Lady Barons Storm Hilbert

STEUBENVILLE – A super snowstorm did not stop the Franciscan University of Steubenville Lady Barons basketball team from sweeping Hilbert College in a 47-34 victory at the Finnegan Fieldhouse on Sunday. The win earns the Lady Barons a third Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference victory, improving to 3-18 in the AMCC and 3-14 overall on the season.  This victory marks the second time the Lady Barons have defeated Hilbert this season, completing the series sweep.

Originally scheduled for Saturday, the game was postponed to Sunday due to the weekend’s snowstorm.

“It felt really good to get this win,” Lady Barons forward Marian Weber remarked. “We knew that Hilbert didn’t want to lose to us again and would be coming out to win. This win was a huge boost of confidence for us today and a great game overall.”

Weber led the Lady Barons with eight points and a season-high 19 rebounds, including eight off the offensive glass to sustain possessions.

The Lady Barons took an early lead against the Hilbert Hawks and never looked back. Typical leading scorer, Cara Mitchell, finished the night with only four points, but the Lady Barons played a unified game that did not need her double-digit scoring to find a victory. By halftime FUS took a 24-13 lead and quickly put the game away in the early minutes of the second half.

“Our defense really stepped up and that was a large key to our victory.” Lady Barons coach Kelly Herrmann noted. “We shut down Mary Zinni, their top scorer, and limited the scoring of Julie Bossard. We were also able to outrebound them; Marian Weber was a huge part of that with 19 rebounds. Kristin Belleque gave us some great minutes off the bench tonight, too. It was a solid game all-around, and our press was extremely effective against them.”

The Lady Barons’ next contest is at home this Wednesday against Frostburg at 6 p.m.