Elizabethtown, PA — The mission for the Messiah women's basketball team was to go on the road to Elizabethtown College on Saturday afternoon and come away victorious.
A win would not only keep Messiah undefeated on the young season, but it would also move them to 2-0 in the Commonwealth Conference — a record they would keep for over a month as the league slate takes a month-long holiday break.
Though it wasn't easy, it was mission accomplished as Messiah (5-0, 2-0) withstood Elizabethtown's best efforts in a 58-49 victory over the pesky Blue Jays (1-5, 0-2).
“Any road win in conference play is a good one,” said Mike Miller, Messiah head coach. “To get two (wins) before Christmas is wonderful.”
A highly-competitive first half produced five lead changes and one tie after the host Jays bolted out to a 9-1 lead just 3:04 into the game.
After a lay-up by Etown's Megan Strohman, Miller called time out to regroup his team.
Whatever was discssed paid dividends as the Falcons responded, going on a 9-0 run over the game's next 4:27 to give the visitors their first lead of the game, 10-9.
Senior Julie Henninger, Messiah's leading scorer entering the game, got things rolling with a lay-up. After a defensive stop by the Falcons, junior Michele Schleich converted a lay-up to give Messiah a bit of momentum.
After both teams traded empty trips, sophomore Anna Walker picked up a defensive rebound and on the other end, hit a three-pointer to cut the Falcons deficit to one (9-8).
Over two minutes of game time later, freshmen Kira Meier gave Messiah its first lead – via a jumper in the paint with 10:52 left in the half – and the Falcons completed their 9-0 run.
The lead stayed at one point – with both teams trading punches and taking the lead – until Meier converted on a lay-up with 4:46 left to give Messiah a three-point advantage (16-13).
Four times in the remainder of the half, the Falcons pushed their advantage to five points, the last of which came off a huge three-pointer at the buzzer. Freshmen Dori Gyori drilled a 25-foot bomb, coming off a three-quarters court inbounds baseball pass from classmate Julia Groves, giving Messiah a 27-22 lead at the half.
“Dori was very good for us tonight in a lot of ways,” Miller said. “She played very strong, and finished with just one foul. She is starting to really adjust to the college game, and that's important.”
Though the Falcons extended their lead to nine (33-24) via a three-pointer by freshmen Jordan Seiz just three minutes into the second half, the Blue Jays would not go away quietly.
Elizabethtown responded by virtue of an 11-2 run of their own, covering just under five minutes of game clock. When the Jays Teanna Ziegler hit the front-end of a two-shot foul, E'Town had tied the game at 35-35.
After Ziegler missed her second free throw, however, the Falcons were able to score on the offensive end and a take a lead they would never relinquish.
Walker drilled her second three-pointer of the game which propelled Messiah on a game-changing 11-0 run. A fast-break lay-up by Henninger, a jumper in the paint by Gyori, two free throws from Seiz, capped by a jumper from Seiz, and the Falcons had taken a 46-35 advantage, all but giving a knockout punch to the hosts.
Down the stretch, Elizabethtown was unable to pull closer than seven points at any moment, while the Falcons maintained a double-digit advantage for a good portion of the final six minutes.
The biggest bullet dodged for Messiah may have been in a two-minute stretch beginning with 6:38 remaining.
Though Messiah wasn't doing too much on the offensive end, the Jays were unable to climb closer and within arm's reach as the Falcon defense turned up the defensive pressure. On four trips for Elizabethtown on the offensive end, the hosts were forced into three turnovers. The other trip resulted in a one-for-two effort at the free throw line.
As the clock dwindled down to zeroes, Miller was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing his team had survived a valiant effort by the Blue Jays.
“You're always going to get a team's best effort when you're in conference play on another court,” he said. “I think this was a good test for us on a lot of levels.”
Gyori led the way for the Falcons by recording a double-double with a career-high 16 points and 10 rebounds, both game-highs as well. Freshmen guard Nicky Hess reached double-digits with 11 points, but more importantly, took great care of the ball as the point guard only turned it over one time in 35 minutes of action.
Miller said turnovers were a huge point of emphasis coming into the game, and his team responded by turning the ball over just 15 times — a drastic difference from the 29 giveaways in his team's 58-38 victory over Albright College just three days earlier.
Maybe most impressive for Messiah was that 17 of the team's 19 makes (in 46 attempts, a clip of 41.3 percent) came via an assist, with Schleich recording a team-high four.
The Falcons return to work this upcoming week with a busy three-game slate, beginning by hosting Johns Hopkins University at 7 p.m. Tuesday night. The next afternoon, Messiah will hit the road to New Jersey for a 3:00 p.m. start against Lehman College – to be played at the Izod Center, the home of the NBA's New Jersey Nets. Saturday evening, Messiah rounds out the week by taking on regional-rival, DeSales University at 7 p.m. in Brubaker Auditorium.
