BABSON PARK, Fla. (December 17, 2019) – In what was the beginning of a stretch of three games in three days for the Warriors, the Webber International University women's basketball team tipped off the Webber Christmas Shootout with a hard-fought 68-56 defeat against the No. 13-ranked team in NAIA Division-II, Saint Francis University (Ind.), on Tuesday inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.

Playing in her first game back since the first week of the season, Eletra Graham helped the Warriors sink six 3-pointers in a game for the first time in six games.

Graham hit her first 3-pointer of the game to tie it at 21-21 with four minutes left in the first half; and then the Warriors trailed by three at the break at 26-23 after a fast break layup by Taniya Patrick with time expiring on a very long pass from the other end of the court by Graham.

Webber then opened the second half with a layup by Patrick followed by a free throw by Emmarrie Carmen to tie the game at 26-26 just over a minute into the third quarter.

Unfortunately, the No. 13-ranked Cougars responded with one of their nine 3-pointers a minute later and never looked back, going up by double-digits for the first time in the game at 44-34 with under two minutes left in the quarter.

Saint Francis then increased its lead to 13 at 48-35 after three quarters before leading by as much as 16 points five times in the fourth quarter.

In total for the second half, Saint Francis shot 56 percent (14-25) from the field and nearly 40 percent (38.46 percent; 5-13) from 3-point range while the Warriors were only 3-of-13 (23.08 percent) from three and 12-of-21 (57.14 percent) from the free throw line over the final 20 minutes.

In just the third quarter alone, the Warriors were outscored by 10 at 22-12 while going 0-for-6 from 3-point range.

Graham finished with a season-high 14 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range and 5-of-6 shooting from the free throw line.

LeAndra Franklin added 12 points on two 3-pointers and also had a team-high six rebounds and a team-high three assists all while tying her season-high in steals with six.

The final Warrior in double figures in scoring, accomplishing the feat in the final 20 seconds of the game with a pair of free throws, was Patrick with 10 points to keep her double-digits scoring streak alive and well at 11 games.

Head Coach Grady Morrell said, "I liked our defensive intensity and thought we finally started hitting some 3-point shots, but it just wasn't enough against a good team from the Midwest like this."

Webber fell to 5-7 on the season with the loss while Saint Francis improved to 10-3 with the win.

Next up, day two of the Webber Christmas Shootout will see the Warriors battle the University of Northwestern Ohio at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, December 18, inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.