Grantham, PA — Even Messiah head coach Mike Miller didn't expect this.
The Falcons rattled off their eighth win in as many tries Saturday night, handing visiting DeSales University a 60-52 loss — avenging a 64-70 defeat to the Bulldogs last season.
Ranked 18th in the latest USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll and #15 in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 ballot, Messiah now heads into the holiday break with an unblemished record, a feat the program last achieved in the 2005-2006 campaign.
“Absolutely I'm surprised,” Messiah's 24th-year leader said following Saturday's win. “If we were 4-4, 2-0 in the league right now, we would have been pleased. At least, that was (the coaching staff's) thought on Oct. 15. But this young group has matured quickly, and every win has kind of built on itself. We're ecstatic with where we're at.”
Miller's team outlasted a sloppy first half to slowly pull away in the second period for the team's latest win, rebounding from a 24-20 halftime deficit to put down DeSales (4-5) going away. Thirteen first-half turnovers and just seven made field goals hindered Messiah (8-0) early, but an improved effort in the final 20 minutes more than made up for the initial issues.
“(Junior) Michele Schleich said it best after the game,” Miller said. “She said DeSales took away what we wanted to do, so we had to do the next thing. I'm not sure if we were ready to do that 'next thing' early on. Whether it was too much preparation, or us thinking too much, we just weren't very good with the ball in the first half.”
Messiah made just seven of 28 shots from the floor (25 percent) in the game's first 20 minutes, scoring just five points in the first 12 minutes of play. DeSales built its largest lead of the game — 15-5 — at that point, keeping as much as a seven-point advantage into the waning moments of the period.
Three free throws and a bucket from senior Julie Henninger cut the Bulldogs' lead to just four at the break, however, and the Falcons were well within striking range, despite not playing anything close to their best basketball.
“From a preparation standpoint, we approached this game like it was a championship of sorts,” Miller said. “We watched more game film than we have all year, our scouting report was extremely in-depth, and I just built this game up. We wanted to see how our young players would respond. If we didn't do well, I would take the responsibility on our win-loss record. But we wanted these kids to get a taste of what playing for a championship might feel like.
“Early, I think we played too fast, but we got tighter with the basketball as the game went on,” he continued. “Defensively, we took away what they wanted to do, but offensively we needed to get better, and we did. I thought we responded well.”
Freshman Jordan Seiz had much to do with Messiah taking control of the game, as the Pipersville, Pa. native scored five of her eight points during a complexion-changing run early in the second half.
A Seitz jumper pulled Messiah within a 24-22 score just seconds into the latter half, while an underhanded runner — plus a foul — gave the Falcons their first lead of the contest (25-24) with 18:32 to play.
DeSales would briefly grab the lead back just moments later, but another pair of free throws from Henninger gave the Falcons a 27-26 advantage with 17:47 remaining — a lead the team would not give back.
Two free throws from freshman Dori Gyori were followed by a driving layup from Henninger, and when Schleich converted a nifty post move at the 15:45 mark, Messiah led 33-26.
The Falcons would extend their lead to nine points on three different occasions over the game's next four minutes, but DeSales put together a final run with just under 10 minutes remaining: A pair of free throws, a jumper and a layup from the Bulldogs' Kelly Magrann turned a 41-32 Messiah lead into a 41-38 ballgame with 9:33 to go, and Miller called a timeout.
Like it has on so many other occasions this year, the stoppage of play helped.
Messiah seemed to collect itself, scoring four of the game's next five points to reclaim a 45-39 lead with seven minutes to play. DeSales would pull within four points once more, but a pair of free throws from Schleich and a power move from Gyori helped regain an eight-point advantage; eventually ballooning to 11 points down the stretch.
Only a late three from Magrann would make it a two-possession game — 58-52 with under 10 seconds to play — but two more freebies from Henninger iced things in the final score.
Henninger paced Messiah's offense with 19 points — 13 of which came at the foul line. Gyori recorded her third double-double of the season, scoring 14 points while pulling down a ridiculous 19 rebounds, the most caroms by an individual Messiah player in the program's modern history.
Freshman Kira Maier chipped in 10 points, while Henninger came just one rebound away from a double-double with nine.
“What can you say about Dori?” Miller asked. “She was incredible. Julie again provided leadership for us, and Kira gave us a spark coming off the bench in the first half. Michele just controlled the paint on both ends, and Jordan got us a couple big buckets when we needed them. We are a young team, but we're getting better and learning something new about ourselves each time out. That is the most exciting part about all of this.”
Messiah will now take a hiatus of the Christmas holiday, returning to campus briefly before flying to California in late December. The Falcons will next take on the University of California-Santa Cruz in the California Lutheran University Classic Dec. 31. It will be the first of three games for the team on the west coast.
