St. Pete, FL – Messiah women's basketball lost 63-48 to Carthage College on Friday in the opening game of the St. Pete's Classic in Flordia. The Falcons played close with the Lady Reds for much of the afternoon before Carthage ran away in the second-half. Kaitlin Hoff and Dominique Seamon led the Falcons with 11 points each, with Gillian Glackin adding nine points and seven rebounds.

Messiah started the game in a quick 5-0 hole, and fell behind 12-5 with 13:56 left on the clock. But they settled in to the tune of eight-straight points to go up 13-12. Kaitlyn Hoff and Hannah Brown hit back-to-back three's in the short run.
 
With 6:24 left before halftime a layup by Erin Quinn put the Lady Reds up 22-16. Deanna Eyerkuss then responded for Messiah with a three-point play, with a free-throw following a driving finish.
 
The Falcons trailed 27-24 at the break, with Hoff's seven points leading the way.

"Kate and Hannah really sparked us in the first-half," Messiah head coach Mike Miller said. "That really helped us cover (Gillian Glackin's) foul trouble."
 
The second-half started quickly for Carthage, and they pushed a 32-30 lead to a 38-30 advantage with 13:54 left to play. Seven of their first 11 second-half points came from Alexis Hahn, including consecutive jumpers that put them up by eight.
 
Messiah did draw close again off a bucket from Brown and two free-throws from Hoff, but then Carthage took over. They went on a 17-5 run to break the game open, with a three-pointer by Kasey Kleiner putting them up 55-39 with 4:31 left.

"We fought really hard, but we also faced a very good team and program," Miller said. "(Carthage) took advantage of our defensive mistakes."
 
Hahn led the Lady Reds with 18 points, with Keliner scoring 17 points. Erin Thomas scored 10 points, with all three players contributing heavily to Carthage's 34-8 advantage on points in the paint.
 
Glackin battled through first-half foul trouble before finishing with nine points, while Hannah Brown added seven points; Brown, Hoff, and Eyerkuss combined for 23 points off the bench.

"We're capable of getting better," MIller added. "Everyone needs to be committed to the journey, and if we do that we'll get keep improving."
 
The loss dropped Messiah to 5-5 on season while Carthage improved to 5-3.
 
The Falcons will turn around and play tomorrow, Dec. 20, against Berry College at 12:00 p.m.