Veronica Novotny
Editor-in-Chief
With full bleachers cheering them on, the Lady Barons fell to the Grove City Wolverines 87-48 at their match Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Finnegan Fieldhouse.
Although their third match of the season, Wednesday’s match was the Lady Barons’ conference opener.
Grove City made a pair of free throws after a minute of play, but freshman center Madison Doan was the first to make a basket for Franciscan, bringing the score 2-2 at 7:54. Doan made another jumper at 5:20, and freshman guard Jazzlyn Melnyk made a basket and a free throw, bringing the score to 10-7 Grove City.
Grove City secured their game-long lead in the last three minutes of the quarter, ending it 24-10.
Despite baskets from sophomore forward Sophie LaRose and Melnyk, the Lady Barons struggled to catch up in the second quarter. The top half ended 43-21 Grove City.
In the third quarter, the Lady Barons came out strong with two baskets from Doan in 40 seconds, bringing the score 43-25. Grove City pulled ahead with a scoring spree. Both the Wolverines and the Lady Barons had their highest-scoring quarters, with 28 and 15 points respectively that brought the total to 71-36 Grove City.
Freshman Felicia MacGillivray consecutively netted a 3-pointer and a jumper in the final quarter, bringing the score 77-43 at 7:18. Despite the Lady Barons’ effort, Grove City kept their 30-point lead and ended the match 85-48.
Coach Sean Kirk said, “There were a lot of positives from last night’s game. The players battled for 40 minutes and did not give up. We will continue to work every day in practice and get better.”
Melnyk and Doan led the team with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The Lady Barons look forward to their next home match against Bethany College Dec. 1 at 6 p.m.