STEUBENVILLE – While winter storm Jonas cancelled most games in the AMCC on Saturday, Franciscan women's basketball went head-to-head with Pitt.-Bradford but came up on the wrong end of a 77-71 loss.

"I am proud of our effort today," head coach Suzy Delaney said. "Our players came to the end of eight games in 17 days run. We had some highs and some lows, but today's loss wasn't a low. They played hard, pushing through adversity."

Sophomore forward Bernadette Roach opened up the scoring with a jump shot 1:20 into the game while the Lady Barons defense held the Panthers scoreless until the 6:44 mark when Anna Colebert made a three-pointer. Both teams traded baskets for the next four minutes until the Lady Barons closed out the quarter on a 5-0 run.

Bradford scored the first three points of the second quarter to cut into the Lady Barons' lead, which Franciscan maintained until the 4:18 mark, when Bradford guard Ali Rinfrette made a free throw to tie the game at 25. From that point on, the Lady Barons were playing catch-up.

Roach opened up the third quarter with five consecutive points to keep the Bradford lead within reach. The Panthers and the Lady Barons traded baskets for the entirety of the third quarter with Bradford having the slight advantage, outscoring Franciscan 17-15 in the quarter to take a seven-point lead into the final 10 minutes.

Sophomore center Lucia Westrick took control offensively, opening up the fourth quarter by scoring eight consecutive points to keep her team in the game.

"Our centers, Bernadette and Lu, played great games," Delaney said. "Our guards did an excellent job finding them and they cashed in on some plays inside."

In the final minute of the game, the Lady Barons only found themselves down by six points and continued to push toward the win. Sophomore guard Sarah Schriner hit a huge three-pointer with 15 seconds remaining to bring Franciscan within two points of the lead. However, Panther guard Ali Rinfrette was clutch at the free-throw line, sinking four shots to clinch the win.

Four Lady Barons found their way into double-digits against the Panthers. Schriner led her team with 22 points while Westrick wasn't far behind, finishing with 21 points. Senior guard Iliana Gonzales chipped in 15 points and Roach finished with 11 points for her highest offensive production of the season.

Senior guard Monica Dawyot led Franciscan with 12 rebounds while Westrick was one rebound shy of her fifth double-double of the season, bringing down nine off the boards.

"Sarah and Iliana did their part to keep us in this one," Delaney said, "and Monica's defense and rebounding were big keys to having a shot at the end. In the end, Bradford got some huge shots by some girls who have played a lot of minutes of college basketball like Abby Brate and Kaserra Owens." 

Pitt.-Bradford shot 40 percent from the floor (26-for-54) while the Lady Barons were not far behind, shooting 39.3 percent (24-for-61). Behind Dawyot's effort on the boards, Franciscan out-rebounded the Panthers 48-35, leading to 21 second chance points and a total of 30 points in the paint. However, Bradford was able to cash in on the Lady Barons' 22 turnovers, leading to 22 points off turnovers.

Franciscan drops to 5-12 on the season and 4-7 in the conference, sitting in seventh place with seven games left in the season. The Lady Barons need to finish in the top six in order to make an appearance in the AMCC tournament at the end of the season.

The Lady Barons will have a week off before traveling to take on Hilbert College on January 30 for a 4 p.m. tip. In the two teams' previous matchup, the Hawks walked away with an 11-point victory, 63-52, on the Lady Barons' home floor.