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Amherst, MA – Messiah College shot just 30.2% from the field and committed 17 turnovers on Friday, losing to Widener 67-52 in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championships Tournament. The Falcons trailed 32-28 at the half before succumbing to a 22-11 run by the Pride to start the second-half. The loss to their conference rival ends the Falcons' season at 25-5.
Lil Carney led the Pride with 12 points and eight assists, proving to be a handful for the Falcons all night. Vanessa Hejnas scored a game-high 15 points while Kate Dellinger added 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Messiah's leading score was
Kira Maier with 12 points, with
Dori Gyori adding 11 points and 12 rebounds. Gyori managed just one field-goal however, shooting 1-10 from the field as the Widener defenders limited her opportunities from start to finish.
The Falcons led for just a few seconds in the first-half, as they battled back from a 9-2 hole to take an 11-9 lead at the 14:45 mark.
Nicky Hess gave the Falcons the advantage with her lone three-pointer of the night, only to see Widener make four-straight free-throws to again go in front.
The Pride continued with another four-straight points, with Carney pushing in transition and driving down the lane to put Widener up 15-11. After a free-throw from
Chelsea Danel brought Messiah to within 15-12, Carney found Courtney Colella in transition to put the Pride up 17-12.
They would continue scoring in transition, building their lead to 27-15 over the next few minutes.
Messiah chipped away, primarily behind the long-range shooting of
Taylor Miller. She would hit three three-pointers in the first-half, the third of which brought the Falcons to within 30-24. Altogether, Messiah would go into the half trailing only 32-28 after shooting just 7-24 (29.2%) from the floor.
“We were thrilled with where we were at, especially because of those early minutes,” Messiah head coach
Mike Miller said, commenting on his team's position slight deficit at the half. “We did a better job defensively as the half moved on, and we started to move more on the offensive end.”
The Falcons' first-half survival was aided by 10-13 shooting from the free-throw line, with Gyori accounting for 9-11 shooting on her own.
“(Widener) was playing at a high level, and we needed to keep attacking the rim,” Miller said. “We kept urging our players to attack the rim. That's how we got back into the game.”
Miller's encouragement to his team would carry into the second-half, as Maier scored on a pass-and-cut play with Danel to make it a 32-30 game. But unfortunately for Messiah, that would be the closest they would get.
“We got to within two points, but then started to settle for jumpers,” Miller said, reflecting on the Falcons' offensive execution. “Our forwards took three-straight jumpers after that shot by Kira, and Widener ended up being the more aggressive team.”
Ahead 38-35 with 14:47 left, Carney keyed a 6-0 run the Pride, contributing a bucket and an assist in transition as Widener again pushed their lead to nine points. Messiah seemed poised to make another run of their own, as Gyori scored her lone bucket and Danel hit two free-throws to make it 44-39, but Widener was unfazed.
With the shot-clock under ten, Dellinger drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key and, on the next Widener possession, Kristina Reiter hit a high-arching triple from the right corner to make it 50-39.
The back-breaking three-pointers contributed to a 22-11 streak by the Pride that covered the first 11:06 of the second-half. When it was finished, Widener was ahead 54-39 and would lead by double-figures the rest of the way.
“Absolutely they were more aggressive tonight,” Miller said of Widener. “We cut into the lead for a moment, but they hit those three's and, looking back now, you see that they were back-breakers for us.”
Widener built their lead to as many as 18 points (65-47) as Carney continued to beat the Falcons down the floor both on the dribble and with passes to Hejnas and Francesca Lee.
“She's played her best basketball in the last few weeks,” Miller said of Carney. “I don't know what happened, but she's been more aggressive recently than in the last couple of years. She got her team to the rim and they made plays.”
While Widener was proving difficult to contain, the Falcons were having their own offensive problems. They made just nine field-goals in the second half, but also managed just eight attempts from the free-throw line.
“Every time we talked (at timeouts and dead balls) we were talking about attacking the rim,” Miller said. “But we weren't executing well. Our spacing was bad, our forwards seemed to be on top of each other, and our guards weren't finding space for penetration. We just weren't able to do what we wanted.”
For the game, Messiah finished just 16-53 from the floor, including 6-17 from three-point range.
The loss drops Messiah's record to 25-5, with this senior's class completing their careers at 90-24 with four appearances in the NCAAs.
This year's run to the Sweet 16 was the deepest by a Messiah team since their National Runner-Up finish in 2008.
“They're great kids and they've accomplished a lot,” Miller said of his senior class. “Going to the NCAAs for four-straight years—it's something that shouldn't be taken for granted.”
The Pride (24-5), playing in their fourth-ever NCAA Tournament, will take on the winner of Amherst and Tufts on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
WBB: Falcons Battle Pride In Sweet 16 Gallery
