GRANTHAM, Pa. – No. 15 Messiah women's basketball team picked up their eighth-straight win after they defeated Alvernia University, 80-29 on Jordan Court Saturday afternoon. The last time Messiah held their opponent to under 30 points was on January 8th, 2009 when they defeated Hood College 79-23. The Falcons remain undefeated and moved to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the MAC Commonwealth.

Four Falcons led Messiah in double-figure scoring. Alecia Rohrer found her rhythm offensively and picked up her first double-double of the season by scoring 14 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Kaitlyn Hoff also added 14 points and dished out four assists. Leah Springer secured her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 boards, while Jen Fairbanks contributed 10 points for Messiah. Maci Thornton had an impressive afternoon for the Falcons as she collected eight points, five steals and five rebounds. Hannah Brown contributed off the bench with nine points of her own, six of those came in the second quarter. As a team, the Falcons shot 32-of-67 (47.8%) from the field, 9-of-15 (60%) from the free throw line, and were 7-of-19 (36.8%) from three-point range.

Tenacious First Half Defense
Messiah displayed an impressive defensive effort in the first half of play. They held the Golden Wolves to five points in the first quarter and six in the second quarter. Messiah caused 12 turnovers and scored 19 points off of those turnovers in the first twenty minutes of play.

The Falcons started with an early 5-0 lead in the first quarter but then remained scoreless until there was 3:46 left on the clock, in which Kristen Smoluk knocked down a jumper to give Messiah a 7-3 lead. Messiah then went on a 7-2 run to finish the quarter with a 14-5 advantage. In the second quarter, the Falcons looked to build upon their lead and extended it to 24 points before the quarter was over. In the final three minutes of the second quarter, Messiah went on a 10-0 run to close out the quarter 35-11. Hannah Brown had six of the ten points, both of her buckets came from three-point range. Maci Thornton added four points to complete the 10-0 run and both of her baskets were off of her own steals and finishing the fast-break lay-up on the other end.

Thirty Points in Ten Minutes
Messiah came out of half-time ready to put the ball in the hoop. The Falcons scored 30 points in the ten minute quarter. This was by far their best offensive quarter of the game and maybe of the season. Alecia Rohrer and Kaitlyn Hoff led Messiah in scoring in the third quarter with eight points each.  Although this was also Alvernia's best quarter offensively, the Falcons still held them to ten points and completed a successful 11-0 run at the end of the quarter to go up 65-21 heading into the fourth.

Falcons Soar To Victory
Messiah cruised to an 80-29 victory in the fourth quarter. Every Falcon player was able to see playing time and have an impact on the court. As mentioned before, Messiah hasn't held an opponent to under thirty points since the 2008-09 season.

Messiah finished the game with 12 steals, six blocks, and caused 20 Alvernia turnovers which demonstrated that the Falcons took care of business on the defensive end of things. The Falcons also scored 36 points off of turnovers and out-rebounded Alvernia 50 to 41.

Up Next
Messiah will travel to Scranton, PA on December 15-16 to play in the Hilton Scranton Poinsettia Classic. Tip-off will be at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, December 15th and the Falcons will match up against Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus in the first game of the tournament.