Annville, PA – No. 22 Messiah College women's basketball picked up an exciting overtime victory against Lebanon Valley College, 85-79 on Wednesday evening. The Falcons rebounded from their loss against Albright and moved to 16-1 overall and 7-1 in the MAC Commonwealth.

Messiah shot 27 of 62 (43.5%) from the field, only 6 of 20 (30%) from the three-point range, and 25 of 33 (75.8%) from the charity stripe. Four Falcons reached double figures; Gillian Glackin, Maci Thornton, and Alecia Rohrer each contributed 16 points and Kaitlyn Hoff scored 14 of her own. Jen Fairbanks added seven points and Kristen Smoluk posted six.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Messiah was leading LVC by as many as 11 points, but the Dutchmen began to chip away at the lead with a fast break layup and several trips to the free throw line. With just under two minutes remaining, Hilary Yoh knocked down a pair of free throws for the Dutchmen to cut the lead to only one point (68-67). The very next possession, Messiah turned over the ball and LVC's Becky Evans was able to draw a foul and take a trip to the line where she converted both shots to give the Dutchmen a 69-68 lead over the Falcons. With under a minute remaining, Rohrer was sent to the line where she was able to tie the game 69-69, but LVC answered with a wide-open layup by Jasmine Copeland. After being bumped at the top of the key, Maci Thornton was sent to the line with 30 seconds remaining and she tied the game back up 71-71. Both teams had another attempt to win, but their shots did not fall and so Messiah and LVC went to their benches to prepare for another five minutes of play.

In overtime, Messiah came out strong, aggressive, and confident, in which they held the Dutchmen to only eight points. The Falcons were able to get to the free throw line 10 times and scored eights of their 14 overtime points at the stripe. Gillian Glackin and Kaitlyn Hoff entered overtime with four fouls each, but that didn't stop them from having an impact on the court. Glackin contributed five points and three rebounds in the short five minutes of play and Hoff scored four points all from the free throw line. The Falcons ended up shooting 80% (8-10) from the line in overtime, which was a key component to their success over the Dutchmen.

The first quarter consisted of a lot of back and forth action. Lebanon Valley displayed aggressive defense and provided lots of pressure within their two-three zone, which created seven Falcon turnovers in the first quarter. Messiah also got into some early foul trouble when Gillian Glackin picked up two quick fouls within the first two minutes, she did not come back into the game until the third quarter. Although Messiah struggled to take care of the ball and was in foul trouble, they still kept pace with LVC and only trailed by one point (16-17) going into the second quarter.

The Falcons and Dutchmen continued to trade buckets throughout majority of the second quarter until the last minute of play. With 41 seconds remaining, Maci Thornton knocked down a three to give Messiah their biggest lead in the first half 37-31, and some momentum heading into the third quarter. Messiah was 14-30 (46.7%) in the first half and Maci Thornton led the Falcons with nine points, while Kaitlyn Hoff, Alecia Rohrer, and Kristen Smoluk each contributed six to give the Falcons a 37-31 lead going into half-time. LVC shot an impressive 4 of 7 (57.1%) from the three point range in the first half and 12-30 (40%) from the field.

In the third quarter, Messiah held onto their lead and with one minute remaining Hannah Brown knocked down a three-pointer off a Kaitlyn Hoff pass to give the Falcons a 10 point lead (57-47). After back to back jumpers by LVC they brought Messiah's lead down to 57-51 heading into the fourth.

Due to foul trouble throughout the game, Messiah was able to take advantage of their depth. The Falcons had 10 different players score in Wednesday night's game and Messiah's bench outscored the Dutchmen's bench 21-8.

LVC's Becky Evans led all scorers with 30 points and Hilary Yoh dominated with 23 points and 8 rebounds. The Dutchmen moved to 7-10 overall and 4-4 in the conference.

Messiah will next play Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 6:00 p.m. when they travel to Lycoming College.