STEUBENVILLE – Franciscan women's basketball put themselves in the position to win the home opener but could not close out the Golden Tornadoes of Geneva College in a 66-60 loss.

"We battled but came up short today," head coach Suzy Delaney said. "I am proud of the effort but there is much room for improvement in our execution."

The Lady Barons started the game hot thanks to the sharp shooting of senior guard Iliana Gonzales, who scored the game's first six points. Gonzales once again finished as the game's leading scorer with 29 points, 11 points more than the next leading scorer.

Fellow senior forward/guard Stephanie Pahren was the next leading scorer for the Lady Barons with 12 points on 6-10 shooting while senior guard Monica Dawyot led the team in rebounds with nine.

"We got steady contribution from Iliana and I saw some good things from Steph and Monica today too," Delaney said.

Franciscan led the game until halftime when Geneva senior Heidi Mann made a three-pointer to send the Golden Tornadoes into the locker room up by one point.

Pahren scored the first four points of the third quarter to give the Lady Barons the lead once again. The next five minutes went back and forth, basket for basket, until the Golden Tornadoes took a three-point lead with three minutes left in the quarter, a lead Geneva never relinquished.

With seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Gonzales cut down Geneva's lead to one with a three-pointer, forcing the Golden Tornadoes to call a time out. The rest of the fourth quarter would continue in the same manner as Geneva would make a run and the Lady Barons would cut into the lead.

Dawyot brought the Geneva lead down to one point with a layup with 1:27 left on the game clock, making the score 60-59. However, the final minute and a half all belonged to the Golden Tornadoes, rattling off six more points, including a three-pointer at the buzzer, to sink the Lady Barons.

"We put ourselves in a position to win but we need to focus on our mental game on closing out the game," Delaney said.

The Lady Barons have a fast turnaround between games as Franciscan plays host to Grove City College on Monday, November 23, at 6 p.m.