Grantham, PA — For those who don't fully believe the entire it's-hard-to-beat-a-team-three-times-in-a-season adage, please view Wednesday night's MAC Commonwealth Semi-Final as Exhibit A.
After dispatching Widener University by a 68-51 score a month ago and then handing the Pride a 71-47 defeat just four days ago on the very same floor, Messiah was unable to complete the hat trick Wednesday, falling to the Pride by a 57-60 score in the opening round of the conference playoffs.
The loss snapped a run of four straight MAC Commonwealth Championships for the program, while the Falcons' last league playoff loss came to — ironically — Widener back on Feb. 25, 2004.
“We're all pretty numb emotionally,” said Mike Miller, Messiah head coach. “I guess we'll figure it all out tomorrow.”
A combination of inspired play from fourth-seeded Widener (17-9) and atrocious free throw shooting from top-seed Messiah (22-4) helped to Wednesday's shocking result, as the Falcons made just 13 of 29 free throws (44.8 percent) on the evening. Widener wasn't much better (eight of 17, 47.1 percent), turning Wednesday's affair into a contest of which team would snatch victory from the grasps of defeat.
The Pride would ultimately garner that honor by virtue of knocking down big shots at clutch moments, winning a game that produced 13 lead changes and 11 ties — with neither team leading by more than five points at any juncture.
Widener was able to claim its largest lead of the contest with 9:19 to go in the first half, as a jumper from the Pride's Beth Dessart Mager made it an 18-13 contest. A quick, 7-0 spurt by the Falcons turned things into a 20-18 Messiah lead with 7:40 to play in the period, setting up a see-saw battle that would last throughout. Miller's team claimed a 29-24 lead on a driving layup from junior Julie Henninger with 50 seconds to play in the half, but a desperation three from Widener's Barbara Fleming banked in as the shot clock expired just before the intermission — leading to a 29-27 Messiah advantage at the break.
“I felt that even though Widener did some good things defensively to us, we didn't run our offense as well as we should have,” Miller said. “We had a lot of turnovers in the first 10 seconds of possessions, trying to force things, and that's something we normally don't do. Our failure to make free throws obviously hurt us.”
Messiah — ranked 13th in both the most recent USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll and D3hoops.com Top 25 ballot — made just five of 12 first-period charity tosses (41.7 percent), a usually strong area that would foil the team's efforts all night. As a result, Widener captured its largest lead of the second period with 13:01 to play, as a layup from the Pride's Casey Pritz made it a 41-37 ballgame.
Senior Ashley Brooks then made one of two free throws and followed with a jumper, pulling Messiah back to within a point. When Henninger scored a putback layup with 11:39 to play, Messiah led 42-41.
It looked to be the start of a great finish.
Instead, it was the beginning of the end for Messiah.
An out-of-bounds set three ball from Widener's Dessart Mager tied the game at 52-52 with 3:15 to play, and Messiah's free throw shooting woes would squash numerous opportunities down the stretch: The Falcons made just three of eight charity tosses in the game's final 3:03, thwarting four opportunities to extend or take a lead.
As the Widener faithful booed each foul call against their team, it actually turned out to be the Pride's best defense. Messiah shot a sharp 10 of 18 from the field in the second half (55.6 percent), but made just eight of 17 second-period free throws (47.1 percent).
Following Dessart Mager's three, Brooks was fouled and made one of two, giving Messiah a 53-52 lead with three minutes to play. Another layup from the Pride's Pritz relaimed a 54-53 Widener lead, while another Messiah one-of-two free throw trip — this one from sophomore Michele Schleich — tied the game at 54-54 with 2:31 to go.
Pritz got inside for another Widener post bucket on the visitors ensuing possession, and Henninger responded with a nifty baseline pull-up on Messiah's next trip. The score read 56-56 with 1:47 remaining on the clock.
Henninger's bucket would be Messiah's last from the floor.
Widener's Dessart Mager again put the hosts in a hole on the Pride's next possession, burying a jumper with 1:13 to play — shot clock expiring. That made it a 58-56 Widener lead, while Messiah's ensuing parade to the free throw line would backfire. Senior Sal Shani was fouled and made one of two on the Falcons' next trip, pulling Miller's team within a point — 57-58 — with 1:09 to go.
A pair of empty possessions followed, and Messiah got a big defensive stop on Widener's ensuing trip. Shani was again fouled on the rebound, but could not hit either free throw. Forced to foul, Messiah sent the Pride's Becky Tyler to the line, who hit one of two. A Messiah turnover again put Widener on the line, and again the visitors made one of two with 3.6 seconds on the clock.
Trailing 57-60 and needing to go the length of the court, Messiah called timeout.
Miller's play nearly worked.
Henninger threw a beautiful baseball pass to Shani, who caught the ball at the top of the key on Messiah's end of the floor. She turned and flipped the ball to senior Katie Kalb, who was streaking down the right side of the court.
Kalb shot faked, got her defender in the air and took one dribble.
Her three-point attempt at the buzzer was long. Widener had survived.
“Give Widener credit,” Miller said. “They hit some big shots and they played well. They caused us to play poorly.”
Shani led Messiah's scoring efforts, charting her third consecutive double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Brooks scored 11 on a perfect four of four effort from the floor, while Henninger scored eight points and dished out a game-high eight assists.
The statistics of the night were in both free throw shooting and rebounds, however, as Shani finished four of 12 from the line and Brooks just three of seven. Messiah's overall performance at the line was the program's worst effort since a six of 14 performance (42.9 percent) in last year's national championship game against Howard Payne University.
The team was also outrebounded by a 16 to seven disparity on the offensive glass and a 38-28 difference overall, marking the first time in the squad's last 18 games that Messiah was outrebounded by an opponent. Widener also helped its cause with a six of 12 performance from three-point land (50 percent), as the Pride entered the night shooting just 27 percent from long range on the year.
It was Widener's first win over Messiah in the teams' last 11 meetings.
“I didn't think we had that sense of reckless abandon that we've played with pretty much all year,” Miller said. “We played like we had something to lose. There are no such things as missed opportunities. There's always someone there to take the ones you don't grab.”
Widener now advances to the MAC Commonwealth Championship to face second-seed Lebanon Valley College, which defeated Albright College by a 56-51 score Wednesday. Messiah, meanwhile, must wait until Monday to learn if it will capture an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. The program is looking for its 10th straight appearance in the Big Dance, and will hope for its fourth at-large berth.
The NCAA Division III women's basketball selection show will be broadcast live on
NCAA.com Monday, March 2. The announcement of women's teams, match-ups and locations will begin at 11 a.m. EST.
