STEUBENVILLE, Ohio— The Franciscan University women's basketball team clinched its first win of the season against Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Penn State Altoona with a final score of 51-36. Franciscan is now 1-3 on the overall season and 1-0 in the AMCC.

"This was a total team effort and I'm proud of the girls all around," head coach Suzy Delaney said. "Our bench was alive and on fire and helped to keep motivating everyone."

The game started with FUS winning the tip off and going right into scoring the first two points of the match. From that point on the closest Altoona came to taking the lead was tying the game at 11-11 near the end of the first half.

The first half was defensively charged, keeping the score relatively low for both teams.

The half ended with the Franciscan team making a smooth in-bound play passing the ball from teammate to teammate to the other end of the court ending with Sarah Prosser finishing a lay-up and giving the team a two point advantage going into the second half.

"In the first half we weren't playing our kind of basketball we had some turnovers and we really cleaned it up in the second half," Delaney said.

The second half featured the offense taking more control of the game and slowing down the speed of play even when Altoona tried to push the tempo faster. The FUS team was not afraid to go in for shots and draw a foul.

"The mental aspect of the game is important and as the game went on I think we grew in mental toughness," Delaney said.

The night featured balanced score for Franciscan, who used a team effort to earn their first win.

Delaney said Allyson Cooney's 6 points added important shots in key moments to keep the momentum alive.

Captain Lacey Huck continued to be a consistent leader and scorer for the team adding 16 points and 7 rebounds. Amy O'Keefe finished out the night with a double double with 15 points and 13 rebounds while Helen Raines continued to be a force in the game staying intuitive on defense and racking up 10 points.

Delaney said point-guard Monica Dawyot played well tonight showing confidence especially in the second half and helping to be the coach on the court leading the team as the point guard.

"Our goal is to stay consistent and our non-conference games helped to prepare us," Delaney said. "We have made improvements in our consistency but there is still a lot of work to be done. We have got to be ready for the rest of our conference season."

The Franciscan women's team looks for another win when they play conference opponent Hilbert College on Saturday Dec. 1 at home 1p.m. for the Hank Kuzma Community Day.