Box Score
San Juan, PR – Messiah College experienced defeat for the first time this season, falling to No. 1 DePauw University in the Puerto Rico Shootout by the score of 63-49 The Tigers used a furious second-half push to break the game open, as the teams had entered halftime tied at 28-28.
The loss drops the No. 8 Falcons to 9-1 this year. DePauw moves to 9-0.
Messiah came out strong in contest, taking an early 13-9 lead. They pushed their advantage to 17-11 behind a bucket from senior
Dori Gyori, and then 23-16 on the back of a three-pointer from junior
Taylor Miller.
DePauw would fight right back, however, going on an 8-0 run to take a 24-23 lead. Two buckets from downtown bookended the Tigers' run, with all eight points also coming after Gyori subbed out of the game.
After a timeout—and a reinsertion of Gyori back into the game—Messiah went up 27-24 with buckets from Gyori and Miller. A single free-throw from Gyori put the Falcons up 28-24 with less than a minute to play before the half.
Undeterred, junior Alex Gasaway single-handedly tied the game on back-to-back possessions for DePauw, scoring off a put-back and a jumper to send the teams into the intermission knotted at 28 points apiece.
Unlike the first-half, the second frame started quickly for DePauw. Two three-pointers finished a 9-0 run for the Tigers, as they took a 37-28 lead. Junior Ali Ross hitting a shot clock-beating trey to cap the streak.
With DePauw pushing forward, Messiah struggled with their shooting; the Falcons started the second-half by missing their first five shots. Sophomore
Hannah Nichols ended the drought for Messiah with a jumper from the right corner, drawing her team to within 37-30.
But DePauw would continue to keep the pressure on Messiah, eventually taking a 49-34 lead off a transition bucket from Savannah Trees. Strong offensive rebounding and perimeter shooting helped the Tigers' cause, as they seemed to wear Messiah down with extra possessions and crisp execution.
The Tigers' lead never fell below 13 points from that point forward.
The Falcons shot just 32% from the field in the second-half after shooting 49% through the first 20 minutes. DePauw, meanwhile, hit 48% from the field after the break, as they crushed the Falcons on the boards, 46-20.
"We played good defense, but DePauw took advantage of us on the glass," head coach
Mike Miller said. "We will need to clean that up, because we know we're a better rebounding team than we showed."
Gasaway finished with a game-high 25 points on 11-18 shooting, including 2-3 from downtown. Ross added 11 points.
Gyori led the Falcons with 17 points an a game-high nine boards, with Miller and senior
Kira Maier adding 12 points and 11 points, respectively.
"Dori and Kira were really good for us again," Miller said. "Taylor was also very good, probably with one of her best games of the season."
The Falcons shot just 3-13 (23%) from the three-point line in the game, with just one of eight attempts in the second-half going through the hoop.
One bright spot for Messiah was their eight total turnovers, seven less than DePauw.
"We learned a lot about ourselves today," Miller said of the loss to the No. 1-ranked Tigers. "Among many things, we learned that we can play with the best and, though the score wasn't in our favor, we know that we can put oursevles in a position to beat the best."
The win for DePauw is their second in as many games against ranked opponents, as they defeated No. 20 Babson on Tuesday.
Though the loss drops Messiah to 9-1, they will have a chance to get back in the win column on Thursday when they play the Metropolitan University of Puerto Rico. The game will be the final contest for the Falcons in the Puerto Rico Shootout.
