Rindge, N.H. - Leading by five at the half, the Adelphi University women's basketball team saw the host Ravens of Franklin Pierce University rally in the second half and come away with a 66-61 win on Thursday night. The Panthers (21-3) and Ravens (13-9) played just two weeks ago in Garden City, when Adelphi came away with an 83-53 win in a game that counted in Northeast-10 Conference play.

Senior Jenna Halaby led the Adelphi offense, which shot just .333 in the contest, with 11 points while classmate Kelly Mannix tallied a double-double for Adelphi with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Samantha Brenner also tallied 10 points for the Brown and Gold while Ashley Gomez and Janté Bracewell came off the bench to combine for 13 points. The Ravens had four players total double figures, led by an 18-point effort from Natalie Bastian.

In a low-scoring opening half, the Ravens jumped out to an early 6-0 lead before the Panthers rattled off six of their own to knot the action behind a Brenner jumper. Neither team would score for another seven minutes before Jemma Thacker and Gomez traded threes to again tie things up. From there, Adelphi wrestled the advantage by scoring 13 of the next 17 points, capping a 22-13 lead behind a Balfour three. A Gomez layup closed out the scoring in the half and put Adelphi in the locker room with a 24-19 lead.

In the second half, Adelphi's early lead expanded to 30-19 as Mannix and Brenner combined to net the first six points for either side. It was then that the Ravens began to rally, pulling to within five before Mannix and Brenner again combined for points, scoring eight total to restore the 11-point advantage, 38-27, with 14:10 to go. 

Multiple Panther fouls allowed the Ravens to quickly get back in the game, as the home team sunk six consecutive freebies to pull the score to within 38-33 with just over 11 minutes to play. Consecutive threes from Thacker brought them to within one, and while the Panthers managed to hold off the rally briefly, a Bastian layup at 6:02 finally tied things up at 49-49. The Panthers would never again reclaim the lead, and while buckets from Halaby and Anh-Dao Tran tied things at 57 and 59, respectively, clutch shooting at the free throw line allowed Franklin Pierce to stay in front.

The Panthers' last opportunity to tie came with 13 seconds remaining, as they trailed 64-61. Tran shot a three-pointer, but missed and Frankin Pierce came away with the rebound. Two final free throws from Kara Charette sealed the deal for the Ravens, and the 66-61 win. 

The Panthers return to action on Saturday, February 14 as they travel to Southern Connecticut University to take on the Owls in a 1:30 pm contest.