Box Score
By Bryn Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Newport News, VA — Saturday afternoon's game at Christopher Newport University was a tale of two halves.
And it was of epic proportions.
After a late first-half run pulled Messiah back to a 29-29 draw at the intermission, the Falcons suffered arguably the most dreadful half of basketball under 25th-year head coach Mike Miller, being outscored 53-9 en route to a shocking, 38-82 loss at CNU's Freeman Center.
The Captains' Chelsie Schweers scored 24 of her game-high 31 points in the second period to become Christopher Newport's all-time leading scorer, while Messiah shot a collective four of 26 (15.4 percent) from the floor in the final 20 minutes to tally its most lopsided defeat of the decade.
“There was a lot of soul searching on the ride home,” Miller said afterward. “We were extremely competitive in the first half, but we definitely left it in the locker room. When things went bad in the second half, we got weird. We need to be better mentally.”
Ranked sixth in the latest USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll and fourth in the pre-season D3hoops.com Top 25, Christopher Newport (3-0), Christopher Newport showed signs of turning the game with #21/#15 early. A steal and layup from the Captains' Barbara Davis made it a 22-10 affair with 7:24 left to play in the opening period, while a layup from the hosts' Nicole Mitchell kept the spread at 25-14 exactly three minutes later.
It was at that point the Falcons fought back, however, turning in their most impressive 2:32 of the season.
Freshman Taylor Miller knocked down a jumper to cut the lead to 25-16 and then hit a couple of foul shots to cut the lead to 25-18. Consecutive turnovers by CNU's Andrea Hobbs led to layups by senior Michele Schleich and freshman Chelsea Danel — pulling Messiah within a 25-22 difference with just 2:16 to go.
A steal by junior Tremaine Simmons led to a Miller three-pointer to tie the game at 25 with 1:42 left in the half. A layup from sophomore Kira Maier with :42 remaining gave the Falcons their only lead of the game — 29-27 — but CNU's Barbara Davis tied the game with a jumper just 15 seconds later.
Sophomore Dori Gyori sunk a layup with eight seconds left in the half, but Schweers hit a running, 17-footer just as the halftime buzzer sounded, tying things up for the fourth time at 29-29.
“We were great competitively in the first half,” Miller said. “We were about to be taken out of it. We made a great run. For whatever reason, we just left it in the locker room. We obviously need to fix that.”
The second half went downhill instantaneously, as Schweers hit a three pointer, as did teammate Jessica Moore. Schweers sunk a layup and the Falcons trailed by eight, 37-29, just 1:08 into the second half.
Gyori hit a layup to cut the lead to six, but CNU exploded for a 16-0 run — including 10 points by Schweers — to essentially seal the game with 13:27 still remaining in the second half.
Messiah trailed by 30 (66-36) with 7:25 to go and 39 (75-36) with 3:51 to play, the latter coming on Schweers' final three-ball of the day.
When the dust settled, it was Christopher Newport University who had outscored the Falcons by the mind-boggling 53-9 mark in the second half, Schweers accounting for almost half of those points.
It was Messiah's most lopsided defeat since a 46-81 loss to the University of Scranton back on Nov. 20, 2001. The Falcons' nine second-half points were the fewest points scored in a single half of basketball during Miller's tenure.
“We just lost our mental edge when things went bad in the second half,” Miller said. “In the first half, we dealt with it. But to see our collective body language in the second half ... it wasn't good.”
Barbara Davis scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for CNU, while teammate Jessica Moore led the team with 13 rebounds and added seven points.
For the Falcons, Taylor Miller topped the squad in scoring with 11 points, going four of 10 from the field. Gyori added eight, along with 11 rebounds, while Maier and Schleich each chipped in six points.
Messiah will look to get back on track with an important game upcoming, as the squad opens Commonwealth Conference play Wednesday at home against Lycoming College. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
