Franciscan 49, Bethany 60

Franciscan Starters 
Jazzlyn Melnyk, Kylie Panizza, Madison Doan, Felicia MacGillivray, Madison Doan

Bethany Starters
Serensky, Morey, Skobel, Wheeler, Taylor

How It Happened 
The Barons made the short trip to Bethany, West Virginia to take on the Bison on Wednesday evening. The Bison have already claimed their place in the PAC playoffs, but the Barons entered this one with hopes of getting their season reignited with a victory at their local rival. 

Both teams would start out slow in the opening quarter. Doan and Panizza would combine for the Barons four first-quarter points, but the defense stepped up big by only allowing nine points from the Bison. Biasutto would spark the Franciscan offense in the second quarter with the first five points and eight points this quarter. Halfway through the second quarter, MacGillivray made a three-pointer of her own to set the score at 12-18, but the Bison would answer with a 7-0 run to take the lead up to 13 points. The Barons answered strongly with a 5-0 run of their own to set the score at 27-19 at the half.

The Barons would make their move to start the third quarter, as Doan and Melnyk would cut the lead down to two points. The Bison would respond, as they capitalized on a couple of Baron turnovers to get a run of their own going and win the later part of this quarter to take a 14 point lead into the fourth. The Barons would show a lot of heart in the fourth, as they had several players off the bench contribute to help win the final ten minutes. Ilena Gonzales and Isabel Atenedido would connect on three-pointers, and Jazzlyn Melnyk scored seven of her team-high 17 points in the final quarter.

Inside the Numbers 
- Melnyk had 17 points to lead the way for the Barons.
- Panizza pulled in 12 rebounds, a new season-high.
- Giuliana Biasutto went 2-3 from three to score eight points off the bench.
- Bethany won the rebounding battle 43-40.

Up Next 
Franciscan will return home to take on Westminster on Saturday at 4 pm. The Barons are in search of their first win all-time against the Titans, as they hold an 0-5 record against them. In their earlier matchup this season, the Titans held the Barons to 31 points with just 10 in the opening half. The Barons will look to get off to a much better start on Saturday to flip the script from their last meeting. 

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