FORT WAYNE, Ind. --- Opening with a hot hand, the University of St. Francis women's basketball team could not maintain that touch in suffering its first defeat of the season, a 60-45 decision to NAIA No.4 ranked Marian University (Ind.) at the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) Catholic Classic on Friday night.

The Saints (2-1) hit five of their first six shots of the game to open a brief 11-10 advantage, but connected on just eight of their next 37 attempts through the next two-plus quarters and could never recover.  A 12-0 run over a nearly eight-minute stretch starting at the end of the second quarter and extending into the third quarter turned a tight 29-24 game into a 41-24 deficit. 

From there, the Saints would never get the margin back under ten points with the closest being 52-41 with 6:37 remaining in the game. Marian (1-0) outscored St. Francis 35-19 during the decisive middle two quarters when the latter made just six of its 29 shots from the field.

For the game, the Saints finished at 28.1 percent shooting (16-of-57) opposite Marian's 25-for-54 reading (46.3 percent).

Jordan Pyle was the only St. Francis player to score in double figures. She finished with 17 points. Andriana Acosta and Justene Charlesworth just missed out with nine points each. Acosta also led the Saints with seven boards.

Marian received 8-of-12 shooting marks from both Kinnidy Garrard and Imani Guy. Garrard led all scorers and rebounders with 18 points and eight boards, while Guy matched Pyle's 17 points.

Up Next
The Saints are right back at it on Saturday when they wrap up the Catholic Classic by facing host Saint Francis (Ind.) in a 1 pm tip off.   

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