MANCHESTER, N.H. – Junior Brooke Springfield (Jaffrey, N.H.) matched her career high with 18 points as Southern New Hampshire University downed Franklin Pierce University 76-61 in Northeast-10 women's basketball Wednesday night at the SNHU Fieldhouse.  The Penmen have won five of their last six games and improved to 5-2 and 3-1 in the NE-10, while the Ravens are now 3-5 and 2-3 in the league.

The win was the first for Southern New Hampshire over Franklin Pierce at home since a 73-67 double-overtime win over the Ravens on February 18, 2006.

Springfield, who led four Penmen in double figures, finished 8-14 from the floor and also handed out six assists.  Junior Lorreta Rocha (Espargos, Cape Verde) had a career-best 17 points on 8-12 shooting while also recording four steals, while sophomore Erin Doherty (Marshfield, Mass.) made all six of her field goal attempts off the bench and tallied a career high 15 points.  Amra Elezovic (Manchester, N.H.) added 11 points for Southern New Hampshire.

Franklin Pierce was paced by sophomore Kara Charette who finished with 25 points and seven rebounds.

Leading 34-31 at halftime, Southern New Hampshire opened the second half on a 14-5 run, and a pair of free throws by Kaylea Griffin (Green Springs, Ohio) made it 48-36 with just under 16 minutes to play.  Another 9-2 spurt capped by Doherty's layup at the 11:01 mark pushed the lead to 19, 57-38.  The Penmen took their largest lead, 65-44, with just over seven minutes left on a Doherty layup, and maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.

Southern New Hampshire trailed 8-4 in the early going but a quick 12-2 run capped by a steal and layup by Rocha with 12:12 to go in the first half put the Penmen on top 16-10.  The Ravens cut the lead to two five times in the first half, but could get no closer, and the hosts carried a 34-31 lead into the locker room.

SNHU was 16-25 (64%) from the floor over the final 20 minutes and shot 56.6% for the contest while limiting Franklin Pierce to 35.1% shooting.  Both teams made 22 trips to the free throw line, with FPU going 18-22 and SNHU 14-22, and the Ravens outrebounded the Penmen 34-33.

Southern New Hampshire is on the road Saturday when it travels to No. 14 Stonehill College for a 1:30 Northeast-10 contest.  The next Penmen home game is Saturday, December 14 when SNHU entertains Merrimack College in a 1:30 contest at the SNHU Fieldhouse.

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