Grantham, PA - Messiah College overcame a 22-20 halftime deficit to outscore Pitt-Greensburg 31-12 in the second-half and earn their first win of the season. The victory pushed the Falcons into the championship game of this weekend's Hampton Inn Tip-Off Tournament, where they will face Ithaca College on Saturday afternoon.

Deanna Eyerkuss led the Falcons with 11 points, while Gillian Glackin added 10 points and six rebounds. Nineteen of the Falcons 51 points came from their bench in the win.
 
The Falcons battled themselves as much the Bobcats in the first-half, as they shot just 8-28 from the field and turned the ball over nine times. Still, they kept pace with Pitt and never trailed by more than two possessions.
 
At the start of the second-half the teams traded blows and were tied 26-26 when the Falcons made their decisive run. Two free-throws from Eyerkuss marked the start of a 21-2 run that put Messiah up 47-28 with 5:10 to play. Eyerkuss scored a third of those points, with Dominique Seamon contributing two three's to put the Falcons strongly in front.
 
A three-pointer by Emily Merryman ended Messiah's game-changing run, but it was too little, too late as Messiah led by at least 15 points the rest of the way.

"We had really good energy tonight, and we moved the ball well," head coach Mike Miller said. "We made some adjustments throughout the game and our team executed well, especially in the second-half.

"It was good to see the ball move and to hit shots."
 
The Falcons turned the ball over nine more times in the second-half, but they shot 9-23 from the field, including 3-6 from downtown. Messiah also finished a perfect 13-13 from the free-throw line, with Glackin collectin six of those points.
 
Glackin added five assists to her 10 points and six boards, and Messiah collected 13 assists overall on 17 made field goals. Sienna Wisse added nine points for the Falcons.
 
Kayla Dames scored 11 points to lead the Bobcats. They fell to 1-2 with the loss.
 
Messiah (1-2) will next play on Saturday afternoon when they host Ithaca in the Tournament Championship at 4:00 p.m.