BUFFALO, N.Y. — Franciscan University's Lady Baron basketball team went up against conference opponent the Medaille College Lady Mavericks Sunday afternoon. Coming off a win on Wednesday, the 53-41 loss was disappointing for the Lady Barons, leaving them 1-7 overall on the season and 1-2 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. 

"I was very pleased with how we played overall," said head coach Luke Heusel. "Medaille is a good basketball team, and we kept up and held them to only 53 points. The girls played really hard and gave it a good strong effort." 

Holding Medaille's offense back was due to the improvements made on Franciscan's defense. 

"Our defense keeps getting better," noted Coach Heusel. "We're not done yet, but each game both the offense and defense show great improvements. When you play a team like Medaille, they don't give you easy shots. But we continued to run the offense, and the girls were making the shots they wanted." 

Leading in the Lady Barons in points on the night was starter Hannah Flanagan who had 17.

"Hannah had a good game tonight," said Heusel. "Another player who stood out was Lacey Huck."

Huck scored five points overall. 

Franciscan started the second half only five points behind Medaille, 31-26. The Lady Barons went on to see a glimmer of victory during a quick second half lead, but ultimately the Lady Baron defense hold on Medaille's shooting (33.3 percent from the field) wasn't enough to keep the lead.

Franciscan plays again on Thursday, Dec. 15, on its home courts versus Ohio University Eastern.