By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
Grantham, PA — Rivalry games are never supposed to be beautiful contests where one team makes every shot and the other goes away quietly. They are to be physical battles where records are thrown away at the doors and respect is fought over for 40 minutes.
Wednesday evening in Brubaker Auditorium was just that.
Maybe it was because of freshman Dori Gyori posting her seventh career double-double or junior Michele Schleich shooting her typical 63 percent from the field, but somehow, Messiah held on to a 20-point halftime lead — despite turning the ball over a season-high 29 times — to beat rival Elizabethtown College by a 67-52 score.
The game started with a Messiah possession that produced two missed shots and two offensive rebounds by Gyori. But when junior Megan Strohman stole the ball from Gyori, Elizabethtown (6-13, 2-7) went right to work with shooting the ball from deep, a game plan head coach Mike Miller saw coming.
“(E'Town's Courtney Kofeldt and Megan Strohman) are pure shooters,” Miller said. “We knew that coming into the game and we knew we had to contest them or they could get rolling quick.”
When Kofeldt and Strohman were open from range, they scored the basketball. Before the Falcons could pull away after pounding the inside for four easy points, Strohman calmly made two threes on back-to-back possessions for an easy 6-4 E'Town lead.
Messiah (18-2, 8-1) extended to a 13-8 lead just eight minutes into the game, but this time Kofeldt stepped up and sunk another three — along with a triple from quick freshman guard Nadine Yunginger — to pull back with within a 14-13 ballgame with just over 10 minutes to go in the first period.
But the opening half would not be defined by E'Town's three-point shooting.
Instead, it would be defined by an impressive 23-2 Messiah run which derived from hard nosed, on-ball defense — specifically the defense from freshman Nicky Hess and senior Julie Henninger, on Kofeldt and Strohman, respectively.
“Before the run, we weren't contesting (Elizabethtown's) shooting,” Miller said. “And when we didn't contest, they made their shots. Nicky and Julie did a good job in the first half (during the run) to stop their shooting, get up on them defensively and make them shoot. It is hard to go inside against Dori, Michele, and (freshman) Kira (Maier) and that causes people to shoot outside shots. And when we contested those shots, they didn't go in.”
During the run, Messiah shot 9-21 from the floor and grabbed 12 rebounds, seven on the offensive end, to own a 20 point, 36-16 half time lead.
In the first half, The Falcon's shot 43 percent from the floor, lead by Henninger with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. Gyori went 2-4 from the field and 3-3 from the free throw line but dominated the glass on both ends, grabbing 11 boards, seven offensive. Schleich went two for five for five points.
Perhaps the only ugly stat for Miller's group was 12 first-half turnovers to just seven assists.
Things would get worse.
From the get-go of the second period, the Blue Jays added pressure with a full court 1-2-1-1 trapping press that had an energetic and determined Strohman pressuring Hess and Henninger. It instantly was a success as Messiah turned the ball over nine seconds into the half.
Time and time again, the press slowed the Falcons and a lead once as big as 22 withered into just a 12 point advanage at the midway point of the final stanza. Strohman and Kofeldt led E'Town both offensively and defensively, scoring 22 of the Blue Jays' 36 second-half points.
“We had a lack of focus (in the second half),” Miller said. “We didn't take care of the basketball at all. It wasn't the press because we faced it against Widener (University) and we only had five (turnovers). We just didn't want to play in the second half. We have to get better.”
With nine minutes to play in the game, Kofeldt and Strohman reentered the game for the Blue Jays, looking to find that final push to win the game. But with the presence of Gyori, Schleich and Maier in the middle, it would have to come from outside shooting and Kofeldt and Strohman went cold. The two-headed monster never could put just enough pressure or make the big basket to start the push, and Messiah was never seriously challenged.
With a 21-point lead in hand, the Falcons patiently sustained the final five minutes of the game, only giving up six points to finish the game with a 15-point, 67-52 victory.
Strohman finished a strong performance with 17 points, shooting six of 12 from the floor and three of six from behind the arc. Kofeldt tallied 16 points of her own, shooting six of 15 from the floor, but an impressive four for seven from deep. Elizabethtown finished the game shooting just 37 percent, but were kept alive by 43 percent three-point shooting.
Gyori finished with her seventh double-double the season (and third straight), finishing the game with 14 points on five of seven shooting and 13 rebounds. Henninger finished a strong overall performance, shooting four of 12 from the field and a perfect five for five from the charity strip for 13 points. She also grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists. Schleich finished with 12 points on five of eight shooting.
The Falcons shot 52 percent form the floor as 11 of all 12 players made a basket — numbers that helped offset the aforementioned 29 giveaways.
Also aiding Messiah's effort was a season-best +21 rebounding margin, as Miller's group finished with 42 caroms to E'Town's 21.
Gyori nearly outrebounded the entire Blue Jay squad all by herself.
“Dori works hard,” Miller said. “She will probably be shooting in the morning on her own. Since the Scranton game, she has been much more aggressive. She wants the ball inside. She battles. She is confident and most importantly, she stays out of foul trouble. Plus the way that Dori, Michele, and Kira play together is great.”
With the win, Messiah stays in second place in the Commonwealth Conference behind Lebanon Valley College and will travel to Alvernia University Saturday to continue the second half of the conference schedule. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
“Alvernia played us real tough here,” Miller added. “We have to get better for Saturday. I don't know how far we can go, but I know that we need to get better.”
