STEUBENVILLE, Ohio–The Lady Barons could not hold their three-point halftime lead as the Lady Lions of Penn St.-Altoona pulled away in the second half in a 73-63 home loss. 

"Tonight, we just could not get any consistency going on offense or defense," head women's basketball coach Suzy Delaney said, "and when you play a team with the talent of Penn St.-Altoona, they'll make you pay for that."

Franciscan was able hang with Altoona throughout the first half thanks to the hot three-point shooting of sophomore guard Katie Rhodes. Rhodes, who leads the conference in three-point shooting percentage, hit four three-pointers for the second consecutive game on her way to being the team's leading scorer of the night with 18 points.

"Katie again came through with a solid performance off the bench," Delaney said.

The Lady Barons also had a solid contribution off the bench from newcomer Lucia Westrick. The freshman forward only joined the team in December and had her most productive game to date with five points and four rebounds, three of them on the offensive glass.

Delaney said that Westrick was definitely able to give the team a lift off the bench.

The second half of the game was a different story as the Lady Barons struggled to keep up in most aspects of the game. The Lady Lions opened the first 10 minutes of the second half with a 27-9 run that was hard to answer.

FUS players got into foul trouble in an attempt to slow down the Lions' offense, sending them to the free-throw line 38 times on the night. Altoona was able to convert 30 of those 38 attempts, essentially eliminating any chance of a Franciscan comeback by scoring so many points with the clock stopped.

Delaney said that the team cannot dwell on the loss as they have a fast turnaround with their next game on Saturday but that they also have a lot to learn from this game.

"We have to continue to strengthen our team unit," Delaney said. "We want to keep pushing forward and challenging each other to keep raising the level of our play."

The Lady Barons now drop to 3-4 in the conference while the Lady Lions move to 4-4. The team will next look to make some improvements on the road against conference opponent Medaille College January 17 at 2 pm.