BRADFORD, Pa. – Despite a career-high 27 points from freshman Rebekah Nevarez, the Franciscan women's basketball team dropped a tight 68-54 contest to Pitt.-Bradford on the road, Saturday afternoon.

Nevarez scored the Lady Barons' first 20 points of the contest and accounted for 22 of Franciscan's 27 first-half points. The freshman finished 9-of-16 from the floor, including 6-of-7 from three-point range. Nevarez was perfect from the free throw line and pulled down six rebounds.

Sophomore Abby Baierl posted 11 points and 11 rebounds while junior Gaby De Jesus dished out seven assists to go with her six points.

Nevarez opened the game with a three-pointer but the Panthers used a 16-3 run over the next eight minutes to take a 16-6 lead. Nevarez put a stop to the Bradford run with a layup to cut the lead down to 16-8. After Bradford pushed its lead back to 20-8, Nevarez ended the first quarter with a traditional three-point play after sinking the free throw after a layup to cut the lead to 20-11.

Nevarez opened the second with three three-pointers over the first 4:24 to cut the Panther lead to 23-20 with 5:26 to play before the half. After a 5-0 run for the Panthers, Baierl drained a three with 3:00 to play for the first points for the Lady Barons not scored by Nevarez to cut the lead to 28-23. Each team posted four points over the final three minutes to send the game into the half with 32-27 in favor of Pitt.-Bradford.

The two teams traded threes to open the third quarter before Bradford held a slight 4-2 advantage over the next six minutes to extend its lead to 39-34. Baierl cut the lead down to two with a three-point on the Lady Barons' next possession. Bradford scored six unanswered points over the next three minutes to push its lead back to eight before Nevarez hit a three and De Jesus closed out the quarter with a layup to go into the fourth quarter down just three, 45-42.

The Panthers opened the fourth with an 8-0 run to push its lead to 11, 53-42. The Lady Barons trimmed the lead back down to seven two separate times, but the Panthers were able to hold off a surging Lady Baron offense and push its lead to 18, 68-50, with 1:40 to play. Sophomore Kelsey Scott-Avery scored the game's final four points to bring the score to its final, 68-54.

Franciscan shot 31.6% for the game while the Panthers held a slight 44-40 advantage in rebounds.

Franciscan returns home on Wednesday as the Lady Barons host Penn St.-Altoona for an 8:00 pm AMCC tip-off.