Grantham, PA — A pair of dominant surges helped offset an unorthodox 23 turnovers from Messiah Tuesday night, as the Falcons rolled to their 14th straight win in a 61-42 MAC Commonwealth Conference decision over visiting Elizabethtown College.
Ranked eighth in this week's USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll and D3hoops.com Top 25 rating, Messiah (19-2, 8-0) scored 22 of the game's first 26 points and 21 of the second half's first 29 points to keep things from getting remotely interesting, as the Falcons rattled off the program's 44th straight regular-season league win at home — a streak dating back to the 2002-2003 season.
“We continue to start strong, and that's a real credit to our team,” said Mike Miller, Messiah head coach. “The starts to halves …we are winning those segments. I was disappointed in how we took care of the ball tonight, but at least that gives me something to be disappointed in. Other than that, we were wonderful.”
Miller's team hit on just nine of 28 total shots in the first half (32.1 percent), but was sustained by a five of nine performance from downtown, helping to a 29-19 lead at the break. Senior Katie Kalb buried three of her first four attempts from long range, the last of which gave Messiah a 22-4 lead with 10:16 to play in the half. A pair of free throws from classmate Ashley Brooks made it a 26-10 score with 6:03 to play, but a gradual push from Elizabethtown (10-10, 3-5) helped pull the visitors within 10 at the break. Kalb made one of two free throws with 2:05 to play, but it would be the Falcons' final point of the period. E'Town finished with a pair of post buckets to pull within the 29-19 difference at the intermission, while Messiah missed its last 10 shots from the floor.
“We missed some shots at the end of the half, but I thought we were playing aggressively,” said Kalb, who led all scorers at the break with 10 points. “We turned the ball over more than what we would have liked, but we were able to come through on some other possessions to keep the lead.”
Messiah got back to a more accustomed shooting clip to open the second period, making five of its first six shots from the field to open up a 40-21 advantage. Kalb got things started with a jumper just 31 seconds in, while senior Sal Shani and Brooks each followed with mid-range finishes. When Kalb knocked in a deep three just three minutes into the latter period, Messiah was again clicking on all cylinders. Another layup from junior Julie Henninger gave the Falcons their biggest lead of the night (58-32) with 6:25 to play, as Messiah would up its overall shooting to 56 percent (14 of 25) in the second half.
In the end, it was turnovers that caused Miller some distress, as the Falcons' 23 giveaways was the team's highest amount in its last eight games. The squad did hold E'Town more than 20 points under their 62.6 points-per-game average, limiting the Blue Jays to just 17 of 57 shooting overall (29.8 percent) while outrebounding the visitors by a 46-27 difference.
Messiah entered the game as the third best NCAA Division III team in both scoring defense (giving up 48.8 points per game) and field goal offense (averaging a 48.2 percent clip).
“Defensively we were outstanding tonight, and we had great rebounding toughness,” Miller said. “Those intangibles were great. We've got to get better with the ball, though, and we'll work on it. E'Town made us think tonight, and we didn't think very well.”
Kalb finished with a game-high 15 points on five of nine shooting, her 15th game in double-figures this season. Brooks added 11 points — bringing her streak of double-figure scoring to 11 games — while Shani added eight points to go with a game-high 10 boards.
Messiah also finished with 16 assists on the night, giving the team double-digit assist totals for the 20th time in 21 outings.
“We're playing well as a team and making the extra pass,” Kalb said. “When we think one play ahead, our assists go up because of that.”
With just four games left on the regular-season schedule, thoughts of another post-season run are easy to conjure: Messiah needs only a win Saturday against Lebanon Valley College to assure itself of the MAC Commonwealth's top seed.
Those thoughts are not with the Messiah players, however.
“We just need to think about one game at a time,” Kalb said. “We need to focus on what we need to get done today. We can't worry about the post-season. That stuff will be there when it's time.”
Messiah will enjoy a brief layoff before hosting Lebanon Valley Saturday, as the second-place Dutchmen will first face off against Albright College Wednesday night. Saturday's game is set for a 2 p.m. tip off in Brubaker Auditorium.
