cranton, PA — Over the years, the storied Messiah women's basketball program has put up some impressive numbers.
Tuesday night's offensive output at the University of Scranton topped most.
Messiah connected on a school-record 73.7 percent of its shots from the field in a 79-62 win over the Royals, staying unbeaten in five games while continuing to step out of the shadow of last season's national runner-up squad. The Falcons buried a remarkable 28 of 38 total shots — including a ridiculous 16 of 21 second-half performance (76.2 percent) — to pull away from a talented Scranton side at the University's Long Center.
“It was impressive to see,” said 23-year head coach Mike Miller. “Most of our shots came off open looks or one-on-one in the post where we attacked. We moved the basketball really well and obviously shot the ball really, really well.”
Make that really, really, really well.
Messiah's shooting clip was better than its free throw percentage in 21 games last season, while the team's 24 assists were the most since the 2003-2004 season (where the program boasted 27 helpers on two occasions).
It all started relatively routinely Tuesday night, as a pesky Scranton club stayed close in the first half behind an 15-9 advantage in total rebounds and a 9-0 difference on the offensive glass.
Of course, much of that had to do with Messiah's shooting 12 of 17 from the field (70.6 percent) in the game's first 20 minutes, leaving few opportunities for offensive rebounds on its end of the court. A 24-17 Falcons' lead was slowly trimmed to a 31-31 tie score with 1:25 remaining in the half, a tally that would remain through the intermission.
Scranton (3-2) shot just 12 of 29 (41.4 percent) during the first period but attempted 12 more shots from the field behind its dominance on the glass.
“Obviously, our shooting kept us in it during the first half,” Miller said. “Our execution and our basketball I.Q. was not good, but we shot the ball really well.”
As has been the case in the majority of Messiah's games this season, the second half proved to be the landslide difference. Senior Christa Wenrich buried a three to start the period, while a 17-5 microburst at the midway point blew things open. Messiah led 48-41 with 12:47 remaining, but six straight buckets from the floor and a pair of free throws made it a 65-46 difference with 8:02 to play.
Ranked ninth in the latest USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll and eighth in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 rating, the Falcons would lead by as many as 23 points over the game's final five minutes of play, eventually settling for the 17-point difference after — gasp! — missing its last two field goal attempts of the night.
Messiah's second-half dominance continued a trend, as Miller's team has outscored its opponents by an average of 12.8 points this season in second halves, compared to only a 5.8 positive point difference in opening periods.
Miller was quick to point out that — despite popular belief — his halftime speeches are hardly epic. In fact, he admitted he was flat-out wrong during his discussion Tuesday night.
“I told the team we wouldn't shoot that well in the second half,” he said. “I wanted to focus on our defense, knowing that we wouldn't shoot the ball as well as we did in the first half. Well, we shot it even better. But still, we were so much better in all areas during the second half tonight. We completely took Scranton out of what they wanted to do offensively, and our kids had a clear understanding and focus of what we needed to do. I think (our improvements in second halves) goes back to our kids getting more comfortable as the game goes on. That's been a constant.”
A multitude of stellar individual outings helped Messiah to its gaudy team numbers, as sophomore Angie Rapchinski led the way with 19 points on — naturally — a perfect six for six shooting clip from the field. Junior Julie Henninger added a career-high 16 points on a six of eight performance, while sophomore Michele Schleich scored a career-high 11 points on a four of four shooting effort.
“Every single player that played for us played well tonight,” Miller said. “It was a coming out party of sorts for Julie, Michelle and Angie, but everyone was great.”
A late schedule change bumped what would have been the Falcons' next contest — a home contest against Hood College on Monday — to early January, providing the team with over a week layoff before its next contest. Messiah will now remain idle until Wednesday, Dec. 10, when the team will travel to third-ranked Kean University. That game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
“We're excited to face Kean,” Miller said. “It will be nice to take a breath after this one and get a week to prepare for one of the best teams in the country.”
