Franciscan 47, Saint Vincent 85
Franciscan Starters
Sophie LaRose, Chiara MacGillivray, Jazzlyn Melnyk, Kylie Panizza, Lauren Arena
Saint Vincent Starters
Thompson, Cavacini, Winkler, Marconi, Weber
How It Happened
Franciscan hosted Saint Vincent on Wednesday night at Finnegan Fieldhouse for a PAC conference matchup. A slow start led to a tight game at half, but the Bearcats pulled away in the second half with nine made three pointers in the second half.
The Bearcats made their first two shots of the night to take a 5-0 lead before Jazzlyn Melnyk would put Franciscan on the board with a made jumper in the paint. Panizza and Melnyk then added a the next two made shots for the Barons to pull within a point at 7-6. The Bearcats then had a 5-0 run to retake a strong lead at 12-6. Daelyn Staehling made the final bucket of the quarter to tighten it up to 12-8 at the end of ten minutes.
Five straight Bearcat points started the second quarter, but then Melnyk continued her strong night with back to back buckets. The Bearcats would answer and run their lead up to 16 points with two and a half minutes to play. The Ilena Gonzales, Giuliana Biasutto, and Lauren Arena combined to go on a 7-2 run to give us a score of 31-20 at the half.
MacGillivray and Panizza opened up the third quarter with made three pointers, but the Bearcats responded with there own run of made buckets. The would shoot 5-6 from deep this quarter as crisp passing seemed to always lead to a quality look. The Bearcats would score 31 points in the third to take a 26 point lead to the final frame. The Barons would continue to fight till the end , as Gonzales would score their final six points with several good drives. The Bearcats would take home the win to get the better of their Catholic counterparts for the seond time this season.
Inside the Numbers
- Melnyk led the Barons with 14 points and nine rebounds.
- Panizza scored a career-high 11 points on 4-6 shooting.
- Five different Barons registered a block shot.
- The Bearcats edged out the Barons in the rebounding battle 53-46.
Up Next
Franciscan remains at home to take on Chatham at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. This is the first time that these two teams have played each other this season. Last season, the Cougars swept the Barons in their pair of matchup with Franciscan's last win against them coming in 2021. Chatham is off to another strong season, as they are in the top half of the conference standings once again.
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