Box Score
By Bryn Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Glenside, PA - The Messiah Falcons opened up a double-digit halftime lead on Saturday as rode the advantage to a 68-60 victory over Arcadia University. In completing the win, the Falcons held off a late Knights' rally to capture their second straight win. The Falcons' ninth conference victory keeps them in second place in the Commonwealth Conference.
"It was a close game," said Messiah head coach
Mike Miller. "Since we were up by ten at halftime, I thought we would be able to at least maintain the lead. They put pressure on us, and played really well."
The Knights scored 35 points in the second half against the Falcons, with Miller crediting much of their offensive effectiveness to their 27 total trips to the free throw line.
At the beginning of the game, the Falcons and Knights exchanged the lead a total of five times. The final lead change occurred when Messiah scored six points in a row to go from down 15-13 to up 19-16.
Messiah entered halftime with a somewhat-commanding 35-25 lead, shooting 15-34 (44.1 percent), while holding Arcadia to just 7-22 (31.8 percent).
"I thought that Dori (Gyori) and Kira (Maier) carried us in at times in the first half," Miller said. Gyori, who was recently
featured in Messiah College's Story Link, scored 11 points. Maier scored six points in the first half.
The Falcons increased their lead to 43-32 just three minutes into the second half. But Arcadia climbed back into the game yet again, cutting their deficit to 45-41 and then 49-48.
One other time the Knights came within a point of tying Messiah, but they were unable to regain the lead. The Falcons used a late 13-0 run to close out the game and clinch the victory.
Despite his team's struggles for the majority of the second half, Miller had confidence in his team getting the job done when it mattered most.
"We went zone defense and that probably helped," Miller said. "I just felt like at some point we were going to make a shot or make some plays. We didn't shoot well from the outside and (Arcadia) was doing a good job defensively to take us out of our comfortability. Overall, we still scored 68 points, which was enough."
The Falcons (18-4) were led by
Dori Gyori-- the Commonwealth's leading scorer, as she poured in 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Gyori also blocked four shots.
Kira Maier also posted a double-double, scoring 11 and collecting 10 boards. Sophomore
Taylor Miller scored 15 points, including 10 points in the final seven minutes as Messiah clinched the win. Classmate
Chelsea Danel scored nine points and junior
Jordan Seiz scored eight points, adding five rebounds in the process.
The Falcons lost the rebounding battle (43 to 38), but committed nine fewer turnovers (10 to 19).
The loss for Arcadia drops the Knights to 3-19 on the season, including 0-12 in the conference.
The victory sets Messiah up for a road game with Alvernia University on Tuesday, February 14 at 6:00 p.m. The Falcons, 9-2 in the conference and currently in second place, will follow-up the Alvernia game with a Thursday match-up at Widener before wrapping up the regular-season with a home game against Elizabethtown on Saturday, February 18.
