Grantham, PA - Messiah College and Susquehanna University took turns forcing extra sessions before the Crusaders came away with a wild 78-73 win over the Falcons to open the 2015 season. Nikki Komara led all scorers with 21 points and Sofie Schedler hit a back-breaking three-pointer to give the Crusaders the lead for good with 1:24 to play.
 
Alicia Rohrer led the Falcons with 20 points and 11 rebounds in her collegiate debut, and both Gillian Glackin (13 points, 14 rebounds) and Jen Fairbanks (10 points, 11 rebounds) also collected double-doubles for Messiah.
 
The loss moved Messiah into the 1:00 p.m. consolation game on Saturday against Lehman College.
 
Playing in the new quarter format for the first time, the Falcons and Crusaders kept pace with each other deep in the final minutes. The Falcons trailed 56-52 with less than three minutes to play, but a jumper by Kaitlin Hoff started a quick 4-0 run that tied the game with 2:13 to play. Glackin's pair of free-throws sealed that comeback.
 
The teams went scoreless into the final seconds and Dominique Seamon hit a short jumper from the right side with just six seconds to play to give Messiah a 58-56 lead. Susquehanna called a timeout, and they immediately benefitted from another new change to the collegiate rules as they chose to move their inbound up to mid-court. The better spot proved significant as Komara rolled off a backscreen to the weakside for a long pass and baseline teardrop to tie the game with four seconds left.
 
Komara's big bucket forced the first overtime, and her three-pointer with 1:04 left in that extra session put Susquehanna up 65-64. Rohrer quickly put the Falcons back up 66-65 off a great pass from Hoff, but Courtney Adams hit a jumper with 19 seconds to play for another Crusader lead.
 
On their final possession Deanna Eyerkuss launched a long jumper that hit off the rim, but Glackin simultaneously grabbed the board and attempted the put-back. She was fouled on the play, and went to line for two shots with just 0.5 on the clock. She missed the first but hit the second, and the teams went into another extra period.
 
Messiah scored first in the second overtime, but Susquehanna rolled off six-straight points to take a 73-69 lead with 3:22 to play. Becca Isaac answered for Messiah with a huge three-pointer, their only bucket from deep all night. Then, with under two minutes to play, Glackin again hit 1-2 free-throws to tie the game at 73-73.
 
But Susquehanna then got the biggest shot of the night from Schedler when she drilled a three-pointer from the left corner with 1:24 on the clock. Messiah did manage to attempt four shots on their next possession—including three three-pointers—but they were unable to cut into their deficit. Two free-throws by the Crusaders with nine seconds to play sealed the result.
 
Messiah dominated the Crusaders on the boards, 57-42, but those numbers also reflected the less-than-stellar shooting by both teams on opening night. Messiah shot just 28-83 (34%) from the field, and only 1-13 (8%) from behind the arc, while Susquehanna shot just 7-27 (25%) from three-point range. The Crusaders did hit 41% from the field overall (30-74).
 
The teams also combined for 50 turnovers in a game that was much more entertaining than the numbers suggest.
 
Hoff and Seamon each scored 10 points to round out five double-digit scorers for Messiah, and Hoff added five assists and six boards.