By Keaton Kasiguran, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA — No one ever said it was easy to beat a good team twice in the same season.
Unfortunately for Messiah's women's basketball team, that is exactly what happened Friday night.
In a contest that gave Messiah fans an eerie feeling of déjà vu, the Falcons fell to Lebanon Valley College for the second time this season, losing by a score of 39-52 on a snow-delayed, Friday afternoon game in Brubaker Auditorium.
The home loss kept Messiah (18-3, 8-2) from catching the visiting Flying Dutchmen (20-2, 10-1) in the Commonwealth Conference standings, and it gave LVC its first regular-season sweep over their conference rivals since the 2001-2002 season.
After shooting a season-low 26.4 percent from the floor in a 58-42 loss at LVC back on Jan. 20, Messiah again struggled mightily to point points on the board, recording a meager 39 markers Friday — the program's fewest points in a game since a 57-35 loss to the University of Scranton on Jan. 9, 1999.
Friday's loss also signaled the end of a remarkable streak, as Messiah saw its run of 51 consecutive regular-season home conference wins come to a conclusion — a surge that dated back to the 2002-2003 season.
“The effort was good from us tonight, but we make no excuses for our lack of execution,” said Mike Miller, Messiah head coach. “We didn't just miss shots on our own, though. LVC is a very good team. They defended us well.”
For much of the first half, Lebanon Valley picked up right where they left off from their first victory over Messiah this season, jetting out to an early lead courtesy of an 8-0 scoring run.
Things did not get much better for the home team as missed shots and turnovers began to pile up, helping the Flying Dutchmen extend their lead to 18-6 with 12:28 remaining in the first period. A jumper from LVC's Suzie Noyes made it a 23-10 affair with just 7:17 to go in the opening half, and it appeared that the visitors had all but wrapped the game up before the teams went into the break.
Remember though, it's never easy to beat a good team twice.
An ensuing layup from senior Julie Henninger helped the Falcons suddenly catch fire, both defensively and offensively. The home team turned up the defensive pressure and was able to force bad shots and turnovers from the Flying Dutchmen, closing the final seven minutes of the half on a 10-0 run. LVC missed its final seven shots from the floor in that span, turning the ball over six times.
Meanwhile, baskets from Henninger and freshman Jordan Seiz got Messiah back on track. Junior forward Michele Schleich, freshman forward Dori Gyori and freshman guard Nicky Hess all chipped in points as well, bringing the Falcons back to within a single bucket — 23-20 — with time to spare.
With the score sitting at 23-20, Seiz had a chance to tie the game going into halftime, but her three-pointer at the buzzer clanked off the rim, denying what would have been the first tie score of the game. Still, Messiah was fortunate to go into the break only down three, having shot nine of 28 from the field (32.1 percent) — numbers that were aided by a four of eight effort over the final 6:22 of game clock.
With the Falcons back in the game and carrying the momentum of their late surge in the first half, LVC was going to have to play a season-defining second period to hold off their hosts.
Unfortunately for Messiah, the Dutchmen did just that.
A layup from Hess pulled the Falcons to a 23-22 deficit just moments into the final stanza, but that's as close as they would get to taking the lead. The Flying Dutchmen, led by junior guard Andrea Hoover, junior guard/forward Eryn Schultz and sophomore guard Caitlin Murphy, were too much for Messiah to handle. Although the Falcons were able to force turnovers (26 total on the night), LVC made the most of their opportunities, shooting over 52% from the field in the second half.
The hosts simply couldn't keep up.
A layup by Hoover pulled LVC to a 39-28 lead midway through the period, while Messiah would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
That exchange came with 6:32 remaining, but a deep three from LVC's Schultz proved to be the dagger, putting the Dutchmen back ahead by a 46-35 count.
“Hoover and Schultz hit some big ones for them tonight,” Miller said. “They are good players on a very good team, and it's great to have a rival like that.”
Schultz, LVC's leading scorer on the season with 14 points per game, finished the night with nine points and four rebounds, while Hoover led the Flying Dutchmen with 14 points, four assists and four steals. Schleich paced Messiah with 10 points, four boards and two steals.
No other Messiah player netted double-figure scoring. Hess was the next closest, finishing with eight points.
The loss puts Messiah — ranked 10th in the latest USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll and ninth in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25— a game and a half behind LVC, ranked 23rd and 25th in the aforementioned polls. The Falcons can't afford to dwell on the defeat for too long, however, as they play again tomorrow at Arcadia University. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.
“We have to focus on tomorrow now,” Miller said. “On to the next one.”
