STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Lady Barons basketball played a game of small victories against a tough Carnegie Mellon team as the overall victory eluded them, losing 63-37 at home.

The non-conference match-up comes in the middle the Lady Baron's battle for an AMCC playoff spot, where the Lady Barons remain in a three-way tie for seventh along with D'Youville and Penn St.-Behrend.

"Tonight, we ran into a long, athletic team in Carnegie Mellon," head women's basketball coach Suzy Delaney said. "I was proud of how our team came out and really played a tough game defensively."

The Lady Barons won a few defensive battles on the night, holding the Tartans to 63 points and a 36.5 shooting percentage, both numbers below their season averages. The team was also able to keep CMU's second and third leading scorers below their season averages, scoring 10 and seven points on the night, respectively.

"We really challenged the girls this week to improve on the defensive end, and we saw some good things there tonight," Delaney said.

Franciscan's defense was particularly good in the first ten minutes of the game but after that they couldn't stop the Tartan's star forward, sophomore Lisa Murphy, who almost scored as many points as Franciscan, finishing with 34 on the night.

On the other side of the floor, Carnegie Mellon's team defense was as effective, holding the Lady Barons' three top scorers to point totals underneath their season averages.

Senior forward Lacey Huck was the team's top scorer with 12 points, also adding six rebounds.

Along with Huck's contribution, giving FUS a boost on both ends of the floor was junior guard Stephanie Pahren, who had the best individual shooting percentage on the night, making four of her eight shots. Pahren finished with eight points and was also the team's top rebounder with nine boards.

"I was proud of several things I saw from our girls," Delaney said. "Steph Pahren really came out and had a complete game for us, rebounding, defending, scoring and distributing the ball."

This non-conference game gave the Lady Barons a good test as they finish out their season with seven more conference games, still in position to secure a first round game in the AMCC tournament, which would be the team's first ever appearance in the tournament.

The Lady Barons will resume conference play at home January 31 at 2 pm against the Hawks of Hilbert College.