Reading, PA – Messiah College came oh so close to an upset in the MAC Commonwealth Championship on Saturday, but No. 9 Albright came up with big plays at the end to hold off the Falcons in a 69-58 win. Five different Albright players scored in double-figures with Nina Mazzarelli and Erin O'Donnell each tallying a team-high 14 points. Kaitlyn Hoff led the Falcons with a  game-high 18 points with Dominique Seamon (13 points) and Jen Fairbanks (11) close behind.
 
Messiah trailed 40-32 at halftime before outscoring the Lions 17-9 in the third quarter to tie the game up at 49-49. Early in the final frame Messiah even took a one-point lead for a possession, and a transition jumper by Kristen Smoluk brought Messiah to within 55-54 with 6:18 to play. But from that point forward the Lions outscored Messiah 14-4 behind two dramatic three-pointers by Shannon Thomas.
 
Thomas' first triple over that stretch came near the end of the shot clock with 3:58 to play, and it made the score 61-54. After Seamon hit a long two-pointer to make it a five points game, Thomas drilled a long three from the right wing to put Albright up 64-56.
 
The Lions sealed the game by going 5-6 from the free-throw line in the final 1:15.
 
As mentioned, Messiah's late push was helped immensely by a strong third quarter. Fairbanks started the frame with a three-pointer, and Seamon hit both a jumper and a driving layup as part of a 7-0 run to make it 40-39. The teams traded buckets for a few minutes before Fairbanks gave the Falcons their first lead, 44-43, with a running shot of the glass. With 2:08 left in the frame a turnaround jumper on the left block by Alecia Rohrer put Messiah up 47-45, and a moment later the teams were tied heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
The strong third quarter helped Messiah overcome a streaky first-half that saw them trail by as many as 12 points. They were down 20-13 after the first frame, and Hoff was a big reason why they stayed within striking distance. She scored 14 of her points in the first-half on a perfect 5-5 from the field. Seamon and Gillian Glackin each scored six points before the break, although Glackin finished the game with just eight points on 1-6 shooting. She collected the same number of rebounds, which was especially noticeable considering her 30 point, 23 rebound explosion the other night in the Semifinal. Even still, Glackin did a commendable job in battling with fellow All-MAC Commonwealth forward Kelecia Harris and holding her to just 13 points.
 
True to Albright's strength with Harris and teammate O'Donnell, the Lions earned a 34-20 edge in points in the paint, including an 8-2 edge in the fourth quarter. The Lions' bench also shined, outscoring Messiah's reserves 16-4. That margin was undoubtedly helped along by their defensive work on conference Rookie of the Year Rohrer, who scored just two points on just 1-3 from the field. Smoluk's jumper accounted for the only other bucket from Messiah's non-starters.

Fairbanks added five rebounds to her 11 points, and Seamon led the team with three assists. Jane Joyce (10 points) collected a game-high seven assists while doing a great job facilitating the Albright offense.

The title for Albright is the first in program history, and they now sit at 24-2 overall. One of their two losses came to Messiah in the regular-season.

The loss dropped Messiah to 19-8 overall. Though they'll hope for an at-large bid to next month's NCAA Tournamnet, the Falcons are surely on the bubble for selection.