FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - No. 9 Messiah women's basketball capped off a 2-0 holiday weekend trip to Florida on Monday with a 71-66 victory over the Emmanuel Saints. After trailing by two at the end of the first quarter, Messiah held a lead of 14 points on four different occasions in the third quarter before a fourth-quarter push by the Saints tied the game at 62-62 with under five minutes remaining. The Falcons regained their composure down the stretch with a 9-4 run to close our their 13th-straight victory.

Maci Thornton continued to close in on the 1,000-point milestone with a team-high, 17-point performance on Monday. She now stands at 990 career points after leading four, double-digit scorers for the Falcons in the game. Alecia Rohrer (12 points), Trinity Sumrall (12), and Kristen Smoluk (10) joined Thornton in double-figures in the victory.

Messiah moves to 13-1 on the season and will return to MAC Commonwealth play on Jan. 9 when they travel to Stevenson for a contest against the Mustangs at 8:00 p.m.

Trailing Early
After the Falcons and Saints traded buckets for the first two minutes and change of the contest, the score stood even at 5-5. Sparked by a layup by their leading scorer, Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (27 points), Emmanuel proceeded to go on an 8-2 run to open up a 13-7 lead at the mid-point of the period.

Messiah closed the gap to two point by the end of the period, but the Saints held a 15-13 lead heading into the second period, marking just the third time all season that the Falcons trailed at the end of the first quarter.

Second-Quarter Surge
Messiah quickly jumped into the driver's seat with a 7-0 run to start the second quarter Rohrer, Thornton, and Brooke Breinich accounting for the points during the run. After some free throws by the Saints, Emmanuel pulled within one. Messiah counted with an 11-1 run over a three-minute stretch to bump their lead to double-digits for the first time in the contest at 33-22, following a Rohrer layup.

The Falcons' advantage hovered around 10 points for the remainder of the period with Messiah holding a 39-29 lead at the break after Trinity Sumrall knocked down a jumper as the second period came to a close.

The Falcons continued that second-quarter surge into the third period, taking leads of 45-31, 47-33, and 49-35 after the Falcons and Saints traded buckets through the middle of the quarter. With 2:52 remaining in the third quarter, Messiah took another 14-point lead after a three from Sumrall made it a 57-43 contest.

Following Sumrall's triple, the Sains began an extended run that leveled the score.

Saints' Run
Despite triling by as many as 14 points with under 13 minutes to play, the Saints showed their moxie and ripped off a 19-5 run that eventually tied the game at 62-62 with 5:09 remaining in the game. The run lasted a little less than eight minutes and tied the score for the first time since it was 15-15 with 9:40 remaining in the second quarter.

Ramirez-Tejeda fueled a majority of the Emmanuel run with eight points to help the Saints back into the game.

Finishing from the Line
Following the jumper from Emmanuel's Kayla Weaver that tied the game at 62-62 with 5:09 remaining the game went scoreless for nearly two minutes until Becca Isaac found the bucket to give Messiah the lead back. The advantage was cut to one, following a free throw from Emmanuel's Caitlin Cipriano on the next possession.

Isaac's jumper was the final field goal attempted by the Falcons in the game, as Messiah was sent to the free-throw line 10 times in the final two-plus minutes of the contest. The Falcons went 7-10 from the charity stripe to seal the game. The only points scored by the Saints in the final two minutes came from a three by Molly Debettencourt with 27 seconds remaining on the clock. The trey cut the Messiah lead to 69-66, but Isaac knocked down two free throws on the other end of the court to end the scoring and give Messiah the 71-66 victory.

What's Up Next
As mentioned, the Falcons move to 13-1 on the season and have extended their winning streak to 13 games, tying their longest streak of last season. The Falcons will be back in action on Jan. 9 when they travel to Stevenson to take on the Mustangs at 8:00 p.m. Messiah is now done with non-conference games this season and will finish the season with 11-straight MAC Commonwealth contests.