Box Score
By Bryn Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Chester, PA — The Falcons (4-3, 1-1) dropped to 0-3 on the road this season, following an exciting but disappointing 83-77 overtime loss to the host Widener University Pride (7-1, 2-0).
The Falcons led the Pride by two with under ten seconds left before sophomore Kate Dellinger sent the game into overtime with the tying jumper. The Falcons never led in overtime, pulling within two points with a minute and a half on the clock, but ultimately losing by six points, 83-77.
''Coming into the game, our goal was quite honestly to play 40 minutes as hard as we could," said Mike Miller, Messiah head coach. "Widener is one of the top teams we're going to play this year. We had to bring it and we did. We had to be patient on offense and we had our best shooting night of the year today."
The Falcons shot 25 of 49 for the night (51 percent), including a 10 of 14 effort from sophomore Dori Gyori. But they struggled on free throws, hitting just 24 of 36, including 9 of 16 (56 percent) in the second half.
"We executed our offense well all game and we played really hard, especially in the first half," Miller said. "But we turned the ball over too much and they seemed to hit all of the big shots throughout the game. They were making their three's with hands in their face. Dellinger returned from an injury and had a great game tonight (23 points). It was a great game and we came up short."
The Falcons trailed 7-2 just 1:16 into the game, but fought back to regain the lead, 13-12, after a three-pointer from sophomore Nikki Hess.
The first half featured lots of lead changes, until Widener University took a 26-22 lead on Messiah with
5:34 left in the half.
Hess hit a three and a couple of foul shots to help the Falcons use an 8-0 run in the next two minutes to take their own four-point lead, 30-26. The first half ended with the Falcons leading 36-34, behind solid 12 of 24 shooting (50 percent).
The Falcons came out firing in the second half, scoring 16 of the first 24 points to take a commanding ten-point lead, 52-42, with 12:20 left in the game.
Then the Widener Pride mounted a comeback, scoring eight straight points in less than two minutes to cut the lead to 52-50. The teams continued to exchange baskets until late in the fourth quarter, when Gyori hit a layup with 1:16 left to turn a 66-65 deficit into a 67-66 Falcon lead.
Freshman Taylor Miller added a foul shot with 33 seconds left in the game, but missed her second shot, allowing Widener's Dellinger to tie the game at 68 on a jumper with just seven seconds remaining.
Gyori blocked another Dellinger jumper with two seconds left, and Vanessa Hejnas missed a jumper at the buzzer to send the game into overtime, the Falcons's first overtime game of the season.
Widener University jumped out to a five-point lead just 1:34 into overtime. The Falcons fought back, cutting their lead to two with just 1:29 remaining, after a layup and free throw from senior Michele Schleich, and a layup by Gyori.
But Widener scored four in a row to take a 79-73 lead. They hung on for an easy 83-77 victory, dropping the Falcons to 1-1 in Commonwealth Conference play this season.
Gyori topped the team with 24 points, the most by any player on the team so far this season. She also grabbed eight boards and dished out four assists. Schleich scored 16 points and handed out five assists. Hess also reached double digits, scoring 10 points.
"We need to compete harder every night at practice so we can execute better in games like this," Miller said. "We did execute well but there were a lot of things that would have turned this game around if we had played a little smarter. It all comes down to practice. I was thrilled with their effort and their attitude, though."
The Falcons have a full week off before their next contest as they return to action at DeSales University next Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
