Grantham, PA - No. 19 Messiah College women's basketball team picked up their 23rd victory of the season, when they defeated Hood College 87-49 on Tuesday evening. The Falcons moved to 23-1 overall and 14-1 in the MAC Commonwealth. The Falcons continued to keep their hot shooting alive; they scored 34 of 67 (50.7%) from the field and 8 of 15 (53.3%) from three point range.

"The players really took care of business tonight. They played well and shared the ball," commented, Head Coach Mike Miller regarding his team's performance.

This is the tenth victory this season in which Messiah has scored 80 points or more to defeat their opponent. 12 different players contributed on the scoreboard and nine players collected five points or more. Gillian Glackin scored 12 points and eight rebounds for Messiah and she also had two blocks which named her the All-Time Block Leader in Messiah women's basketball program history with 204 career blocks. She passed Eli Cook's former record of 203 in Tuesday evening's game.
Maci Thornton and Jen Fairbanks also had stellar performances for the Falcons. Thornton scored 11 points and dished out six assists, while Fairbanks also added 11 points. Alecia Rohrer and Kristen Smoluk each scored nine points and Kaitlyn Hoff added eight. Jocelyn Chavous also collected eight points for the Falcons; this was a career-high for the senior guard.

The Falcons opened up on a 11-2 run against the Blazers and led by as many as 14 points (20-6) after Alecia Rohrer finished a layup in the paint. Messiah outscored Hood 22 to 6, collected three steals and caused eight turnovers in the first quarter alone.

Kaitlyn Hoff started the second quarter off with a quick jumper and then neither team scored until the 6:34 mark, when Gillian Glackin cashed in a layup for Messiah. Although the Falcons only scored 14 points in the second quarter, their defense held the Blazers to a mere five points. Messiah went into halftime with a 36-14 lead over Hood.

In the first half, Messiah struggled from the free-throw line, shooting 1 of 6 (16.7%). However, they were 16 of 34 (47.1%) from the field and 3 of 7 (42.9%) from deep. Messiah out-rebounded Hood 21-14, caused 15 turnovers and collected six steals all within the first 20 minutes of play.

Messiah came out of halftime strong, collecting back-to-back buckets by Maci Thornton and Gillian Glackin and extended their lead to 38-14. Hood's Taylor McGaughey hit a three pointer which brought Messiah's lead down to 23 points, but that would be the closest the Blazers would get to Messiah on the scoreboard. Throughout the remainder of the third quarter, Messiah looked to build upon their lead. Alecia Rohrer knocked down a pair of free-throws and Maci Thornton hit a jumper with three seconds remaining to give the Falcons a 65-29 point lead going into the fourth and final quarter. Jen Fairbanks had an outstanding third quarter performance and collected seven of her 11 points.

The fourth quarter was Hood's top offensive quarter, but Messiah still outscored the Blazers 22-20. Alecia Rohrer collected five of her nine points in the fourth quarter, three of which were from the charity stripe. Hannah Brown, Kristen Smoluk, and Emily White all connected from three point range in the final quarter to give Messiah a large advantage going into the last few minutes of play. In the final minute, Messiah led by as many as 40 points twice, the first was when Haley Maraday had a fastbreak layup to give the Falcons a 85-45 lead, and the second was when Joanna Dean finished a post move in the paint. Hood found a way to score a basket right at the end of the game, but the Falcons secured another conference win in dominating fashion.

Both teams had impressive offensive showings in the final two quarters of play, Hood went 13 of 24 (54.2%) from the field and 5 of 10 (50%) from three point range, while the Messiah shot 18 of 33 (54.5%) from the field and 5 of 8 (62.5%) from behind the arc. However, it was very evident that Messiah controlled the tempo the entire game. The Falcons were able to score 37 points off of turnovers, they had 12 second chance opportunities, seven of which were in the third quarter, and had eight fast break points. Messiah led in rebounding, grabbing 36 total boards compared to Hood's 26. 

"We are looking at ways to get a little better and healed up for our last conference game on Saturday" Coach Miller noted.  Messiah is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 18 when they travel to Albright. Albright is Messiah's only loss on the season and the Falcons are determined to pick up a road win. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.