STEUBENVILLE — Despite trailing by just a basket at halftime, Franciscan University's Lady Barons were on the wrong end of a 15-0 run to start the second half. The early second half deficit was too much to overcome and Franciscan dropped its third straight home contest to Bethany College, 62-54.

The Lady Barons collectively struggled shooting the ball in all aspects of the game. They shot just 36% from the field, 20% from three-point range, and 47% from the foul line. Defensively, however, they showed improvement much to the liking of head coach Luke Heusel.

"We saw a defensive intensity today that we haven't seen before," said Heusel.

Eight minutes into the first half, the Lady Barons faced a large deficit of 17-9. But with the help of three-pointers from Molly Coogan and Caitlin Donovan, and two more baskets from Donovan before the break, Franciscan inched its way back to within two points, 28-26.

The first four minutes of the second half changed the momentum of the game completely. The Lady Bison went on a 15-0 run capped off by three straight three-pointers to make the score 43-26. "Something seems to happen to us," Coach Heusel said of his team's slow start to the second half. "But, we didn't back down and we played great team defense."

With just under ten minutes left to play, Bethany stretched its lead to 20 points. Franciscan responded with a full-court man-to-man defense that led to a 16-3 run by the Lady Barons, narrowing the deficit to 55-48. But with just over two minutes left and already in foul trouble, it was too little too late for the Lady Barons as the Lady Bison made their free-throws down the stretch to clinch a 62-54 win.

"It's all about putting together a complete game for us," said Heusel, "and we've yet to do that. But I'm very proud of the girls tonight, especially of their defensive intensity."

Marian Weber led the Lady Barons with 13 points—eight earned in the second half. Christine Conrad and Coogan both finished with nine points, and Donovan and Hannah Flanagan finished with eight each.

The Lady Barons are now 1-4 overall on the season and will be back in action for their first conference game on Sunday, December 5, as they host the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. Game time is set to start at 2 p.m.