For the first three months of the season, Franklin women's basketball consistently reigned over its home court. On Wednesday evening, Mount St. Joseph staged a successful coup.

An off shooting night and some uncharacteristic errors doomed the Griz women to their first home loss of the season, a frustrating 61-55 setback against the Lions at the Spurlock Center.

It was the lowest scoring output of the season for the Grizzlies (16-5, 11-3 HCAC), who had won nine in a row at Spurlock.

Franklin coach Ashley Blanch noted that Franklin lost nearly every column on the stat sheet and said that it's difficult to win games that way. Still, the Grizzlies had their chances to come out on top.

After a 20-4 MSJ run put the hosts in a 24-13 hole with 6:36 left in the second quarter, Franklin rallied to within six by halftime and tied the game up, 36-36, on a Molly Schulte layup early in the third period. A paint basket from Erica Buening with 3:24 left in the quarter put the Griz up 40-39, and a Taylor Turk layup took Franklin into the fourth up 43-42.

The Grizzlies stretched their lead to 49-44 on a Schulte free throw with 6:36 remaining, but the Lions responded with two 3-pointers and a three-point play to regain the upper hand and Franklin was unable to get closer than three the rest of the way as MSJ had a response for every threat down the stretch.

Franklin shot just 33.3% (20 of 60) from the field and 4 of 15 from 3-point range; they also missed five of their 16 free throws.

Schulte led the Griz in defeat with 13 points and added six rebounds and four assists. Jordan Coon finished with 10 points and four steals while matching fellow senior Kate Breeden with a team-high nine boards. Briley Munchel contributed nine points, Breeden seven and Payton Seay six.

Next up for the Grizzlies will be a pair of road games, the first a Saturday (Feb. 7) trip to Berea.