopkins each had four points.

UMass Lowell trimmed the deficit to four points (88-84) with 2:50 to play, but Franklin Pierce built a 10-point lead (94-84) with 1:31 remaining to seal the win.