ANNVILLE, Pa. – Messiah women's basketball needed a win at Lebanon Valley this afternoon to secure the No. 1 seed in next week's MAC Commonwealth Tournament, and they got exactly that via a lopsided 73-42 victory over the Dutchemn. Leah Springer a balanced effort with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Alecia Rohrer added 16 points and eight rebounds. Kristen Smoluk also handed out a team-high six assists, with three other Falcons collecting at least three assists of their own.

The Falcons will next play on Wednesday when they host the winner of No. 4 seed Stevenson and No. 5 Lebanon Valley.
 
Steady Build
Messiah's big win was the product of strong play from start to finish. In the first quarter went on a 12-5 run to build a seven-point lead, 14-7, and by that point four different Falcons had already scored. Moments later Maci Thornton also got on the board with a jumper to keep Messiah up 16-9, and Messiah was on their way to leading 19-11 at the end of ten minutes.
 
Ten of Lebanon Valley's 11 first quarter points were scored in the paint, and Messiah held the interior-oriented Dutchmen to just six points in the second quarter. Messiah outscored them 15-11 in that period, and at the break the Falcons led 34-24. Notably, the Falcons were 0-7 from downtown in the first period, but they offset those misses with aggressive play to the basket that resulted in 10-16 shooting from the free-throw line.
 
Break it Open
Messiah started the third quarter with an 8-3 run, with Thornton's jumper in the paint capping the streak and putting the Falcons up 15 points—their largest lead of the game to that point. Over the next few minutes both Leah Springer (twice) and Kaitlyn Hoff followed with jumpers near the basket, and Messiah went up 50-29 with 2:47 on the clock.
 
From that point, Messiah led by at least 15 points, and they also led by as many as 33 points as they ran away from the Dutchmen on their home court.
 
In the Box
The double-double for Springer was her 11th of the season, and it was also the 11th time this season that both Springer and Rohrer scored in double-figures in the same game. The one made shot from three-point range (1-14) was a season-low for Messiah, but they made up for it with a fifth-best performance from the field: 49.1% on 28-57 shooting.
 
Messiah's biggest advantages over Lebanon Valley came in points off turnovers (23 points for, nine against) and second-chance points (11 points for, two against).
 
Playoff Picture
Messiah will now await the winner of the MAC Commonwealth Quarterfinal game between No. 4 Stevenson and No. 5 Lebanon Valley. The Semifinal will be played on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7:00 p.m.