Grantham, PA - Sara Tarbert scored 13 points, including her 1,000th career point, in the fourth quarter as the Stevenson Mustangs defeated the Messiah Falcons 63-49 in their MAC Commonwealth opener on Wednesday night. Dominique Seamon led the Falcons with 10 points in a losing effort.

The Falcons (3-3, 0-1) struggled to find their offensive flow against the Mustangs, shooting only 32.3% from the field and 12.5% from three. However, Messiah did collect on 6 of 10 from the free throw line.

After being held scoreless through the first five minutes of the opening quarter, the Falcons worked their way to a three-point deficit. But the Mustangs (3-2, 1-0) were quick to answer and pulled ahead by as many as 10 in the early moments.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Falcons scored six unanswered points on back-to-back layups from Gillian Glackin and a bucket from Seamon. Despite pulling within three yet again, the Mustangs finished strong with a long triple from Stephanie Martinez to take a 27-19 lead into the halftime break.

The Falcons mounted a comeback in the third quarter, outscoring the Mustangs 18-10.  Solid defense also contributed to the turnaround as Messiah turned three Mustang turnovers into six unanswered points to pull within a single point. Maci Thornton led the surge with five points, while Kaitlyn Hoff and Glackin added four each.

Messiah's rally was thwarted in the final quarter, however, when Sara Tarbert went to work. As mentioned, she posted 13 of the Mustangs' 21 points in the final stanza, helping them dominate the inside game. Stevenson scored 16 of 21 points in the paint to close out the game while the Falcons were held to only 12 points.


Messiah will face their next MAC Commonwealth opponent this Saturday when they travel to Glenside, Pa. for a 1:00 p.m. contest with Arcadia University.