GLENSIDE, Pa. - No. 20 Messiah women's basketball defeated the Knights of Arcadia 75-45 on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons moved to 9-1 in the MAC Commonwealth and 17-2 overall. Messiah and Arcadia last met on Dec. 6 and the Falcons picked up an 87-56 victory.

Messiah had an impressive afternoon shooting the basketball. The Falcons shot 32-of-66 (48.5%) from the field, 6-of-13 (46.2) from three-point range, and were 5-of-9 (55.6%) from the free-throw line.

Alecia Rohrer had another dominant performance and picked up her ninth double-double of the season. Rohrer shot 9-of-12 from the field and collected 18 points and 11 rebounds. Kaitlyn Hoff and Jen Fairbanks each added ten points and Becca Isaac and Hannah Brown contributed eight.

That's More Like It
Messiah had a solid start to the game and immediately found their rhythm offensively. Maci Thornton started things off with a three-pointer at the top of the arc, which ignited a 7-to-2 run for the Falcons. The Knights had a small four-point run in the middle of the quarter, but Hannah Brown put an end to that when she cashed in a three from the corner. Becca Issac followed up with a three of her own to extend Messiah's lead to nine points. At the end of the quarter, Leah Springer took a trip to the free-throw line and was successful on both attempts to give the Falcons a 19-8 lead heading into the second quarter

Building Momentum
Messiah remained scoreless in the first four minutes of the second quarter, however Arcadia was able to pick up four points of their own to bring the Falcon's lead down to eight. Alecia Rohrer broke Messiah's silence by knocking down a long jumper at the top of the key to bring Messiah's lead back up to 10 and to create some momentum for the Falcons. Rohrer's basket initiated a 15-3 run for the Falcons in the last five minutes of the quarter. The Falcons headed into the halftime break with a 34-14 advantage over the Knights. Alecia Rohrer led all scorers in the first half with 10 points, six of which came in the second quarter.

Messiah's defense was very impressive in the second quarter. They caused seven turnovers, grabbed four steals and held the Knights to only six points in ten minutes of play.

High Scoring Quarter
The third quarter was the best offensive quarter for both squads; it consisted of fast-paced, up-tempo basketball and neither team had a single turnover. Messiah outscored the Knights 24-17 in the third quarter but both teams displayed determination on offense.

At the end of the quarter, Messiah took off on an 8-to-3 run to provide a 58-31 advantage going into the final 10 minutes of play. Jen Fairbanks and Kaitlyn Hoff led the Falcons in scoring in the third quarter, and they each added six points.

Falcons Pick Up Win No. 17
Similar to the third quarter, the final ten minutes consisted of a lot of back-and-forth action. Messiah out-scored Arcadia 17-to-14 and that would allow them to pick up a 75-45 win over the Knights. 

Overall, Messiah had a much improved shooting performance compared to their last game against Lycoming (34.5 FG %). The Falcons also did an outstanding job taking care of the basketball and collected only 11 turnovers. The Knights on the other hand had 24 turnovers and Messiah was able to score 19 points off of those turnovers. Both teams took care of business on the glass and each grabbed 37 rebounds on the afternoon.

Up Next
The Falcons will be back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 31 when they host Stevenson University at 6:00 p.m. The last time Messiah and Stevenson met, the Falcons picked up the 67-49 win over the Mustangs.