Owings Mills, MD – In a battle of physicality between two of the top MAC Commonwealth teams, No. 20 Messiah College women's basketball team was able to secure a huge road victory against Stevenson University. The Falcons won 52-39 and moved to 19-1 overall and 10-1 in the conference.
 
This was Messiah's lowest scoring game of the season so far, the Falcons shot 17 of 49 (34.7%) from the field, 3 of 7 (42.9%) from three point range, and 15 of 17 (88.2%) from the line. Kaitlyn Hoff led all scorers with 18 points, Gillian Glackin contributed 12 and Maci Thornton added nine. Alecia Rohrer did a great job on the glass and collected 10 rebounds.

These two teams most recently met on Jan. 5 and Messiah was able to pull out the one-point victory, 69-68, over Stevenson. Sara Tarbert led all scorers with 37, while four Falcons, Maci Thornton (16), Kristen Smoluk (16), Alecia Rohrer (15), and Gillian Glackin (15) scored double figures.
 
The first half consisted of low shooting percentages and many turnovers. The Falcons shot 8 of 28 (28.6%) and the Mustangs shot 6 of 25 (24%) and each team only scored six points in the second quarter.  Messiah collected 13 turnovers and Stevenson gathered 11 in the first half alone. Both teams shot much better within the second half of the game, but with aggressive defensive play on both ends of the court, turnovers were still a major issue for both teams, Messiah had 12 and Stevenson collected 10.
 
Messiah struggled to find their flow offensively at the start of the first quarter. Things began to change when Jen Fairbanks ignited the Falcons' offense by scoring back-to-back jumpers and then Hannah Brown came off the bench and cashed in a three pointer to give Messiah an 11-6 lead. In the last possession of the first quarter, Maci Thornton scored from behind the arc to extend the Falcons lead to 14-10 going into the second quarter.  
 
The Falcons started the second quarter with aggressive and scrappy defense, and put a lot of pressure on the Mustang's point guards. Maci Thornton and Becca Isaac were two standouts in the quarter defensively, as they each collected two steals. Both Messiah and Stevenson struggled to find their rhythm offensively and as mentioned above, both teams only posted six points in the second quarter. The Falcons entered the halftime break with a four point lead, 20-16, over the Mustangs.
 
The third quarter, was action packed. Both teams came out ready to battle and that they did. Kaitlyn Hoff started the quarter off with a pair of free throws and then went coast-to-coast on a fast break lay-up, drew the foul, and completed the three point play to give Messiah a nine point lead (25-16).  Towards the end of the quarter, Stevenson started getting the ball to their star player, Sara Tarbert, who is their leading scorer. Messiah was able to hold Tarbert to two points in the first half, but she started to come alive in the third quarter. With 45 seconds left in the third, Tarbert completed a three-point play to give the Mustangs a one-point advantage. Before, the buzzer sounded, Hoff took another trip to the free throw line and converted both shots to give Messiah a 32-31 lead going into the fourth quarter. Hoff was a standout in the third quarter; she scored seven of the Falcons' 12 points and was perfect from the line.
 
Messiah outscored Stevenson 20-8 in the final quarter of play, to bring home the 52-39 victory. Maci Thornton hit a big three pointer with four minutes remaining to extend the Falcons lead to eight and from there on the Falcons dominated. Along with Thornton and Hoff; Alecia Rohrer, Gillian Glackin, and Jen Fairbanks all contributed offensively in the second half to help secure Messiah's win over Stevenson.
 
Messiah is next in action at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4 as they travel to Alvernia University.