STUEBENVILLE, Ohio – The Geneva College women's basketball team returned to action on Thursday afternoon after a long Christmas break when the Golden Tornadoes traveled to Franciscan in a game that came down to the final minutes.  Unfortunately, the women could not come up with the plays they needed late and Franciscan pulled away for a 74-67 victory.  Franciscan improved to 3-6 on the season, while Geneva fell to 1-8.

Junior Emily Melnek (Poland, Ohio/Poland) hit a three-pointer less than two minutes into the game to give Geneva its first lead at 5-4, which would be a sign of things to come for Melnek.  Another three-pointer by Melnek three minutes later gave the Golden Tornadoes a 10-5 lead, their biggest lead of the game.  However, Franciscan answered with its best stretch of the afternoon, scoring 11 straight points over the next four minutes to take a 16-10 lead, with the Barons closing the first quarter ahead 18-14.

Neither team could gain much momentum in the second quarter, with the Franciscan lead staying primarily between two and five points for almost the whole period until another three-pointer from Melnek with 00:35 remaining in the half closed the deficit to 34-33 heading into the break.

Senior Jeana Luciana (Oakmont, Pa./Saint Joseph) hit a three-pointer on Geneva's opening possession of the second half to give Geneva its first lead since early in the first quarter, and a layup from junior Lauren Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) on Geneva's next possession stretched the Golden Tornado lead to 38-34.  However, once again the Barons answered the Geneva lead with a run of its own, scoring eight straight points over the next three minutes to regain the lead, 42-38.  Two minutes later, Melnek converted a three-point play to briefly give Geneva the lead back, 45-44, but a 10-1 run by Franciscan enabled the Barons to take their biggest lead of the game, 54-46 with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter.  Another Melnek three-pointer pulled Geneva to 54-49 heading into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter stayed tight most of the way.  Twice Geneva cut the deficit to one point, the last time coming on a jumper from Tipton with 3:30 remaining to pull the Golden Tornadoes to within 62-61.  Unfortunately, Geneva could never regain the lead.  Franciscan answered with five straight points after Tipton's bucket, and the Golden Tornadoes never got closer than three points the rest of the way, eventually falling 74-67.

"We had our opportunities to go ahead late and finish off the game, but we never capitalized on our chances," said Head Coach Michael Grinder.  "The ladies are getting better, we just need to figure out how to pull out one of these close games down the stretch to get us going."

Melnek finished with a career high 19 points, including 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range.  Tipton also finished with 19 points while grabbing nine rebounds as she battled foul trouble most of the game before eventually fouling out late, while Luciana added 14 points.  Geneva held the Barons to just 32% shooting while making 40% of its shots, but the difference in the game proved to be rebounding and free throws.  Franciscan outrebounded Geneva 54-31, including 21 offensive rebounds which led to 18 second-chance points, while the Golden Tornadoes made just 7-of-16 free throws. 

Today's game was the last non-conference game of the season for Geneva, with the Golden Tornadoes returning to Presidents' Athletic Conference action on Saturday when they host Waynesburg at 1:00 p.m.


Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 115 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the top engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.