Baltimore, MD — The storylines may not be flashy or grandiose, but the mundane seems to suit Messiah head women's basketball coach Mike Miller just fine.
As long as it's this type of repetition, that is.
Messiah — ranked 11th in the most recent USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll and 14th in the pre-season D3hoops.com Top 25 — won its fourth game in as many tries Tuesday night, defeating Johns Hopkins University by a 57-45 score behind yet another defensive effort worth singing praises about. The Falcons held the host Blue Jays to just 19 second-half points and 28.6 percent shooting from the floor in the final 20 minutes, complementing a pair of wins over the past weekend which saw the team hold Eastern University to just eight second-half points and Ursinus to only 15 second-stanza markers.
The win keeps Messiah (4-0) unblemished heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, as the squad will now remain idle for a full week.
“The turkey always tastes better when you're unbeaten at this point,” Miller joked late Tuesday night. “In all seriousness, this was a great win for us tonight. This is a tough game for everyone across the nation. You're anxious to get home and enjoy the holiday for what little time you may have, and it's even tougher to be on the road against a good team. We're very pleased to come in here and take care of business the way we did.”
Once again, it was a case of improvement over the course of 40 minutes for Miller's team, as the Falcons held just a 32-26 lead at halftime while committing 12 turnovers in the game's first period — all while allowing Johns Hopkins (1-2) to connect on 10 of 25 shots from the field (40 percent). Following three pointers from seniors Ashley Brooks and Katie Kalb and a jumper from classmate Sal Shani, JHU captured its first lead (11-10) with 12:15 to play in the opening half. Another jumper from the hosts made it a 13-10 Blue Jays' lead with 11:28 on the clock, but a gradual 8-4 Messiah run gave the Falcons an 18-17 advantage with 8:19 remaining.
It was a lead that Miller's team would not relinquish, but even a layup from Shani at the halftime buzzer could not change the head coach's overall thoughts at the intermission.
“We weren't very sharp on either end during the first half, and we had another good (halftime) discussion,” Miller said. “We rode Ashley's offense, but there was a lot we needed to improve on. Fortunately, we did.”
Brooks' 13 first-half points would eventually equate to her second 20-point game of the season, but it would be the Falcons' defensive prowess that would eventually yield as much as a 14-point lead in the second half. Johns Hopkins would connect on just six buckets from the field in the final 20 minutes of play, while Messiah committed just five second-half turnovers. The Blue Jays kept the margin within five until the 8:06 mark, where back-to-back layups from Shani would spark an 11-2 Falcons' run. Messiah forced a remarkable seven turnovers during that stretch, eventually grabbing a 55-41 lead with just 2:13 to play.
“During the second half, our defense was really good and we were able to generate some transition offense because of that,” Miller said. “It wasn't necessarily a primary break, but it was enough where we got them unlocked a bit defensively and that led to some easy looks.”
Brooks paced the scoring, chipping in 20 on an eight-for-14 performance from the floor. Shani scored 12 and grabbed a team-high 10 boards, while Kalb added 10 points. Sophomore Michele Schleich grabbed seven rebounds.
Messiah connected on 21 of 51 total shots (41.2 percent), making its final six free throws of the night after missing six straight to open the second half.
“Both Sal and Ashley were great for us,” Miller said. “Kudos also go to Michele Schleich, who had a really good game defensively, rebounding and helping us bring the ball up the floor when we got pressured. I am really impressed with our defense right now. I thought going into (this season) that we'd be better (defensively) than last year, and so far we have been. Offensively, we still have something to be desired, but teams are throwing a lot at us defensively. The good thing is we're getting some really good experience while winning.”
The Falcons will take a week-long break surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday, and will return to action next Tuessday, Dec. 2, when the team will travel to the University of Scranton. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
