Grantham, PA – (No. 16 WBCA/No. 19 D3hoops) Messiah women's basketball team defeated Lebanon Valley College 71-42 on Saturday afternoon in Brubaker Auditorium. The Falcons moved to 22-1 overall and 9-1 in the MAC Commonwealth.
The last time Messiah and Lebonan Valley met on Jan. 18, the game went into overtime and the Falcons were victorious, 85-79. Saturday afternoon's game was a different story. Messiah led the entire game and controlled the pace, while Lebanon Valley was very inconsistent offensively and struggled to take care of the ball.
The Falcons shot 26 of 54 (48.1%) from the field and an incredible 14 of 14 (100%) from the free throw line. Ten different players contributed on the scoreboard in the win against the Dutchmen and three Falcons had double figures.
Gillian Glackin led all scorers with 14 points and collected nine rebounds.
Maci Thornton added 13 points and gathered three steals, while
Kristen Smoluk contributed 10 points and three assists.
Messiah had a slow start to the first quarter, but with just under three minutes remaining,
Maci Thornton knocked down a three pointer to give the Falcons at 7-2 lead. Thornton's shot sparked Messiah's offense and the Falcons went on an 8-0 run in the last two and half minutes to put the Falcons up 15-4 heading into the second quarter. Messiah's defense held the Dutchmen to only four points, caused five turnovers and collected four steals in the first 10 minutes of play.
The second quarter was Messiah's lowest scoring quarter of the game, only collecting 14 points, while Dutchmen had a much better second quarter offensively, scoring 13 points. Glackin started the quarter off with back-to-back jumpers to extend Messiah's lead to 13 (19-6), but then Lebanon Valley's Becky Evans scored a three that very next possession to bring Messiah's lead back down to 10. Both teams exchanged baskets back and forth until the end of the quarter and Messiah headed into halftime with a 12-point advantage over the Dutchmen, 29-17.
Kristen Smoluk had a big first half for the Falcons, collecting eight of her total 10 points in the first 20 minutes.
Alecia Rohrer also scored six of her eight points in the first half and grabbed five rebounds for the Falcons.
The Falcons had a commanding third quarter both offensively and defensively, scoring 23 points and again holding LVC to only four points. The Dutchmen struggled to take care of the ball in the third and had eight total turnovers. Messiah opened the quarter on an 11-0 run; this run started with an early jumper by
Maci Thornton and ended with
Kaitlyn Hoff connecting two free throws to give Messiah a 42-17 advantage. Although the Dutchmen were able to connect twice from the free throw line, the Falcons didn't allow the Dutchmen to score an actual field goal until there were 30 seconds left on the clock. Thornton,
Hannah Brown, and
Leah Springer all connected from behind the arc in the third quarter, which made up for three out of the total five three-point field goals that Messiah scored in the entire game. At the end of the quarter,
Gillian Glackin grabbed an offensive board and scored a layup at the buzzer to give the Falcons a 31-point lead going into the last quarter of play.
Lebanon Valley outscored Messiah 21-19 in the fourth quarter, but it wouldn't be enough to cut into Messiah's dominating lead. However, the Dutchmen did apply some extra pressure to Messiah's guards in the fourth, by displaying a full-court press. Early on in the quarter, Messiah struggled to take care of the ball, and this caused back-to-back turnovers. Less than three minutes into the quarter, Messiah was successful at breaking the press when
Kristen Smoluk found Joceyln Chavous wide open for an easy layup which brought Messiah's lead to 56-29. For the remainder of the quarter, both teams traded baskets back-and-forth and the Falcons were able to maintain their lead and win the game 71-42. Messiah out-rebounded the Dutchmen in the last two quarters 22-9, 13 of the Falcons rebounds were offensive boards.
Gillian Glackin led the Falcons in the second half, scoring 10 of her 14 points and
Maci Thornton added eight of her 13 points.
Overall, the Falcons dominated and were able to take advantage of 29 points off of LVC's 24 turnovers and had 18 second chance points due to their excellent job on the boards. Messiah's depth proved once again to be a strength for the Falcons, in which their bench outscored the Dutchmen's bench 36-11. Anne Lehr was the only Dutchman in double-figures with 13 points and she also dished out three assists.
Messiah is next in action on Tuesday, Feb. 14 as they take on Hood College at 6:00 p.m.