Annville, PA – It may have taken seven years, but Lebanon Valley College finally got Messiah's number.
The Flying Dutchmen forced the Falcons into a season-low 26.4 percent shooting clip Wednesday night at LVC Gymnasium, turning a 31-19 halftime lead into a 58-42 victory – Lebanon Valley's first over Messiah since sweeping the season series in 2001-2002.
Messiah (14-2, 5-1) connected on a miserable six of 26 first-half shots and made just eight of 27 in the latter 20 minutes, a combination that equated to the program's lowest overall field goal percentage since a 24.6 percent clip in a 43-64 loss to the University of Scranton back on Mar. 11, 2005.
“Not making shots early hurt us,” said Mike Miller, Messiah head coach. “We had some good looks, all night really, but didn't make them. (Making shots) was important to slow (LVC) down. We struggled early in transition defense. We got sped up and made some mistakes.”
A total 14 first-half turnovers did little to help the Falcons' cause, as Lebanon Valley (15-1, 6-0) slowly shook off some shooting rust of its own to pull ahead to the 12-point halftime lead. A layup from the Dutchmen's Sarah Colton served as the only field goal in the game's opening five minutes, but a momentary spurt of shooting brilliance from both teams saw the score jump to 12-9, LVC, with just under 13 minutes to go in the period.
It was then that the hosts began to separate from the Falcons, putting on a 14-2 run over the course of the next seven and a half minutes, opening up a 26-11 lead with 5:23 to go before the intermission. Messiah missed seven of its eight shots from the floor during that stretch and committed eight turnovers, as Miller burned a pair of timeouts in looking to stop the bleeding.
“We were not able to think and play tonight,” Miller said. “We didn't reverse the ball on offense. Still, I thought if we could settle down and continue to get open looks, we'd have a good shot to get back in the game in the second half.”
Miller was partly correct. While his squad did settle down (turning the ball over only six times in the final 20 minutes), it still struggled mightily putting the ball in the basket. And while the Falcons' defense limited LVC to just 10 of 27 shooting from the floor in the second period (37 percent), the visitors' offensive ineptitude was simply too much to overcome. Messiah trimmed the lead to 10 points on three different occasions in the final stanza, but could not get any closer, as the final 16-point deficit equaled LVC's largest advantage of the game.
The final stats were not reflective of a team that moved up to 10th in this week's USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll and eighth in the latest D3hoops.com ratings, as only junior Michele Schleich finished in double-digit scoring – notching 12 points on an impressive five of six shooting performance from the floor.
Senior Julie Henninger was next in line with nine points, though it took 13 shots to get there, making three. Freshman Jordan Seiz scored six points, shooting 1-11 from the floor. Freshman Dori Gyori – averaging 10.4 points per game – went scoreless for the first time as a collegian, failing to attempt a field goal in 18 minutes of play before fouling out.
“Here's a team (LVC) that came into the game averaging 73.7 points per game,” Miller said. “We pride ourselves on being able to win even when we shoot poorly. We're still able to hold them 16 points under their average and stay within four in total rebounds (38-34) even though we missed 39 shots. If we could've just finished a few more of our open looks, maybe gotten over that hump, it may have been different down the stretch.”
Wednesday's loss revisited several program lows, as the team failed to score 50 or more points for the first time since Dec. 2, 2006 (a 49-46 win at league foe Albright College). Messiah's 14 total made field goals was the fewest the team netted since the '05-'06 season, when the Falcons made just 13 buckets in a 43-36 win over King's College on Jan. 6, 2006.
Perhaps more importantly than any of the historical data, the game put Lebanon Valley in sole control of first place in the Commonwealth Conference, as Messiah now sits alone in second place with its singular defeat.
“Lebanon Valley is obviously the team to beat in the conference,” Miller said, “and we don't gain anything from this unless we choose to. This loss is not good or bad. It's how we choose to use it. We'll look back in March and know what kind of loss this was for us.”
Messiah will not have long to wait to return to Commonwealth play, as the team hosts Arcadia University this Saturday, concluding the first go-round of regular-season conference competition. That contest is set for 2 p.m. in Brubaker Auditorium.
