STEUBENVILLE - Franciscan women's basketball continued its cold shooting clip in a 56-44 nonconference loss at home to Hiram College.

Shooting below 30 percent from the floor for the third time this season, the Lady Barons only made four shots in the first half but made improvements in the second half to finish shooting 25.8 percent for the game (17-66).

Neither team had a strong first quarter as the score after 10 minutes was only 12-7 in favor of the Lady Terriers. Hiram settled in during the second quarter, however, scoring 15 points to Franciscan's five and went into the locker room with a 27-12 advantage.

Determined to cut into the Hiram lead, the Lady Barons came out of halftime fired up and scored the first six points of the third quarter to only trail by nine. The Lady Terriers answered with a small seven-point run to extend the lead back to 16 points. Freshman guard Raegan Stead closed out the Lady Barons scoring for the quarter by sinking back-to-back jump shots on her way to scoring a season-high 13 points.

Stead and fellow guard senior Iliana Gonzales stole the show in the fourth quarter as Stead scored seven of her 13 points in the quarter while Gonzales scored 11 of her 18 points. The two guards helped the Lady Barons to outscore Hiram 19-14 in the quarter, making the final deficit 12 points.

Senior guard Monica Dawyot had an exceptional night defensively, leading the Lady Barons with 14 rebounds - tied for a team high for the season.

Leading the Lady Terriers offensively was sophomore center Mercedes Jones who finished with 13 points on the night. Two of her teammates also reached double digits as sophomores Kaylee Shockley and Allison Vannoy scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.

A two-and-a-half week break will now ensue as the Lady Barons will return to their hometowns to celebrate Christmas with their families before returning to the court in search of the season's second win.

Franciscan will wrap up the 2015 portion of its schedule when the Lady Barons travel to take on Chatham on December 31 at 1 p.m.