READING, Pa. – The No. 17 Messiah women's basketball team fell to conference opponent Albright College today on the road 63-54. Just the second loss of the season, and first in MAC Commonwealth play, the win puts the Lions in a tie in the conference standings with the Falcons. Alecia Rohrer led the team with 15 points while Kaitlyn Hoff and Leah Springer each had 10 points. Messiah struggled from the field shooting 21-69 (30.4%) and was outrebounded by Albright 45-31.

Behind Early, Solid Second Quarter
For most games this season it can be said that Messiah is usually the first to take a solid lead but that wasn't the case in today's game. With the score 11-10 in Albright's favor, they used a late first quarter run to pull ahead 17-10 with 2:12 remaining. The Falcons chipped away and cut the lead to six 20-14 when Maci Thornton made a jumper with 59 seconds left but then Devan Horka answered for the Lions and they had a 22-14 lead after the first quarter.
 
Albright seemed to come out with the same energy as the first quarter hitting a layup at the 8:35 mark to take a double-digit advantage 24-14, however Messiah responded with baskets by Kaitlyn Hoff and Alecia Rohrer, and then at the 4:24 mark Leah Springer knocked down a three-pointer to cut the lead 24-21. About two minutes later Springer hit another basket from beyond the arc to pull Messiah within two 26-24 and then with less than a minute remaining before halftime Jen Fairbanks gave the Falcons a one-point lead 27-26 with a three of her own. That would be the score heading into halftime and Messiah's defense was certainly a strong factor in the second quarter as they outscored Albright 13-4.
 
Momentum Shift, Comeback A Struggle
Looking to continue the strong play from the second quarter Alecia Rohrer scored a layup early to get things going and put the Falcons up 29-26. Later with the score 31-28 in favor of Messiah, Albright went on a 6-0 run to regain the lead 34-31. A defensive stop and then layup by Hoff and jumper from Rohrer however stifled the run and put the Falcons back up 35-34. Unfortunately though a momentum shift happened to finish out the third quarter and it wasn't in favor of Messiah.
 
With five minutes left in the quarter Albright started a 10-0 run and Messiah did not have a response until with two seconds left Jen Fairbanks knocked down a jumper but they went into the fourth quarter trailing 44-37.
 
The fourth quarter was a bit of a struggle as Albright kept a comfortable lead and Messiah was not able to keep up trailing by 12 at one point. Rohrer did pull the Falcons within seven 50-43 with 6:19 left but the Lions took control for the remainder of the game en route to the 63-54 win.
 
Next Up
The Falcons are now 14-2 on the year and 6-1 in the MAC Commonwealth. They will be back on Jordan Court next Wednesday, Jan. 17 against Lebanon Valley College with game time set for 8:00 p.m.