Lexington, VA – Messiah College rode a huge second-half performance to race away from Washington & Lee on Saturday afternoon, 92-59. The output marked the third time in as many games that Messiah tallied at least 80 points, and they moved to 6-0 with the win.
 
Gillian Glackin led all scorers with 19 points, and she also collected 11 boards for the double-double. Alecia Rohrer (17) and Leah Springer (10) joined Glackin in double-digit scoring and nine different players scored at least six points apiece.
 
The Generals were led by Jackie Clifford's 12 points, with Emily Perszyk and Emma Redding adding 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
As a team the Falcons collected 16 steals as part of an impressive 21-11 advantage in turnovers and a 25-13 advantage in points off turnovers. Messiah also shot 28-61 from the field (46%) including 6-9 from beyond the arc.
 
The Falcons took a 41-37 lead into halftime, and they changed the game with a 10-0 run to start the third quarter. Rhorer opened the scoring with a long two-pointer from above the free-throw line, and a possession later she put through a short hook in the paint to make it 45-37. Glackin then score four-straight points of her own on two-straight possession that bookended a terrific defensive stand that resulted in a Generals' shot clock violation.
 
The 10-0 run lasted the first four minutes of the frame, and the streak eventually became 17-2 when Maci Thorton stripped away a steal in the corner and went endline-to-endline to draw a shooting foul that led to two free-throws.
 
All told Messiah outscored Washington & Lee 22-7 in the third to build a 63-45 advantage.
 
In the fourth quarter Messiah stayed hot when Jen Fairbanks opened the scoring with a long three-pointer from the top of the key. Three-pointers later in the frame by Becca Isaac and Hannah Brown put Messiah up 78-52, and a moment later Kristen Smoluk hit a long two-pointer from the right side to give the Falcons their third-straight 80-point game.
 
The big second-half for Messiah was made possible by a strong first two quarters that saw the Falcons and Generals trade both transition buckets and perimeter shots. Early in the first quarter Kaitlin Hoff provided an early highlight with a driving finish on the right side to both beat the shot clock and draw a foul for a three-point play. A three-pointer by Smoluk and a fastbreak finish by Fairbanks put Messiah up 20-13, but Washington & Lee rode some hot shooting of their own—10-16 from the field, including 3-6 from deep—to go up 24-23 after 10 minutes.
 
In the second quarter the back-and-forth play continued and Brown hit a long three-pointer from the right side to give the Falcons a 32-28 lead with 7:42 on the clock. Messiah led the rest of the half, but never more than six points until that impressive streak in the third quarter.
 
As mentioned, the scoring output was a season-high for Messiah and they've now scored at least 80 points in four of six games.
 
Messiah will next play on Monday when they host Lancaster Bible College at 7:30 p.m.