Leavenworth, Kan. – The Friends University Falcons found themselves in a huge deficit early and couldn't recover in a 83-58 setback at the University of Saint Mary Spires in a KCAC matchup today (Dec. 6) in Leavenworth, Kan.

It's the first conference loss of the season for the Falcons, who are 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the KCAC.

The Spires took over from the outset, scoring the first 17 points of the game and building a commanding 28-2 lead one minute into the second quarter.

A three by Trinity Johnson capped a run of eight straight for the Falcons, but Keely Barnard hit one of her five threes on the night to halt the spurt.

USM led 41-23 at the break and pushed the lead back to 25 points at 56-31 just past the midway point of the third period.

The Falcons had one final push in them, scoring the first nine points of the fourth quarter to trim the deficit to 63-49 at the 7:04 mark.

But a three by Alanis Delgado turned the tide back in the Spires favor and the Falcons came no closer the rest of the way.

Lauryn McIver led the Falcons with a career-high tying 15 points, while Rayland Garner and Taylor Jackson each scored 11.  Jackson also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.

Barnard and Delgado each hit five threes to pace the Spires' offensive attack. Barnard finished with a team-leading 18 points, followed by Delgado with 17. Tanea Sims added 12 points, with Kate Harter scoring 10 and adding seven boards for USM. Alyche Brown also had seven rebounds for the Spires.

The Falcons had a 42-33 edge in rebounding, but were hurt by 14 threes by the Spires, giving USM a +27 scoring advantage from the perimeter.

Next up is a home matchup for the Falcons vs. Southwestern College on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 9) Tip-off is set for 1 pm inside the Garvey Center.