Grantham, PA - In a wild and competitive battle of the conference's top two teams, Albright collected the final rally and secured a stunning 85-82 win over No. 22 Messiah on Saturday afternoon. The win pushed Albright to 12-4 on the season and 7-0 in the MAC Commonwealth, while the Falcons took their first loss of the season to fall to 15-1 overall and 6-1 in the conference.
In what proved to be a nutty back-and-forth clash, Messiah went down 20-5 in the first quarter before going on a 41-9 run to take an 11-point halftime lead. They went up by as many 14 points in the third quarter but Albright pulled off a dramatic comeback of their own behind an incredible effort from Alysha Lofton. The dynamic junior forward scored 20 of her game-high 31 points after the break, and she scored five-straight points early in the fourth to put Albright back in front, 63-62. That completed an 8-0 run by the Lions and set-up a back-and-forth finish between the two teams.
Gillian Glackin tied the game for the last time, 73-73, with just over three minutes to play, but with 1:21 on the clock Shannon Thomas hit a back-breaking three-pointer to increase the Lions' lead to 82-75. Albright failed the put the game away at the free-throw line, however, as Jane Joyce missed four of six attempts in the final 38 seconds. Two of those misses came after Kaitlin Hoff hit a contested three to make it 85-82, but after a timeout advanced the ball to the front of their bench, a last-second shot from
Jen Fairbanks went off the backboard as the buzzer sounded.
As mentioned, Lofton finished with a game-high 31 points on 11-15 shooting, including 9-9 from the free-throw line. Thomas and Joyce each added 15 points, and they also combined for 22 points in the second-half to support the Lions' comeback. Messiah was led in scoring by Kaitlin Hoff's 21 points, with
Maci Thornton also hitting for 20 points. Glackin finished with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Lofton scored 11 points early for the Lions, but two personal fouls held her to just nine minutes played before the break. Messiah took advantage with a huge second quarter that started with a 10-1 run.
Maci Thornton capped off that rally with a three-pointer that brought Messiah within 27-25, and the Falcons completed the comeback when Fairbanks hit a three of her own from the top of the key with 4:01 on the clock. That bucket made it 34-33, and Messiah went up 44-33 before Nina Mazzarelli hit two free-throws. A stepback jumper by Thornton with four seconds left finished the Falcons' run at 41-9 stretching from the first quarter to the break.
In the third Messiah continued to play with the lead, and even went up 56-42 when Fairbanks finished in front of the rim. But Messiah could not keep their foot on the pedal, and Albright crawled back in to score 13 of the quarter's final 17 points. Joyce's buzzer-beating runner from half-court put an exclamation point on that streak, and the Lions carried the momentum into the final period.
Despite losing their lead, Messiah did not hang their heads and let Albright run way.
Kristen Smoluk's turnaround jumper tied the game at 66-66 with 6:03 to play, though the Falcons would not lead again.
Albright's hot shooting in the second-half (16-30, 55%) kept the Falcons grounded, and Lofton's incredible effort proved to be the difference in an instant-classic.
The two teams will match-up again in the final regular-season game on the schedule (Feb. 18).
Messiah will next play on Wednesday, Jan. 18 when they travel to Lebanon Valley to take on the Dutchmen at 6:00 p.m.