XML Box Score Grantham, PA - Messiah College built a 45-16 halftime lead over Hood College en route to a 74-39 win on their home court. The win pushed Messiah to 5-3 overall while also giving them their first Commonwealth victory of the season (1-2).
Gillian Glackin led the falcons with 15 points and 10 rebounds to account for her fifth double-double of the season.
Chelsea Danel (13 points) and
Hannah Nichols (11 points) joined in double-figure scoring as Messiah led for all but 17 seconds of the game.
"I'm very happy with our performance tonight," head coach
Mike Miller commented. "We took care of business in the first half and played with a lot of energy."
The Falcons' first-half advantage came about by a very balanced offense. In their first six scoring possessions, the Falcons looked inside twice, hit two threes, and were 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Overall, shooting was quite impressive in the first half. The Falcons shot 77.8% (14-18) from the free throw line, 60% (3-5) from three, and 46.7% (14-30) from the field.
Although Messiah's offense was on point for the opening 20 minutes, their defense wasn't too shabby either. The Falcons forced Hood (1-5, 0-3) to turn the ball over 18 times in the half, leading to 21 points for Messiah.
"Our defensive effort was much better tonight, but not where it needs to be," Miller said. "It's nice to see the improvement we've made and the desire we have to get better."
In the second half, the Falcons scored in three of their first six possessions to put seven more points on the board. Following a three from
Chelsea Danel that increased Messiah's lead to 52-18, the Falcons' offense seemed to tighten up. For the next six minutes, they would go without a bucket; watching Hood cut their lead by 13 points.
With 11:23 to play,
Taylor Miller ended Messiah's scoring drought with her sole triple of the second half, bringing life back to the Falcons.
The remainder of the second half was fueled primarily by Messiah's depth from the bench.
Katelyn Vanderhoff, who watched most of last season from the sidelines due to an injury, added four points for the Falcons in only her second game of the 2013-2014 campaign.
Kelsie Hitesman followed Vanderhoff's lead to score four points of her own, while
Dominique Seamon went 3-for-4 from the free throw line and added another bucket for five points.
In the end, Messiah's bench outscored Hood 26-7.
"It's was great to see so many players step in and make an impact," Miller commented on the play of his non-starters. "Dom[inique] and Kate[lyn] gave us good minutes and Kelsie added some points in the final moments. We need that kind of contribution, especially going into Albright this weekend."
The Falcons will look to bring home another conference win on Saturday when they travel to Reading for the 2:00 p.m. start.
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