Annville, PA — As it turns out, perhaps being swept by Lebanon Valley College during the regular-season isn't that bad, after all.
Messiah earned its fifth Commonwealth Conference Championship in the last six seasons Saturday afternoon at LVC, handing the host Dutchmen a 60-55 loss — the first such result in three meetings between the teams this year.
Lebanon Valley College handed the Falcons a 58-42 loss in the same building back on Jan. 20, and then knocked off Messiah by a 52-39 count two weeks ago in Brubaker Auditorium.
Those results virtually assured where Saturday's championship tilt would be played, but they couldn't help sway the afternoon's verdict: After trailing by a 2-1 score to open the game, Messiah (23-4) went on a 6-0 run, taking a 7-2 lead just two minutes in.
The visitors never trailed again.
Despite making just 16 of 29 free throws (55.2 percent) — and a woeful two of 10 in the game's final minute — Messiah kept Lebanon Valley from securing its first Commonwealth title in program history, turning back the Dutchmen in a game that mattered most. With the win, Messiah secured the league's automatic berth into the upcoming NCAA Tournament, while Lebanon Valley will now have to wait for a possible — and likely — at-large bid into the 64-team field.
“I'm extremely proud of the kids, and I'm happy that they were able to have a little fun today,” said Mike Miller, Messiah head coach. “Over the last few weeks, our players have begun to better understand what we're asking them to do, and they're gaining experience. More importantly, this team is starting to show some emotion. They're starting to enjoy the process, and for these kids, that's really important.”
Heading into the contest, Miller's group seemed to dislike facing Lebanon Valley (23-4), as the Dutchmen controlled both of the previous meetings from nearly start to finish.
That wasn't the case Saturday at LVC Gymnasium, however, as a jumper from freshman Jordan Seiz and a high-low finish from classmate Dori Gyori put Messiah up 5-2 with 18:40 remaining. When senior Julie Henninger hit a spinning layup just a minute later, the Falcons led 7-2.
Lebanon Valley would snip the lead to three points on four different occasions over the game's next five minutes, but two more whirly-dervish layups from Henninger gave Messiah a 17-10 spread at the midway point of the first period, and it was clear that the Falcons were not going to be run out of the building on this day.
“That early lead was huge for us, from a confidence perspective,” Miller said. “For the first time (against LVC this year), we didn't have to fight to catch up. Instead, they had to fight to catch us, and I think we were able to frustrate them, especially offensively.”
While neither team would blister the nets at any point, Saturday's game was a high-octane thrill ride from start to finish. Players repeatedly hit the floor in an effort to make plays, while a 24-19 Messiah lead at the half provided little description of the game's tempo.
“I felt like this thing was going 100 miles an hour, all game,” Miller said. “Several times I thought about calling timeout, just to catch our breath, but I figured we'd need them down the stretch.”
Instead, Miller and his staff substituted liberally, placing nine different players on the floor — all in key moments.
Messiah maintained a seven-point lead at the outset of the second half, but slowly pulled away at the midway point, turning a 37-30 lead at the 12:11 mark into a 53-38 lead with 5:12 to play. A pair of threes from freshman Nicky Hess opened that run, the second coming on a two-dribble pull up from 24 feet with the shot clock winding down.
Incredibly, the Falcons' last field goal would come with just under seven minutes remaining, as Henninger scored a gorgeous layup — off an assist from Hess — at the 6:40 mark.
It was then that Lebanon Valley would begin sending Messiah to the free throw line, looking to extend the game behind an aggressive, full-court defense.
Normally, such a practice would seem futile, as the Falcons entered the day averaging 70 percent at the charity stripe.
It was not an average day for Miller's group.
Messiah made six straight freebies to pull ahead by the aforementioned 53-38 margin before going ice cold, missing eight of its final 10 foul shots in the game's last 1:05 — turning the ball over seven times in the final six minutes as well.
Behind those numbers, LVC was able to trim the game to a 58-53 difference with 1:01 to play, having two chances to cut things even closer over the next 30 seconds of game clock.
A missed layup from the Dutchmen's Lindsey Nies and an errant three-ball from LVC's Suzie Noyes kept the spread at five points, however, and Henninger was able to make one of two at the line on Messiah's next possession.
The Dutchmen's Andrea Hoover then hit a floater with 14 seconds to go, but Henninger was fouled and made one of two with eight seconds remaining, putting the final score on the board.
LVC's Eryn Schultz missed a three with five seconds to go, and the Falcons had survived.
Henninger paced Messiah's offense with 18 points on a seven of 14 effort from the floor, grabbing seven rebounds and coming up with two steals as well. Gyori scored 12 points and corralled 16 boards, while Hess scored 11.
Hoover finished with a career-high 26 points for the hosts, but the remainder of LVC's lineup went a combined eight of 41 from the floor (19.5 percent), putting too big of an onus on the lightning quick point guard.
“Our effort again was outstanding,” Miller said. “The kids are absolutely selling out and playing freely. We tweaked some things offensively that opened up some drives, some post feeds … we put four new sets in and we executed our offensive spacing better than we did in the first two games against Lebanon Valley. Listen, playing a good team for a third time, after beating them twice, that's tough. We went through that last year against Widener. Coming into today, we were the team that could make all the adjustments, and we did.”
Adding insult to injury was the one-sided history between the clubs, as Messiah had beaten Lebanon Valley College 17 straight times before dropping its two regular-season games this year.
The Dutchmen's last wins over Messiah came in the 2001-2002 season, where LVC swept that regular-season series as well.
In eerily similar fashion, however, Lebanon Valley fell by a 54-43 score to the Falcons in that year's Commonwealth Championship game — also played at LVC.
“(Assistant) Coach (Larry) Sassaman brought a ruler into the locker room during our pregame today, and he talked about how wide the (wooden) boards are on the floor,” Miller said. “Two and a quarter inches. His point to our players was, 'What if you're two or three boards closer to Hoover on the catch?' 'What if you're two boards further up the line in help side defense?' Today wasn't about us playing harder, it was about us playing smarter.”
At the game's conclusion, Henninger was honored as the tournament most valuable player — Messiah's lone senior member on the 13-athlete roster. The squad then cut down the LVC Gymnasium nets, all while wearing fresh Commonwealth Conference Championship t-shirts.
“We want this team to have fun, and they have lately, both in practices and in games,” Miller said. “Part of our issues had to do with the girls worrying about what other people might think, or letting me down or about what other people expect this program to do. We felt we needed to release them from those thoughts. They're happy people. They're not as business-like as some of the teams that have come before them. They are starting to show some emotion, and for this team, that is huge.”
Messiah will now await Monday's NCAA selection show, learning where and who the team will face in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Falcons will play Friday, Mar. 5 at a time and location to be announced.
The program will make its 11th consecutive appearance in the Big Dance next weekend. NCAA.com will carry the Division III women's selection show live at 12:30 p.m. Monday.
