Box Score
By Bryn Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Reading, PA - After going on an 8-2 run to take a 10-point lead into the half, the Falcons pulled away from the Crusaders late in a 65-48 in on the road. Sophomore
Taylor Miller scored a game-high 17 points, knocking down 4-8 from three-point range along the way. Classmate Chelsea scored a season-high 16 points on 6-8 shooting from the field.
The win-- one that Messiah head coach
Mike Miller referred to as "one of the best 'team' wins he has ever seen" move the Falcons to 10-2 in the Commonwealth this season, currently second place.
In the Alvernia win, Messiah overcame the absence of two of their five starters and additional foul trouble to pull away late for a 17-point win.
"This is a memorable game for us," Miller said. "You look at some of the absences we had tonight, and some others who got into foul trouble-- basically, four of our players who routinely play a lot of minutes. Everybody knew their role and played their role tonight. Our players bought into adjustments we had to make, and they made it easy for us coaches to try out different things."
The Falcons started junior
Jordan Seiz and sophomore
Chelsea Danel in place of juniors
Katelyn Vanderhoff and
Nicky Hess. Junior
Dori Gyori struggled with foul trouble and played just 17 minutes throughout the game, and junior
Jordan Seiz left the game late in the first half with an injury.
As a result, the Falcons saw significant action from their bench, notably juniors
Becca Albus and
Megan Shipe, sophomore
Emily Martz, and freshman
Hannah Nichols. Albus played 30 minutes, the fourth most on the team, while Shipe, Martz, and Nichols combined for 34 minutes.
"Quite honestly, our game plan was to make adjustments as needed," said Miller. "When we played (Alvernia) the first time, we put a lot of pressure on their point guard, and this time around we played back in the half-court. That kept Chelsea, especially, from exhausting herself in the full-court, and it kept our half-court defense much stronger."
The game started slowly for the Falcons, as it took seven minutes for them to grab their first lead. They eventually took a 15-7 lead midway through the first frame, and then a 32-22 lead at halftime.
Messiah continued increasing their lead in the second half, while also continuing to rely on their bench. The Falcons led 47-31 five minutes into the second half and, although Alvernia closed the gap to 51-41, they never seriously threatened for the rest of the game.
Junior
Kira Maier, the veteran leader on the court for most of the game, scored 12 points on a near perfect shooting night (5-6). She also grabbed eight boards, and collected four steals.
"As far as it goes statistically, nobody played poorly," Miller said. "I look at Kira's impact on the game with Dori in foul trouble. She had 12 points and eight rebounds but her impact on the game--deflections, tough rebounds, defending in the post--those things don't show up. Without Dori out there, for Kira to be out there all the minutes, with the energy she put out, was excellent."
Sophomore
Taylor Miller scored 17 points and dished out five assists, while Danel scored 16 and added a pair of assists, rebounds, and steals in what was arguably the most impressive performance of her career.
"Obviously, Chelsea had a great game and we needed that," Miller said. "Her stats were pretty good. Taylor was really solid, and she had big defensive responsibilities throughout the game. We had to lean on her, too, and keep her off her regular substitution patterns. It was a complete team effort, no doubt about it. It was a great game and it helps us believe in ourselves even more."
The victory improved Messiah to 19-4 (10-2) for the season. The team will travel to Widener University on Thursday for a make-up game from earlier this month before returning home for their regular-season finale against Elizabethtown on Saturday, February 18.
