Reading, PA – The Falcons watched their season come to a bitter end Wednesday night as they were handed a 59-42 loss by host Albright in the Commonwealth Tournament. 
 
Early on the Lions showed their interior dominance as forward Kadijah Bishop opened up the game with a close range jumper en route to scoring six of the Lions first eight points. Soon after Messiah responded, with a barrage of jumpers from Kaitlyn Hoff, Hannah Nichols, and Sienna Wisse keeping the Falcons close. Dominique Seamon capped off Messiah's response with a bucket from downtown, giving Messiah an early 11-10 lead just 4:21 in to the game.
 
Both teams continued to swap baskets for the majority of the first-half, until Messiah hit their first cold spell with nine minutes left. Trailing 17-16, the Lions capitalized and rattled off a string of baskets from inside. Altogether Albright ran off a 13-6 run and led at the half 29-23.
 
Coming out of the break, the Falcons cranked up the intensity thanks to a full court press, causing early turnovers and an obvious swing in momentrum. Messiah's newfound sense of urgency on both sides of the ball could not be mistaken, as they held a hot Albright offense to just 0-4 shooting the first five minutes into the second-half.
 
"The full court press was great for us tonight and I was really pleased with the urgency we played with throughout," said head coach Mike Miller.
 
The Falcons pulled to within a point thanks to their defensive efforts and trailed just 30-29 with 15:17 left.
 
But a big blow for the Falcons came when Dominique Seamon, who had been instrumental in the Falcons' defensive pressure, went down with 15:00 left with an apparent ankle injury. The injury didn't keep Seamon off the court, but hampered the guard's defensive efforts.
 
"Our pressure was outstanding and we had the momentum," said coach Miller, "But having Dominique go down hurt us in more ways than one. Albright got to catch their breath and settle down."
 
The No. 2-seeded Lions capitalized as they went on a 9-2 run to open up the lead once more to eight points. Trying to keep pace, Jen Fairbank sank two quick layups and Seamon hit a driving shot to narrow the Messiah deficit. But Albright would bend and not break as they followed the Falcons' mini-run with a devastating 18-0 streak spanning almost seven minutes. That put the hosts up 57-37 and put the game's result all but in hand.
 
Messiah could not recover from the massive run, and the Lions coasted to a 59-42 victory.

Four different Lions scored double-digit points, led by Harris' 14 points and 17 rebounds. Kadijah Bishop also grabbed a doubl-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. 
 
Kaitlyn Hoff and Dominique Seamon led the Falcons with eight points apiece. Gillian Glackin grabbed 11 boards and picked up six points. 

Messiah finished the season with an even 13-13 record and will undoubtedly see their 15-year run of appearances in the NCAA Championship Tournament come to an end. Still, the double-digit win total continues a program streak dating back to the 1993-94 season.