Grantham, PA – In a tale of two halves, the Messiah College Falcons were unable to fend off Commonwealth leader Stevenson University on Saturday afternoon, losing 59-46.
 
The Falcons started off quick, spreading the ball around and jumping out to an early 10-4 lead off of baskets from Gillian Glackin, Deanna Eyerkuss, Kaitlyn Hoff, and Jen Fairbanks. The Messiah defense stifled the Mustangs offense for much of the first-half, holding Stevenson to just 11 points on 4-15 shooting with 3:49 left, while also forcing 16 turnovers in that span.
 
The scoring would pick up from that moment on, as Messiah and Stevenson would trade baskets for the next two 2:30 seconds. With 53 seconds left in the first-half, Dominique Seamon would hit a jumper from the shoulder, extending Messiahs lead and giving them a 25-18 advantage. The Mustangs would respond in a big way, however as Sara Tarbert would make a pair of free throws followed by a buzzer beater three-pointer from Ty Bender to cut the Falcons lead to just 2 heading into the break.
 
With the momentum in their favor, Stevenson came out of the first-half break and immediately put pressure on the Falcons with a full court press; an adjustment that seemed to overwhelm Messiah at times, while undoubtedly taking them out of their rhythm. 
 
"Stevenson did a great job of maintaining pressure", said head coach Mike Miller.
 
With Messiah struggling to score, the visiting Mustangs capitalized in a big way by going on a 23-8 run that lasted 10:53 seconds. With 9:52 left to play, Hannah Nichols hit a jumper from just inside the three-point line, giving the Falcons their first basket in almost seven minutes of play.
 
Messiah would eventually cut the Mustangs lead back down to just five points on a jumper by Gillian Glackin, making the score 45-40. Stevenson never let it get any closer as they went on a devastating 14-0 run starting on their ensuing possession that would finish with just 1:41 left in regulation.  
 
"We need to do a better job of responding to teams when they make changes and step it up a level", head coach Mike Miller would go onto say.
 
The Falcons would go on to make just 6-22 shots (27.27%) in the second half.
 
Gillian Glackin was the only Falcon to record double-digit points with 13.
 
The loss drops the Falcons to 12-10 overall and 8-5 in the conference.  They next host Albright College on Feb. 11 at 6:00 p.m.