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By Bryn Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA - Junior forward
Dori Gyori was recognized before Saturday's home game against Elizabethtown for scoring her 1,000th career point earlier this week. She celebrated by scoring another 17 more points in the Falcons' 63-57 win over the Blue Jays.
Gyori added a game-high 17 points as she led four Falcons in double-figure scoring. Messiah overcame a 50-41 deficit to earn their 12th win in the Commonwealth this season.
Saturday's game also marked the last regular season appearance for long-time Elizabethtown College head coach Yvonne Kauffman. Having started her career in the 1970-71 season, Kauffman will retire with an impressive 689 total wins.
Despite trailing by nine midway through the second half, the Falcons scored 13 points in a row-- behind a combination of flawless offense and feisty defense-- to take a lead that they would not relinquish.
"Elizabethtown is a playoff team," Messiah head coach
Mike Miller said. "They made shots during that stretch (eight straight) where they took the lead. You couldn't tell how that was going to end or if we were going to figure it out but what I am impressed with is that our kids definitely didn't panic. They kept fighting and they raised the level of play. It's been a long eight days, with four games in that stretch."
From the opening tip-off, the regular season finale was a defensive battle for the Falcons. Messiah held leads of 8-4 and 13-8, but Elizabethtown (16-8, 9-5) rallied to tie the game at 13, midway through the first half.
The Falcons (21-4, 12-2) scored eight in-a-row, and increased their lead to 31-17, but Elizabethtown used a 5-0 run at the end of the half to cut the lead to 31-24 at halftime.
The Falcons struggled in the second half, as Elizabethtown used a 26-10 run to build a commanding 50-41 lead with just 9:56 remaining.
But at that point, Messiah rallied, scoring 13 straight points over the next four minutes to build a 54-50 lead. Four different players scored during Messiah's stretch, highlighted by sophomores
Chelsea Danel's five, and
Taylor Miller's four.
The Blue Jays scored the next four to tie the game at 54 but juniors
Kira Maier and Gyori hit consecutive layups, and Messiah increased its lead to 58-54 with just 2:23 remaining.
Elizabethtown closed the gap to 58-57 with 1:31, but Gyori hit another layup and Miller hit a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to ice the victory.
The Falcons won 63-57, giving them a five-game winning streak to close out the regular season.
"What's really neat is that there's definitely an unbelievable amount of heart and character in this group, and even with the comeback, it didn't come from one person," Miller said. "It was five people coming back and five people handling the ball. It wasn't like we just rode one person. Everybody just kept playing as a team, and that's a credit to them."
The Falcons had a very balanced scoring attack, with four players reaching double-digits. Gyori led the Falcons with a double-double (17 points and 13 rebounds), plus four assists, three blocked shots, and three steals. Maier scored 15 points on 7 of 12 shooting, while Miller contributed 11 points and added three assists. Danel was a perfect 4 of 4 shooting to finish with 10 total points.
The Falcons shot 26 of 52 (50 percent) for the game, including an impressive 14 of 25 (56 percent) in the second half. They hit 9 of 10 foul shots, compared to just 4 of 10 for Elizabethtown.
The #2 Falcons will extend their season by hosting the first game of the Commonwealth Conference playoffs on Wednesday. The Falcons will take on #3 Widener University (17-8, 10-4) at 6:00 p.m.
